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How to spend 48 hours in Glasgow

Day One

Breakfast: Riverhill Café

(4 minute walk from Native’s aparthotel in Glasgow)
This friendly neighbourhood café just happens to have some of the best coffee and cake in town. Treat yourself to one of their sumptuous morning pastries and a creamy hot chocolate – you’ll work it all off just by strolling around the city!

After breakfast: Gallery of Modern Art

(3 minutes from breakfast)
If world-class art galleries are your bag, you’ll love GoMA. Enjoy painting, photography, sculpture and mixed media across four galleries, in a building designed by one of Glasgow’s favourite sons, Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Lunch: The Pot Still

(4 minutes from the gallery)
A trip to Glasgow calls for a dram or two. Or three. That’s why lunch at the Pot Still is a must. Tuck into one of their home-made pies alongside a tot of whisky from Japan, Germany, Sweden or even India.

After lunch: The Mitchell Library

(13 minutes from the pub)
This gorgeous building just happens to be Glasgow’s largest public reference library, where you can peruse their huge collection of Burns manuscripts, attend an author event or even trace your own family history.

Dinner: The Gannet

(10 minutes from the library)
Head over to uber-cool Finnieston for an elegant dinner, Glasgow style, with seasonal Scottish produce lovingly crafted into unforgettable dishes. There’s also a wonderful wine list, with organic and biodynamic vintages, as well as single malts to round off your meal.

Drinks and music: King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut

(16 minutes from the restaurant, 10 minutes from home)
Just one of Glasgow’s legendary music hotspots, King Tut’s has long been named the best small music venue in the world. The likes of Oasis, Radiohead and Coldplay have all graced its tiny stage, and the cosy bar downstairs is the perfect place to while away an evening.

Day Two

Breakfast: Café Gandolfi

(10 minutes’ walk from Native Glasgow)
A much-loved Glasgow institution, Cafe Gandolfi serves up hearty breakfasts, from flaky croissants and comforting porridge to a full Scottish, complete with the not-to-be-missed tattie scone.

After breakfast: The People’s Palace

(13 minutes from breakfast)
Set in the historic Glasgow Green, the People’s Palace is a brilliant free museum that tells the story of the city’s social history through artefacts, paintings, photographs and films.

Lunch: West on the Green

(6 minutes from the museum)
Take a leisurely stroll across Glasgow Green and you’ll find a little corner of Bavaria. Here you can enjoy brilliant beer right where its brewed, with a side of schnitzel, currywurst and strudel. If the weather’s good, you might even snag a table outside.

After lunch: Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre

(18 minutes from the brewery)
For something cool, quirky and utterly unique to Glasgow, pop into this bizarre little hidden gem to see hundreds of tiny carved figures and pieces of old scrap perform in a show unlike any other.

Pre-dinner drinks: Tennent’s Wellpark Brewery

(16 minutes from the theatre)
Take a tasting tour of over 450 years’ brewing here in the East End, from Tennent’s classic eponymous brew to the delicious Menabrea from Italy. Perfect for working up an appetite.

Dinner: Paesano

(17 minutes from the brewery, 3 minutes from home)
When Glaswegians want an unbeatable pizza, they go to Paesano. Known and loved for bringing real Neapolitan pizza to the city, they offer light crusts and great quality toppings, all made by pizzaioli who take their craft very, very seriously.

Of course, there’s so much more to do, see and taste in glorious Glasgow that 48 hours will only whet your appetite for more…

Book your Glaswegian getaway and book your stay in our stunning aparthotel in Glasgow.

New Year’s Eve: Celebrate in Manchester

From 21:00, across all of Ducie Street Warehouse, they’ll be hosting a fun and frivolous NYE accompanied by the super fresh and damn fine DJ Claud Cunningham.

The Restaurant at Ducie Street Warehouse
Three course dinner:
£39 per person

LOUNGE
Two cocktails and snacks: £17.50 per person

Book your table here.

The fireworks

Free and open to all (no tickets needed), Manchester’s New Year’s Eve fireworks display will be outside Manchester Cathedral, less than 20 minutes’ walk from Native Manchester.

There’ll be music, a DJ, a big screen and a proper countdown, with festivities kicking off around 10.30pm. The fireworks themselves are a brilliant ten minute display on the stroke of midnight.

Keep in mind, though, it’s an alcohol-free event, so there’ll be no bar or booze allowed in.

Something a little bit different

Light it up

For a New Year’s Eve like no other, head to Bowlers for Carnival of Light’s Magical Lantern Rave. A kaleidoscopic array of lanterns and mesmerising visuals await, along with banging tunes, headlined by DJ Jaguar Skills.

Laugh it up

Skip the party scene altogether and treat yourself to a slap up meal and some class acts at Comedy Store Manchester, Deansgate Locks. Enjoy the comedic ramblings of Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Jeff Innocent, The Noise Next Door, Laura Lexx and Markus Birdman, either at 6pm or 9pm.

Glam it up

Dress to kill and head to Peaky Blinders Bar, where their Roaring 20s Party will be ringing in the new decade with flat caps, flappers and live bands. Here you’ll dance into the early hours and perhaps win a bottle of bubbly, awarded to the best dressed partygoer of the night.

Oompah it up

Step off the streets of Manchester and into Germany at Albert’s Schloss’ New Year’s Eve: The Zero Hour. Bid a fond auf wiedersehen to 2019 with burlesque, cabaret, dancing and more, all to the tune of Albert’s Haus Band and a stein or two (or three, or four…) from their Bier Palace.

Welcome 2020 like a Mancunian at our Manchester aparthotel.

New Year’s Eve: Celebrate in Glasgow

A cork-popping ceilidh

Dance the night (and the wee hours) away with Ceilidh Minogue, Scotland’s favourite ceilidh band, plus a five course banquet when you need a breather. Don’t worry if you’re not familiar with Scottish dancing – you just follow the directions called out by the band and let the music sweep you off your feet. Find out more.

A stomping street party

Celebrate under the stars at Ashton Lane’s legendary street party, just a ten minute cab ride away. Enjoy an array of street food, fireworks, live music and entertainment, and lashings of Glaswegian hospitality as you count down to the new year.

A disco den

Electric slide into the new year at Drygate Brewery’s Northern Soul, Motown and Disco Hogmanay – and if you can say that at the end of the night, you haven’t sampled enough of their brews. Along with live music and DJ sets, your ticket also includes a three course Hogmanay meal in the downstairs brasserie. Find out more.

A city centre celebration

Bringing back their much loved Hogmanay party for another year, Merchant Square will be kicking off 2020 with all its trademark Glasgow charm. There’ll be live performances from The Bonnie Scots Showgirls, Emma Hale, The Brightside and The Foxes, along with a DJ and a balloon drop at midnight.

Oh, and if you want to blend in, don’t link arms until the final verse of Auld Lang Syne. It’s a rookie mistake.

Sing in the new year, Glasgow style.

Book aparthotel in Glasgow.

New Year’s Eve: Celebrate in London

Watch from the river

On New Year’s Eve the Thames is adorned with dozens of glittering cruise boats, all with a great view of the fireworks. Or, if you fancy the James Bond experience, you could always go for a speedboat.

Watch from on high

Head for the hills with your cosiest coat and a flask of boozy hot chocolate. We think the best views are from Alexandra Palace, Primrose Hill, and Parliament Hill or Hampstead Heath.

Watch from your apartment

Of course, there’s no view in town that can compete with HD cameras on helicopters. So, pop a bottle of bubbly, snuggle on the sofa or even have a little soirée of your own – just don’t forget to turn on BBC One at five to midnight.

Cool and quirky New Year’s Eves

If you’re staying at one of our City aparthotels…

Party like it’s 1399 at the Ivory Vaults, where you’ll enjoy a six-course Medieval banquet. Order a mead or two from your serving wench as you watch knights, jesters, dancers and acrobats perform in your honour. You’re only a short stumble from one of our short stay apartments on Fenchurch Street.

If you’re staying at Native Bankside…

Party with RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Raja at the gorgeous LaLiT Ballroom for the party of the decade. Expect an utterly debauched “eleganza extravaganza”, with great music, bubbly and a four-course Pan-Indian dinner. Here you’re only an 18 minute walk back to bed at our hotel near Southbank, Native Bankside.

Ring in the 2020s in one of our holiday apartments in London.

Native Manchester: The Sunday Times Award Winning Hotel

The rooms

When you’re ready to head up to your room, “the lift whisks you up to what might be the swankiest hotel corridors on the planet”, according to Matthew Davis at the Sunday Times.

All our apartments are airy and spacious, boasting rich, gorgeous quality furnishings and décor, a pantry stocked with a few locally sourced goodies, and fully equipped kitchens with everything you need to whip up a proper meal. The plush Gainsborough beds mean a lie-in is inevitable and the rainfall showers are too luxurious not to linger in.

As for the penthouses, they have “a deco/maritime feel, with huge mirrors, velvet chairs you can’t stop stroking and a sprawling private terrace with Peak District views. These rooms start at £315 a night, a steal if there are four of you.”

The city

We’re proud to have breathed new life into a building that’s Manchester through and through.

“This has been an extraordinary opportunity to take one of the great icons of Manchester’s industrial past and turn it into a major cultural and social destination for the city,” said Native Founder and CEO Guy Nixon. “Manchester is a thriving, culturally rich and fast expanding city so it seems apt that we are unveiling the new breed of Native’s aparthotels here at Ducie Street Warehouse.”

Intrigued? You can read the full article here or the coverage in the Manchester Evening News.

Or just come and stay. We think you’ll love it too.

See it for yourself at Native Manchester and find out more with us.

Best Christmas Markets in Glasgow

The traditional ones

If you’re a chestnuts-roasting-on-an-open-fire kind of festive fan, you’ll want to head to George Square (about 2 minutes from Native Glasgow) and St Enoch Square (a mere 6 minute walk away) for gifts and knick-knacks, hearty food and steaming cups of mulled cider.

At St Enoch Square, you can feast on the classic bratwursts and hog roast, or go off piste with a bit of local duck rotisserie or crêpes. At George Square you’ll find the city’s stunning 15 metre Christmas tree, a vintage Helter Skelter and carousel, and Santa himself, who’s essentially a living advent calendar, giving out treats to kids every day. You may be lucky enough to get an apartment on the east side of the building that has views over George Square, where you can watch the festive fun from the warmth of your own room. The location is so good that we even had a party in our penthouse apartment with our friends at El Perro Negro to watch the Christmas light switch on over George Square.

St Enoch Square Christmas Market

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Until Sunday 22 December
Sunday to Wednesday: 10am – 7pm, bars open until 10pm
Thursday to Saturday: 10am – 10pm

George Square Christmas Market

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Until Sunday 29 December
10am – 10pm every day, 10am – 6pm on Christmas Eve

Find out more.

The indie ones

A Vegan Connections Christmas 2019

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A post shared by Vegan Connections (@veganconnections) on Dec 8, 2019 at 3:25am PST

Saturday 14 December, The Briggait, Bridegate

A glittering Christmas market with a vegan twist, Vegan Connections will be hosting 35 stalls serving hearty food and selling thoughtful, ethically sourced gifts.

There’s also a charitable side to the market, with proceeds from the raffle and other fundraising going towards The Glasgow Winter Night Shelter.

Sloans Market

Every weekend, 11am to 5pm, Sloans Lane, between Argyle Street and Buchanan Street.

Brilliant independent traders from across the country gather at Sloans Market every weekend, and things turn seriously festive throughout December. The stalls are quirky and original, the pub there serves great food and you might even catch a piano playing elf or two.

Merchant Square Craft & Design Fair

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Every Saturday, 11am–6pm
Every Sunday, 12pm–6pm

Merchant Square’s regular craft fair is twinkling with fairy lights and scented with spice at this time of year. From handmade baby clothes and soaps to artwork and photography, it’s perfect for a bit of last minute Christmas shopping.

Plan your festive escape and book your stay in our art deco boutique hotel in Glasgow.

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