Glasgow, verdict by verdict

Glasgow is Scotland's bigger, grittier city: Victorian sandstone on a grid, a serious live music and food scene, and the friendliest big-city welcome in Britain. It is not the postcard-pretty Scotland tourists picture and does not pretend to be; what it trades in looks it makes back in warmth, prices well below Edinburgh's, and a museum and architecture haul most visitors do not expect.

The caveats are expectation and weather. Anyone after the castle-on-a-rock postcard version of Scotland, or running an all-Highlands itinerary with one spare night, should look elsewhere, and grey skies with a real chance of rain are year-round facts that can sour a trip for the wrong traveler. December brings markets and a very good pub season but short, dark days.

Two to three days covers the centre, the West End and a whisky stop, carried by Kelvingrove, the Cathedral and Necropolis and the riverside museums, free enough to cover in a weekend. Add a day for Loch Lomond at Balloch or Stirling on the suburban trains. It works best as a trip of its own or paired with Edinburgh rather than squeezed between Highlands, and the clockwork orange Subway loop makes the West End easy.