Click here to see how the property market in Glasgow is doing

How it rates

The era of shipbuilding may have long passed but so has the era of decline and decay. Glasgow is a thriving place that the 2009 Lonely Planet guide has included in its top ten cities of the world. The Commonwealth Games are due to be held there in 2014.

Architectural gems

City Chambers in George Square; Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art; Queen's Cross, his only church; Hunterian Art Gallery and the Mackintosh house; Kelvingrove Museum, seen above; Burrell Collection in Pollok Park; Museum of Religion; Glasgow Cathedral; the Necropolis.

What's new

The award-winning gh2o development on the Clyde is scheduled for completion next year. Studio flats are from £109,950, one-bed flats from £139,950 and two-bed flats from £175,950 (Dandara, 0800 0087008, www.gh2o.co.uk). Gainsborough Court, in Kelvindale, is a development of 61 homes, from two-bed flats and duplexes to four-bed townhouses (Mactaggart & Mickel, 0141-357 4600, www.macmic.co.uk).

Travel

Edinburgh is just over an hour away by train or car. The M74 heads south to join the M6, the A80 and A82 head northwards to the Highlands, east and west. London is 8 hours by road, 4½ hours by train and about 10 hours by sleeper. Glasgow International is the nearest airport; Prestwick is a bit out in the sticks.

Quality of life

The city has excellent public transport and is close to beautiful countryside; Loch Lomond is only a short drive. It's relatively cheap, especially compared with Edinburgh: a period two-bed flat in the West End, the most fashionable part of Glasgow, costs up to £250,000, whereas a first-floor flat in Edinburgh New Town can fetch up to £400,000. Most locals are warm and welcoming, and have a definite sense of pride in their city.

Smartest streets

The West End, in particular around Byres Road and Hyndland Road, for sandstone townhouses and refurbished tenements. Kelvin Grove. Merchant City for stylish flats in 18th-century buildings. In the northwest, Dowanhill, Hyndland, Partick, Kelvindale and, farther out, Bearsden and Milngavie. In the southwest, Battlefield, Pollokshaws, Giffnock and, on the periphery, Newton Mearns.

Restaurants

Rogano, the oldest fish restaurant in town, has a wonderful Art Deco bar for cocktails; the Ubiquitous Chip; the Wee Curry House; the Brunswick hotel and Café Gandolfi, which has a new venture next door, Gandolfi Fish, are in Merchant City; Hotel du Vin at One Devonshire Gardens.

Nightlife

Bar 10 is very cool and has a good interior by Ben Kelly; it offers food, DJs and live music; the Arches, beneath Central Station, is a great club; St Andrew's in the Square, a church that is now a live music venue and Scottish cultural centre; Babbity Bowster's, in Merchant City, is folky, very Glaswegian, with good food and live music; Bon Accord, a fine pub; the Horseshoe Bar, which has the one of longest island bars in Europe. The Royal National Scottish Orchestra is based at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall; next month Neeme Järvi conducts.

Education

Belmont House, Fernhill, Hutchesons' Grammar School and Kelvinside Academy are mixed independents; the High School of Glasgow, St Aloysius College and Glasgow Academy are mixed independents, also junior; Craigholme is a girls' independent, also primary; Jordanhill, a mixed state, also junior. Glasgow Caledonian, Strathclyde and Glasgow universities.

Upside

Plenty of museums, fine buildings, green space, nightlife and shopping. Celtic and Rangers are two of the world's most famous football clubs; for Rugby Union, there is Glasgow Warriors.

Downside

It rains a lot and winter days are very short. The “brash honesty” of some of the locals can be a little disconcerting.

At a glance

155 per cent: The increase in Glasgow house prices over the past ten years Source: Halifax

£3.2 million: The highest price paid for a house in Glasgow in the past two years Source: Savills

1896: Work begins on the Glasgow School of Art Source: crmsociety.com

4 million: The number of tourists each year in Glasgow Source: glasgow.gov.uk

114: The number of picture houses in Glasgow in 1939 Source: seeglasgow.com

Explore Property

• Buying & Selling

• New Homes

• Overseas

• Interiors

• Investment

• Gardens

• Cool In Your Code

• Specials

• First-time buyer

Times recommends

• Second homes: credit crunch casualty or money-spinner?
• How I built my own sliding house
• Top 10 incentives for house buyers