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Edinburgh or Glasgow?

Two places visitors weigh up, side by side. Every figure comes from our guides, the Met Office, National Rail or an event organiser, and we do not rank either one.

Edinburgh guide · Glasgow guide

The walls and towers of Edinburgh Castle under a blue sky
Edinburgh: The walls and towers of Edinburgh Castle under a blue skyPhoto: Peulle, CC BY 4.0
Aerial view of the University of Glasgow in autumn, with the city beyond
Glasgow: Aerial view of the University of Glasgow in autumn, with the city beyondPhoto: Ian Dick from Glasgow, UK, CC BY 2.0
Barclay Viewforth Church, Bruntsfield & Morningside
Edinburgh: Barclay Viewforth ChurchPhoto: Ham, CC BY-SA 3.0
Kibble Palace, West End & Kelvingrove
Glasgow: Kibble PalacePhoto: LornaMCampbell, CC BY-SA 4.0

Who each place suits

mixed

Edinburgh

A castle on a volcanic rock, a medieval Old Town and a Georgian New Town.

Our guide covers 9 areas, with 119 sights, 214 places to eat and drink and 78 places to stay, and 12 theatre venues in the directory.

Most common sight types we list: Gallery (11), Park (9), Church (8).

47% of the 91 sights we tag are outdoor places and 53% are indoors, so it reads as mixed.

Our Edinburgh guide suggests 2 to 4 days; its sample plans run from 1 day to 3 days.

Edinburgh guide Theatre in Edinburgh Events in Edinburgh Weather by month Rainy-day ideas
mixed

Glasgow

Scotland's biggest city: Victorian civic grandeur, Mackintosh, the Clyde waterfront and free museums.

Our guide covers 9 areas, with 114 sights, 167 places to eat and drink and 25 places to stay, and 9 theatre venues in the directory.

Most common sight types we list: Neighbourhood (11), Museum (10), Historic building (6).

45% of the 62 sights we tag are outdoor places and 55% are indoors, so it reads as mixed.

Our Glasgow guide suggests 2 to 3 days; its sample plans run from 1 day to 3 days.

Glasgow guide Theatre in Glasgow Events in Glasgow Weather by month Rainy-day ideas

Side by side

Facts only. Counts show how much our guides list, not how much exists. “Reported” means tagged on OpenStreetMap or a venue’s own page: check with the venue.

Edinburgh and Glasgow: counts from our guides, climate averages and events.
ItemEdinburghGlasgow
Country Scotland Scotland
Areas in our guide 9 9
Sights listed 119 114
Places to eat and drink listed 214 167
Places to stay listed 78 25
Theatre venues in our directory 12 9
Eat, stay and theatre entries reported step-free 35 25
Eat, stay and theatre entries marked family-friendly 0 0
Character from sight types Mixed (47% of 91 tagged sights are outdoors) Mixed (45% of 62 tagged sights are outdoors)
Suggested stay in our guide 2 to 4 days 2 to 3 days
Average high in July 19.3°C1 19.8°C2
Average high in January 7.3°C1 7.2°C2
Rain in a year (sum of monthly averages) 728 mm on about 128 days1 1262 mm on about 174 days2
Sunshine in a year (sum of monthly averages) 1448 hours1 1281 hours2
Daylight mid-June / mid-December (calculated) 17 h 35 / 6 h 59 17 h 33 / 7 h 00
Dated events in our calendar 5 dated, from organiser pages 4 dated, from organiser pages
Weather station used Edinburgh, Royal Botanic Garden No 2 Paisley
Between the twoAbout 70 km in a straight line. Fastest published train: 45 min3. Journey details

Climate: Met Office 1991-2020 averages, stored 25 October 2026. Each station sits in or near the region, not necessarily in the town, so differences of a degree or two or small rainfall gaps can come from the station rather than the place. Daylight is calculated from latitude, not a Met Office figure. Station notes: Glasgow: Paisley is about 11 km west of Glasgow city centre and complete in the Met Office data. Glasgow Springburn (gcuvzy6wz, 3 km from the centre) has no rain-day counts so was not used.

Choose Edinburgh if… choose Glasgow if…

Choose Edinburgh if you…

  • want less rain: the Edinburgh station (Edinburgh, Royal Botanic Garden No 2) averages 728 mm a year, against 1262 mm at the other (different stations, see the note under the table).
  • want more recorded sunshine: about 1448 hours a year at the Edinburgh station (Edinburgh, Royal Botanic Garden No 2), against 1281 at the other.
  • can give it longer: our Edinburgh guide suggests 2 to 4 days.

Choose Glasgow if you…

  • have a short break: our Glasgow guide suggests 2 to 3 days, against 2 to 4 days for Edinburgh.

Each line appears only where our data shows a clear gap. The thresholds are listed under “How we write this”.

How many days each needs

  • Our Edinburgh guide suggests 2 to 4 days; its sample plans run from 1 day to 3 days. Edinburgh guide
  • Our Glasgow guide suggests 2 to 3 days; its sample plans run from 1 day to 3 days. Glasgow guide

These are our guides’ suggestions, not a rule. Add travel time between places: fastest published train 45 min.

Plan both

We have no itinerary that combines Edinburgh and Glasgow yet. These cover one of them:

Edinburgh guideGlasgow guide All itinerariesGetting between the twoWhere to go each month

Questions people ask

How far apart are Edinburgh and Glasgow?

About 70 km in a straight line between the region centres. National Rail publishes a fastest journey of 45 min. Note: The Glasgow page lists 46 min..

How many days do I need in Edinburgh and in Glasgow?

Our Edinburgh guide suggests 2 to 4 days; its sample plans run from 1 day to 3 days. Our Glasgow guide suggests 2 to 3 days; its sample plans run from 1 day to 3 days.

Is Edinburgh better than Glasgow?

We do not rank destinations. This page shows where our data differs so you can match it to your own interests, season and time.

Can I visit Edinburgh and Glasgow on one trip?

We have no itinerary that combines them yet. See the journey details on getting between regions and check National Rail for current times.

Editorial note. We do not claim one destination ranks above another. There are no scores, no “best”, and no cost levels, because we hold no sourced price data. For prices, check each operator or venue.

Facts last checked 1 November 2026.

How we write this

  • Counts come from our own region guides (sights, eat and drink, stays) and theatre directories. A “Choose … if” line appears only when the gap is at least: 1.25x and 8 sights; 10 percentage points of outdoor share; 1.5x and 5 theatre venues; 1.5°C in July or January highs; 15% in yearly rain; 10% in yearly sunshine.
  • Character: outdoor-leaning at 50% or more of tagged sights outdoors, city-leaning at 30% or less, otherwise mixed. Tags come from the sight type (park, museum, church and so on) with a short list of overrides in src/data/weather-fit.json.
  • Step-free and family-friendly counts include only entries tagged on OpenStreetMap or a venue page; many entries carry no tag, so a low count does not mean low access.

Sources

  1. Met Office: Edinburgh, Royal Botanic Garden No 2, 1991-2020 averages (for Edinburgh)
  2. Met Office: Paisley, 1991-2020 averages (for Glasgow). Paisley is about 11 km west of Glasgow city centre and complete in the Met Office data. Glasgow Springburn (gcuvzy6wz, 3 km from the centre) has no rain-day counts so was not used.
  3. National Rail: Visit Edinburgh by train. table "Journey time from"

Sights, places to eat and stay, suggested stays and events come from our Edinburgh and Glasgow guides, each of which cites its sources. Journey times are as National Rail publishes them, retrieved 25 October 2026, and are not timetables.

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