The essential guide to the best places to shop, eat and relax in Glasgow. Find the best restaurants, cinemas and nightlife spots along with general need-to-know information including shopping hours and going out tips.

Glasgow's shopping is the second-best for style and range in the UK after the capital, London. Top high street names congregate on Princes Square (Whistles, Space NK). Frasers of Glasgow is a great department store (Buchanan St) while the Buchanan Galleries and St Enoch Centre malls have all the high street names.Upmarket designers cluster in the Italian Centre (Versace, Armani and Ralph Lauren) and on the pedestrianised Buchanan Street (Urban Outfitters, Diesel).

Items to take home include kilts (Geoffrey Tailor Kiltmakers & Weavers Inc. 21st Century Kilts, 309 Sauchiehall Street), Mackintosh-style jewellery (Henderson the Jeweller, 217 Sauchiehall Street) and haggis, a sheep bladder stuffed with meat and herbs.

The Barras is Glasgow's best indoor and outdoor market, where over 1,000 traders display unusual crafts, clothes and antiques.

Standard shopping hours are 9am-5.30pm with late night shopping on Thursdays.

Orro (12 Wilson St) has the latest trends in international jewellery collections.

Glasgow's bar scene is lively, stylish and cosmopolitan. The best areas to bar crawl are the city centre, Merchant City and West End where designer-clad young professionals hang out in sleek, new bars. Though Tennents lager and Irn-Bru are both brewed in the Glasgow area, cocktails are more popular in the smarter bars. With three universities, there is also no shortage of fun-loving party animals to fill many a happy hour and local pub.

Upmarket or not, bars in Glasgow do not expect tips and are open from 11am-11pm daily. Late-licensed establishments close at 3am.

King Tut's Wah Wah Hut has all the up-and-coming bands while the Centre of Contemporary Arts (350 Sauchiehall St) has an arty crowd in its buzzing bar. For an old-fashioned Ceilidh (Scottish dancing), head to the Riverside Club, at 33 Fox St.

The key dining districts are the City Centre, Merchant City and West End. Glasgow's multicultural make-up is evident from the wide variety of cuisines on offer in the city, from Cajun to Spanish, Japanese to Kosher.

The unstuffy atmosphere of Glasgow is expressed in its relaxed dress code in restaurants. Only the very smartest will require men to wear a jacket and tie.

Proximity to the coast ensures fabulous fish and seafood, while Aberdeen Angus steaks are always a good bet in Scotland.

Restaurants are open daily for lunch and dinner. Tips of 10-15 per cent are expected, if the service merits it.

Eating out is fast becoming Glaswegians' favourite occupation, so for top restaurants (see our recommendations), it is necessary to book in advance, especially from Thursday to Sunday and expect to pay £25-£60 per head for a three-course meal with wine.

Brian Maule, former head chef at the Michelin-starred London restaurant, Le Gavroche, uses the best Scottish produce to create rich, traditional French cuisine at his 'Golden Thistle'.

Modern Scottish cooking in stylish surroundings. Particularly good for Scottish beef, with an impressive cellar of wines from Burgundy and Bordeaux.

Terence Conran's answer to fine dining in the upmarket shopping centre of Princes Square offers modern French cuisine using fine Scottish ingredients - venison, Scottish partridge, gilthead bream etc.

A lively Italian restaurant with tables arranged in courtyard style, where live music entertains diners most nights of the week.

Modern French cuisine made with fine Scottish ingredients. Another informal, casual but well-designed eatery from the Conran empire.

Do be careful about the Rangers/Celtic football club rivalry and until you know who the person you are talking to supports, don't be too quick to praise one side or the other. Be punctual and dress smartly for meetings. Do suggest after-work drinks and lunches. If you invite someone to lunch they will expect you to foot the bill.Don't say 'Scotch' if you mean Scottish - Scotch only refers to whiskey. Don't say you prefer Edinburgh to Glaswegians - they won't appreciate it!

Monday to Friday 9am-5.30pm.

Financial services, bioscience, construction, retail and tourism.

City centre, Merchant City and the waterfront. Future developments are planned for the Broomielaw and Glasgow Harbour (2012) which will develop 120 acress of the former Glasgow shipyards.