Glasgow is not a fallback for people who could not get a room in Edinburgh. It is a Victorian merchant city with a better claim on Scottish art, a grid that is easy to walk, and a West End that feels lived in. Charles Rennie Mackintosh is here. So is the largest civic museum in the country.
Give it a night of its own. Using it only as an airport hotel on the way to the Highlands wastes the reason the airport is here.
See
Kelvingrove
Free, vast, and the right first building. The art and the natural history share a roof without embarrassment.
The West End
Byres Road, the university tower, and a park. This is the city’s living room.
A Mackintosh building
The Willow Tea Rooms are the small version. The Scotland Street School or a look at the art school’s story if you care about the fire and the rebuilding.
The riverside
The Transport Museum at Pointhouse is excellent if machines interest you, and a destination rather than a stroll from the centre.