Cafes

Scotland has some of the largest cities in the United Kingdom. The largest city in Scotland is Glasgow and the second largest is the Edinburgh. Apart from London Edinburgh is the only city which hosts a parliament. Aberdeen is also famous in Europe it being the “oil capital” of the community.

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in the Scotland. It has a population of around 580,000, is the commercial capital of Scotland. It is the UK’s largest retail centre after London. Situated in the Central Belt of Scotland on the west coast it is easily accessible by road, rail and air.

Glasgow is one of Europe’s top 20 financial centres and is home to many of Scotland’s leading businesses.  The city houses many wonderful municipal art galleries and museums, first class sports and leisure facilities; excellent theatres; an array of restaurants, pubs and clubs; and beautiful parks. Spectacular countryside and coastal views are within easy reach and the city is only 42 miles from Scotland’s capital city of Edinburgh.

The city is administered by Glasgow City Council with the municipal headquarters, the City Chambers, situated in George Square, at the heart of the city.  The City Council works with partner agencies including Scottish Enterprise, the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Valley Tourist Board, Greater Glasgow Health Board, public sector organisations, educational institutions and the private and voluntary sectors to raise the profile of the city and make it an attractive place to live in, study in, work in, or visit.  In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Glasgow grew to a population of over one million, and was the fourth-largest city in Europe, after London, Paris and Berlin. In the 1960s, large-scale relocation to new towns and peripheral suburbs, followed by successive boundary changes, have reduced the current population of the City of Glasgow unitary authority area to 580,690, with 1,199,629 people living in the Greater Glasgow urban area.

The entire region surrounding the conurbation covers approximately 2.3 million people, 41% of Scotland’s population.

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland. It is the second largest city in Scotland and the seventh-most populous city in the United Kingdom.  Located in the south-east of Scotland, Edinburgh lies on the east coast of the Central Belt, along the Firth of Forth, near the North Sea.

Owing to its spectacular, rugged setting and vast collection of Medieval and Georgian architecture, including numerous stone tenements, it is often considered one of the most picturesque cities in Europe.  Edinburgh is the seat of the Scottish Parliament.

The city was one of the major centres of the Enlightenment, led by the University of Edinburgh, earning it the nickname Athens of the North.   The Old Town and New Town districts of Edinburgh were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. There are over 4,500 listed buildings within the city.  In the 2008 mid year population estimates, Edinburgh had a total resident population of 471,650.

Edinburgh is the top destination for overseas and UK visitors to Scotland. Edinburgh is well-known for the annual Edinburgh Festival, a collection of official and independent festivals held annually over about four weeks from early August. The number of visitors attracted to Edinburgh for the Festival is roughly equal to the settled population of the city.

The most famous of these events are the Edinburgh Fringe (the largest performing arts festival in the world), the Edinburgh International Festival, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, and the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Other events include the Hogmanay street party (31 December), Burns Night (25 January), St. Andrew’s Day (30 November), and the Beltane Fire Festival (30 April).