Glasgow West End
Riverside Museum · Photo: Cutkiller2018
Two of Glasgow's best free museums sit within a mile of each other along the Kelvin. The Riverside Museum is packed with trams, cars and a walk-through old street, and Kelvingrove's halls hold everything from a Spitfire to a stuffed elephant.
Museum · 10:00–12:30 (2h30m)
Start with the old street and the vehicles; bring a picnic or use the museum café if open.
Glasgow Life's free transport and technology museum on the Clyde at Partick, with trams, locomotives, cars and a recreated old Glasgow street. Lots of the displays are hands-on, and the Tall Ship Glenlee is moored right outside.
Photo: Cutkiller2018
Museum · 13:00–15:30 (2h30m)
Cross the park to Kelvingrove for the natural history halls.
An indoor museum in Glasgow.
Photo: 瑞丽江的河水
ScotlandInverness
Follow the River Ness south from the city centre to a string of wooded islands linked by footbridges. Next door, the Botanic Gardens have warm glasshouses for a cactus and jungle detour, and a café with baby changing for lunch.
Ness Islands Walk → Inverness Botanic Gardens → Café Botanics
ScotlandAviemore
A base in Aviemore puts the best of the Cairngorms within half an hour. Ride a steam train and walk round a castle loch on day one, see polar bears and a 1700s township on day two, and meet free-ranging reindeer before a beach afternoon at Loch Morlich on day three.
Strathspey Railway → Loch an Eilein → Highland Wildlife Park → Highland Folk Museum + 2 more
ScotlandEdinburgh city centre
Spend the morning in the free National Museum of Scotland, where skeletons, space kit and a whole floor of science and technology galleries keep curious kids busy. After lunch, walk downhill to Dynamic Earth for a journey through the planet's history under one roof, with no need to step outside for long.
National Museum of Scotland → Dynamic Earth
