{Scotland} Riverside Museum & the Tall Ship Glenlee

Happy Museum Monday! This week, we’re taking you to one of our favourite museums in Glasgow. Located at the junction of the Rivers Kelvin and Clyde, the Riverside Museum is Glasgow’s museum of transport, travel and technology.

Set over two floors, the museum covers all kinds of transport, from prams, skateboards and vintage cars, to buses, trams, trains and fire engines. There’s a wall of motorbikes and a wall of cars to marvel at, and a bicycle velodrome hanging overhead.

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And there’s not just things to look at – there’s also plenty of vehicles you can step aboard or sit inside, such as an old subway car, vintage trams, and the cockpit of a modern train.

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As well as the real deal, there’s also some model and replica vehicles for children to play in, including a fire engine, an old locomotive, and a motorbike and car combo. One of the boy’s favourite activities, was a fire fighting exhibit, where one person is on the ladder putting out the fire, and the other has to move the ladder in to the right position.

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We also had a lot of fun replicating a photo we took in one of the model cars almost ten years ago!

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One of the highlights of the Riverside Museum, is the old cobbled Glasgow street with shops dating from the 1890s to the 1980s, that you can go in to.

Dress up and pose for a photo in the old photography studio, take a seat at the Rendezvous Cafe, drive a subway car, or have a wee chinwag in the pub. Other shops you can visit include a cabinet maker, shoemaker, pawn broker and saddler. Many of the shops show old film footage telling the stories behind them, or footage of the relevant tools being used.

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There’s more touch screens throughout the rest of the museum too, full of images, audio recordings and videos that tell the fascinating stories behind the objects. We also picked up a Family Quiz to do as we went round, which was great for getting the kids more engaged with the displays.

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There are various picnic areas scattered around the lower floor of the museum, and a cafe on the upper floor, where you will also find displays on Glasgow’s ship building history. Outside, there is also a skateboarding area.

Next to the museum, the Tall Ship Glenlee is berthed – the UK’s only floating Clyde-built sailing ship.

You can explore the ship above and below deck: ring the bell, try your hand at scrubbing the deck (I wish my boys were this enthusiastic about helping to clean at home!), release your inner captain at the steering wheel, peek inside drawers or browse through the ship’s log book.

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Below deck, there’s also a cafe, an education room where school visits and family workshops take place, and a play area for younger children, though we didn’t get to that as it was too busy on the day we visited.

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Admission to both the Riverside Museum and the Tall Ship Glenlee is free, though donations are welcome.

How to get there

Location: Pointhouse Place, Glasgow, G3 8RS

The Riverside Museum and Tall Ship Glenlee are just under a mile’s walk from Partick Station. There are regular train services between Partick and Glasgow Central / Glasgow Queen Street.

There is also a subway station at Partick. If you are coming from outside Glasgow and not getting a direct train to Partick, you can switch to the subway. The closest subway station to Glasgow Central is St Enoch, and the closest subway station to Glasgow Queen Street is Buchanan Street.

An alternative to walking from Partick, is to take the 100 bus service from George Square in Glasgow city centre, which stops right in front of the museum.

Visitor Info

Opening hours: The Riverside Museum is open from daily, from 10am to 5pm on Mondays – Thursdays and Saturdays, and from 11am on Fridays and Sundays. The Tall Ship Glenlee is open from March to October, from 10am to 5pm, except on Tuesdays when they open at 11am. Check their website for any closures due to events.

Cost: Admission to both the Riverside Museum and the Tall Ship Glenlee is free.

Website: Riverside Museum | Tall Ship Glenlee