Glasgow is among the coolest of cities - and that's not just because it stands at 56° North, the same latitude as Moscow. Its present inhabitants possess a style that makes their Edinburgh counterparts look staid and stuffy by comparison. Just take a stroll round the Merchant City or along Byres Road in the West End and sit in one of the many stylish bars and cafés and you'll witness a degree of posing that is almost continental in its fervency. The country's caffeine capital is really more Barcelona or Greenwich Village than West Coast Scotland.

Yes, we know, it's a cliché to say that Glasgow people are friendly, but it's true. This is, without doubt, the friendliest of Britain's large cities. Writer William McIlvanney once said that Glasgow wasn't a city, it was a 24-hour cabaret, and this sums up perfectly one of the city's greatest attractions - its sense of humour. The city that gave us Billy Connolly, Jerry Sadowitz and Rab C Nesbit does not take itself too seriously. Humour is integral to life here and Glaswegians find it in everything - particularly people from Edinburgh, who they traditionally see as cold, humourless and full of their own importance.

Glasgow is unusual among great cities in that it has no single defining monument: no Eiffel Tower; no Trafalgar Square; no Empire State Building; nor an Edinburgh Castle for that matter. Ironically, though, this city has picked itself up from the near terminal trauma of an economic wipe-out, dusted itself down and re-invented itself as a major European tourist attraction, thanks mainly to its buildings. Glasgow may not have been the architect of its own downfall, but its great designers have risen from beyond the grave to breathe new life back into the city. Foremost among them is, of course, Charles Rennie Mackintosh. To say that Barcelona has Gaudí and Glasgow has Rennie Mackintosh is not over-stating the case. He is not only one of Scotland's most celebrated architects, but also one of the creative geniuses of modern architecture. It is only in the past few decades, however, that his talent has been fully recognised in his home city and serious efforts made to preserve his artistic legacy. The restoration of the Willow Tea Rooms, Scotland Street School, Queen's Cross Church and the Mackintosh House at the Hunterian Art Gallery, are all testimony to his prodigious talents, but it is his great masterpiece, the Glasgow School of Art, that really stands out.

Top of everyone's list, and the city's most popular visitor attraction, is the Burrell Collection, a state-of-the-art building stuffed with priceless antiquities from around the world. In the West End are the Kelvinhall Museum and Art Gallery and the Transport Museum. Across the other side of town, in the East End, is the fascinating People's Palace, which tells the story of this great city, while on the north side of the city centre is the strangely beguiling Tenement House, a time capsule of life in pre-war Glasgow. Glasgow is also a great city for shopping, and once you've tired of sightseeing you can head for The Barras in the East End, Glasgow's biggest market, where you can hear the patter as well as possibly unearthing a bargain or two. At the other extreme are the chic boutiques and expensive designer stores of the Merchant City, and somewhere in between there are the quirky, bohemian shops in the little cobbled lanes around Byres Road in the West End. For High Street shopping Buchanan Street is the place to head for.