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Positively bulging with greenery and colour, these gardens are a favourite with locals and visitors alike. The highlights are the glasshouses – the main structure named Kibble Palace – famous for their orchids and tropicana (see Botanical Gardens, Glasgow) .

“Palace” would be a more appropriate term, for this is the finest seat of any council in Britain, and Glasgow’s most prestigious building. Modelled on Classical Italian architecture, the building was designed by William Young and completed in 1888. The exterior is dramatic enough, but the interior is an exercise in the excesses of lavish décor. Aberdeen granite, Carrara marble, mahogany, gold leaf, frescoes, mosaics, pillars and balustrades are combined to astonishing effect. The Banqueting Hall is surely modelled on a dandy’s vision of heaven.

Or, more correctly, a “Gallery of Astonishment”. Some works are awesome and immediately grab your attention, others are deviously clever and quite a few are outrageously funny. A modern collection, then, that positively begs for mass appeal. Exhibits change frequently, but the ethos remains essentially the same. Look out for Laurence Stephen Lowry’s Seascape , which although does not feature Lowry’s trademark “matchstick” people, it does symbolize his sense of complete despair and isolation.

In 1901 Glasgow’s tour-de-force architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and his decorative artist wife, Margaret Macdonald, entered a magazine competition to design a “House for an Art Lover”. It was to be “… a grand house, thoroughly modern, fresh and innovative…” Their exquisite vision remained just a design until 1989 when, authentic to the smallest detail, the building and its contents were created.

The most visited collection in Scotland has paintings of inestimable value, including works by Botticelli, Giorgione (The Adulteress brought before Christ ) and Rembrandt. Its outstanding representation of 17th-century Dutch and 19th-century French art is augmented by the home-grown talent of the Glasgow Boys and the Scottish Colourists. Note: the Kelvingrove Museum and Gallery will be closed for a major refit between 2003 and 2006; the best works from the collection will be on display at the McLellan Galleries.

Bicycles, cars, lorries, buses, trains, fire engines … hundreds and hundreds of everything on wheels in acres of gleaming metal-work. You can walk through or climb into the larger vehicles, or sit in an original Glasgow tram. Upstairs are 250 model ships illustrating the story of Clyde shipbuilding. Watch out for the penny on the cobbles of the re-created 1938 shopping street – but don’t try to pick it up, or you could be there all day.

Typically Glaswegian, this is a museum of ordinary life. Nothing fancy or outstandingly old, but a fascinating insight into how the average family lived, worked and played in the not-so-distant past. The Winter Gardens are connected to the museum and make a tranquil spot to rearrange your thoughts.

Myriad puzzles, experiments and demonstrations to entertain and inform. There’s also an IMAX screen and a revolving tower – a sensational place (see Glasgow Science Centre) .