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In Glasgow, you have to look UP to see the beauty,” remarks David, the front desk clerk at the hip/friendly Malmaison, and it’s the best description I’ve heard yet of the visual appeal of this city. It’s not a city that seems beautiful at first glance, but gaze upwards to a turret, a goofy or stately medallion, or a beautifully-wrought window border, and you’ll begin to appreciate some very lovely architecture. A case in point is the Malmaison itself, transformed from a church into one of the city’s nicest hotels. In typical style for this estimable chain, the container of mouthwash reads “Snog me senseless,” the Do Not Disturb sign proclaims, “I want to be alone,” and the guest services directory is called “My Mal Life.” The rooms are comfy, the staff charming and helpful, the location just off Blythswood Square perfect.

Another design favorite is ABode, just a couple of blocks away and like the Mal, a high-design hotel inside a traditional building, entered through a stone archway, with friendly staff, boldly contemporary rooms, and one of my favorite restaurants in town. For a more traditional approach, the Carlton George is a good example of a grand hotel within walking distance of the train station (every town seems to have one). For a real splurge, One Devonshire Gardens, run by Hotel du Vin, offers beautifully appointed rooms spread throughout five townhouses.

Walking down Ingram Street, self-guided tour in hand, I admire the wide boulevard flanked by stately stone buildings. Until twenty years ago or so, you could hardly even see the grandeur of the edifices for the layer of grime that covered them, until a massive cleaning project, part of the city’s transformation from down-on-its-luck to among-Britain’s-trendiest, revealed the magnificence waiting to be seen. It’s the best example Britain holds of the use of art and culture to re-invent a city, from grants given to open galleries and restaurants to the citywide cleanup that unearthed a beauty surprising even to many Glaswegians.

Now, every corner seems to hold a spot devoted to the artistic, the social, or the culinary. Heading into the heart of the city, I pause to check out huge, wide open George Square with its statues around the perimeter and tall column at the center. Nearby lies GOMA (The Gallery of Modern Art), with its ever-changing exhibits from photographs to neon installations to paintings to “found object” displays. While it’s kind of hit or miss as far as what you’ll find at any given time, it’s an interesting way to see some of the current trends in art.

A few blocks away, you’ll find the Lighthouse, designed by and dedicated to Glasgow’s most famous artistic son, late 19th/early 20th-century designer/architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh. While the building holds some interesting displays on current architecture, it’s the Mackintosh Centre that’s of most interest. As Vienna has Hundertwasser and Barcelona Gaudí, so Mackintosh is iconic in Glasgow (though not so appreciated in his day). He’s the Frank Lloyd Wright of Scotland, an endlessly fascinating architect and designer. At the Lighthouse, several of his fabulous tall-backed chairs are on display (critic Ada Louise Huxtable proclaimed of these chairs, “They have more strength and identity than anyone in a room”), and exhibits describe not only his life but the Glasgow of the time. There’s a separate display case on each of his buildings, from the Lighthouse itself to his masterwork, the Glasgow School of Art. Here you will also find Mackintosh maps of Glasgow as well as “Mackintosh passes” giving you free admission to the sites of his buildings and free public transport between them.

Back in the center, I spend a lot of time walking around the various neighborhoods, powered, of course, by a stop in one of the local coffeehouses. Sometimes I think I remember the areas by these establishments. In the Blythwood Square area, I notice the dignified architecture, but I also spend an overwhelming amount of time in my favorite café, Where the Monkey Sleeps. Here you’ll find a large variety of sandwiches and desserts, and the coffee is the best in town. Similarly, I often admire Merchant City from inside Tinderbox, where several seating areas spread over two floors and the counter out front holds muffins, chocolate cakes, croissants, and the like. Large windows look onto Ingram Street and a gift shop in the back holds some nice crafts (They have a similar, packed-with-students outlet in the West End).

One does not live on coffee alone (as hard as I try), and before long, I’m exploring Glasgow’s enviable dining scene. I love Michael Caines at ABode, where I splurge with a “tasting menu” holding delights from a cylinder of crab salad atop semi-solid tomato consommé to duck breast, sliced thin, on a bed of Savoy cabbage flavored with pancetta. For dessert, a heavenly little glass of fig nectar, with fig sorbet below and almond mousse swirling around the top, is pure pleasure.

Nearby Brian Maule at Chadon D’Or is another favorite for creative cookery exemplified in such dishes as cod on a bed of pea puree with wild mushrooms and shallots, or Scotch fillet of beef with basil gratin. Meanwhile, the casually upscale environment of Gamba is the place for seafood lovers, as is City Merchant, a Merchant City favorite for its fish dishes. Rogano, on a quiet square in the heart of the city, is an Art Deco delight where you can have a fabulous meal (again, mainly seafood), or just stop in to sip coffee and admire the décor. For some truly Scottish delights, I stop in popular Café Gandolfi, where the friendly staff squeezes me into a wooden table in the packed restaurant, and I enjoy such specialties as smoked mackerel pate with oatcakes and a wonderful white pudding that’s like black pudding without the blood (here served with crispy onions, soft baked apple slices, and a red Cumberland sauce).

Hipsters flock to the Corinthian, a former bank building that’s undergone a spectacular renovation, the owners wisely keeping a white-on-white look that doesn’t compete with the drama of the room: high, barreled ceilings, skylights, pillars, and long vertical stained glass windows.

Fans of Indian food will note that Glasgow proclaims itself “the curry capital of Britain.” Particularly worth a visit: The Dhabba, devoted to northern Indian cuisine, and Dahkin, specializing in southern Indian, located practically across the street from each other in Merchant City. While in the West End, the Wee Curry Shop indeed doesn’t have a lot of tables, but the flavors dished up are big enough to make up for it.

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