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The daffodils come up in Glasgow in March whether or not the weather has agreed to spring. A bright, blustery afternoon can turn to hail and back again before you’ve finished a coffee, and a mild week can be followed by one last flurry of snow. Glasgow in March is the city in transition: lighter evenings, the Comedy Festival filling venues across town, St Patrick’s Day, the last of the Six Nations, and Easter weekend arriving early in 2027, on the same day the clocks go forward.
This guide covers March’s weather and daylight, the Glasgow International Comedy Festival, the end of the Glasgow Film Festival, St Patrick’s Day and the city’s Irish heritage, Mother’s Day, the Easter weekend and whether March is the right month for your trip. Weather figures are Met Office long-term averages for Glasgow. Dates and prices were checked in September 2026, so treat prices as the right order of magnitude and confirm before you book.
March in Glasgow at a glance
| March 2027 | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Average high / low | 9.2°C / 2.6°C |
| Rainfall | About 112mm on roughly 15 days |
| Sunshine | About 106 hours, half as much again as February |
| Daylight | 10¾ hours on 1 March, 12 hours at the equinox on the 20th, 13 hours by the 31st |
| Sunset | 5.51pm on 1 March, 6.44pm on the 27th, then 7.46pm on the 28th after the clocks go forward |
| Glasgow Film Festival | Runs until Sunday 7 March |
| Mother’s Day | Sunday 7 March |
| Comedy Festival | Wednesday 10 – Sunday 28 March |
| St Patrick’s Day | Wednesday 17 March |
| Easter | Good Friday 26 March (a bank holiday); Easter Sunday 28 March, when the clocks go forward |
| Crowds and hotels | Shoulder season: good value midweek, busier on festival weekends and at Easter |
What things cost in March
| Item | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Subway single / all-day cap | £1.80 / £3.40 | Contactless or Smartcard; a paper single is £1.85 |
| Kelvingrove, Riverside Museum, the Burrell, GoMA | Free | Donation boxes at the door |
| Kelvingrove organ recital | Free | 1pm Monday to Saturday, 3pm on Sunday |
| Royal Conservatoire of Scotland performances | From £5 | A busy spring term of concerts, operas and plays |
| A Play, A Pie and A Pint, Òran Mór | Ticket includes a pie and a pint | 1pm lunchtime plays through the spring season |
| Celtic Park / Ibrox stadium tours | From about £20 / £28 | Ibrox tours run on non-match days only |
| Park and ride, all day | About £8.15 | Includes a return Subway trip |
Our Glasgow on a budget guide has plenty more ways to save, and March is still cheap enough to make a long weekend good value.
March weather in Glasgow
March is the month the weather can’t make up its mind. The Met Office’s long-term averages give a high of 9.2°C and a low of 2.6°C, with around six frosty nights at the Met Office station at Bishopton, near Glasgow Airport. Rain falls on roughly 15 days, about 112mm in total, which is drier than any month since September. The big change is the sun: about 106 hours in March, against 70 in February. When it comes out, it has real warmth for the first time since October.
In practice you get everything. There are bright, breezy mornings, sharp hail showers blowing through at lunchtime, rainbows over the tenements, the occasional mild day that feels like April and, early in the month, the odd flurry of late snow. The trick is to dress in layers and not cancel anything because of the forecast. The shower will pass, and the next one is probably twenty minutes behind it.
What to pack for March
- A waterproof jacket with a hood, light enough to carry once the sun comes out.
- Layers: a warm jumper or fleece underneath, because mornings can still be frosty.
- Waterproof shoes. Park paths are still muddy after the winter.
- Sunglasses. Low spring sun after a shower is dazzling.
For the whole year’s numbers, see our Glasgow weather guide.
Lighter evenings and the clocks going forward
March gains more daylight than any other month, well over two hours. On 1 March the sun sets at about 5.51pm, and by the spring equinox on 20 March there are twelve hours of daylight. Then comes the big jump. The clocks go forward an hour at 1am on Sunday 28 March 2027, which is also Easter Sunday. Sunset leaps from about 6.44pm on the Saturday to 7.46pm on the Sunday, and suddenly there’s light for a walk after dinner.
If you’re arriving that weekend, remember that you lose an hour’s sleep on the Saturday night. Check your train and flight times on the Sunday morning, because your phone will change automatically but a paper ticket won’t.
Daffodils and early spring in the parks
March is when the parks wake up. Daffodils fill the verges, the flower beds and the grass under the trees, from the West End’s garden squares to Glasgow Green and Queen’s Park. By the end of the month the first blossom is coming out on the earliest trees, although the city’s big cherry blossom show is usually an April event.
A good spring walk starts in the Botanic Gardens, follows the Kelvin Walkway down to Kelvingrove Park and finishes with a coffee in Finnieston. It takes an hour or so at a gentle pace, with a museum at the end if the heavens open. Our guides to Glasgow’s parks and outdoors and walking routes have many more ideas.
Glasgow International Comedy Festival: 10–28 March 2027
For almost three weeks in March, Glasgow becomes one of the best places in Britain to laugh. The Glasgow International Comedy Festival runs from Wednesday 10 to Sunday 28 March 2027, with big-name stand-ups and home-grown favourites on stages across the city, from large theatres to small bars and back rooms. It suits Glasgow perfectly. This is a city that has always valued a good line, and its audiences are famously quick, occasionally merciless and generous to anyone who earns it.
How to make the most of it:
- Book the headliners early. The big theatre shows sell out, especially on Fridays and Saturdays.
- Take a chance on the small shows. Lesser-known acts in small rooms are cheaper, and they’re where you’ll find the comedians you’ll be telling people about next year.
- Stack them up. Many shows run for an hour, so an early show, dinner and a late show makes a very good night out.
Our Glasgow Comedy Festival guide explains how the festival works, and the Glasgow theatre guide covers the rest of the stage calendar. Lunchtime theatre continues too, with A Play, A Pie and A Pint at Òran Mór on Byres Road, whose spring season of new one-hour plays at 1pm includes a pie and a pint in the ticket.
The last week of the Glasgow Film Festival
The Glasgow Film Festival, which opens on 24 February, runs until Sunday 7 March 2027, so the first weekend of March is its finale. The closing weekend is busy, so book ahead, and remember that the Glasgow Film Theatre on Rose Street is the heart of it all. See our Glasgow Film Festival guide, and our Glasgow in February guide for the opening days.
St Patrick’s Day and Glasgow’s Irish heritage
St Patrick’s Day, 17 March, falls on a Wednesday in 2027, and it means more in Glasgow than in most British cities. Hundreds of thousands of Irish people arrived here in the 19th century, many fleeing the Great Famine, and the city’s Irish community shaped its politics, its churches, its music and its football. Celtic Football Club was founded in the East End in 1887 by a Marist brother, Brother Walfrid, partly to raise money to feed the poor of the area. Our Celtic Park stadium tour guide tells more of that story.
The Glasgow St Patrick’s Festival celebrates that heritage with an annual parade, featuring Irish marching bands from Glasgow and Ireland, and a free family fun day of music, song and dance. In 2026 the family day was held at Merchant Square in the Merchant City on the Saturday before St Patrick’s Day. The 2027 dates hadn’t been announced when we checked, but the events usually fall on or around the nearest weekend, so check the festival’s own website. On the day itself, expect busy pubs, plenty of traditional Irish music sessions and a lot of green.
Six Nations: the final rounds
The Six Nations finishes in March. In 2027 Scotland play Ireland at Murrayfield on Friday 5 March at 8.10pm, the first Friday-night Six Nations match in Edinburgh, and England at Twickenham on Saturday 13 March at 4.40pm for the Calcutta Cup, the oldest trophy in international rugby. Edinburgh is under an hour away by train if you have tickets, and our guide to getting from Glasgow to Edinburgh has the options. If you don’t, Glasgow’s pubs show every match live, and our guide to traditional pubs will find you a good one. Get there early for England v Scotland.
Mother’s Day: afternoon tea
Mothering Sunday falls on 7 March in 2027, three weeks before Easter, and afternoon tea is the classic treat. The most Glaswegian place to do it is the Willow Tearooms on Sauchiehall Street, the tea room Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed for Kate Cranston in 1903, now restored with his high-backed chairs, leaded glass and white-painted woodwork. It’s popular, so book well ahead for Mother’s Day weekend. Our guide to Charles Rennie Mackintosh explains the building’s story, and our round-up of Glasgow’s best cafés has plenty of alternatives.
Easter weekend: 26–29 March 2027
Easter comes early in 2027. Good Friday, 26 March, is a bank holiday in Scotland, and Easter Sunday, 28 March, is the day the clocks go forward. Glasgow’s schools don’t break up for their spring holiday until 5 April, so the Easter weekend itself is a little less busy with local families than it would be in a later year. Visitors from other parts of the UK, whose school holidays vary, will still fill the family attractions.
Most shops and attractions open over the Easter weekend, sometimes with shorter hours on Easter Sunday, so check before you set out. Glasgow Cathedral holds Easter services, the big free museums are open, and a spring walk followed by a long lunch makes a very good Easter Monday. If you’re coming with children, our Glasgow with kids guide has ideas for every weather.
Football, music and nights out
The Scottish Premiership season is heading into its final stretch in March, and there’s usually an international break late in the month. Scotland’s home games are played at Hampden. Stadium tours at Celtic Park and Ibrox and the Scottish Football Museum at Hampden are good bets on a wet morning. Start with our Glasgow football guide. The classical season is in full swing too, as is the gig calendar, so see our guides to classical music and live music venues in Glasgow.
Day trips from Glasgow in March
Longer days make March a much better month for getting out of the city. By the end of the month you have thirteen hours of daylight to play with.
- Loch Lomond. Quiet before the Easter crowds, with snow often still on Ben Lomond. Check which boats and attractions are open, as some keep winter hours into spring.
- Stirling Castle. A good choice in changeable weather, with big views on clear days.
- Edinburgh. Under an hour by train. Avoid the Friday of the Ireland match if you don’t have tickets.
- Glencoe and the Highlands. This becomes realistic as a long day trip again by late March, though snow can linger on high ground and the weather changes fast.
See our day trips from Glasgow guide for more. If you’re driving, remember that Glasgow’s Low Emission Zone bans non-compliant vehicles from the city centre, with penalties from £60.
Is March a good time to visit Glasgow?
March is a good shoulder-season month. Prices are still low, the evenings are getting lighter fast, the parks are full of daffodils, and the Comedy Festival gives the city a buzz for most of the month, with St Patrick’s Day, the Six Nations and an early Easter adding to it. The honest drawback is the weather. March can be glorious, but it can also be cold, wet and blustery in the same afternoon, and it’s not yet reliable enough for long hikes or Highland road trips.
If you can pick your dates, the second half of March gives you the most: the Comedy Festival in full swing, St Patrick’s celebrations, more daylight and, from the 28th, the long evenings of British Summer Time. See our best time to visit Glasgow guide to compare it with April.
If you can wait a few weeks, April is drier, warmer and noticeably brighter, with the cherry blossom out and sunsets approaching 9pm by the end of the month. Our guide to Glasgow in April has the details, including the school holiday dates to plan around.
Glasgow in March: frequently asked questions
Is March a good time to visit Glasgow?
Yes, especially if you like comedy, value and fewer crowds. The Glasgow International Comedy Festival runs from 10 to 28 March 2027, hotels are still reasonably priced, and the evenings get much lighter. Pack for changeable weather.
How cold is Glasgow in March?
The average high is 9.2°C and the average low 2.6°C. Mornings can be frosty and showers can bring hail, but sunny afternoons can feel genuinely mild, so layers are the answer.
When do the clocks go forward in 2027?
At 1am on Sunday 28 March 2027, which is also Easter Sunday. Sunset moves from about 6.44pm on the Saturday to 7.46pm on the Sunday.
When is the Glasgow Comedy Festival 2027?
From Wednesday 10 March to Sunday 28 March 2027, with shows in venues across the city. Book headline acts early, because weekend shows sell out.
Is St Patrick’s Day celebrated in Glasgow?
Yes. Glasgow has a large community of Irish descent, and the Glasgow St Patrick’s Festival holds a parade and a free family day, usually around the weekend nearest 17 March. The pubs are busy on the day itself.
Is Easter a busy time in Glasgow?
It’s busier than the rest of March, especially at family attractions. In 2027 Easter falls on 28 March, before Glasgow’s school spring holiday (5–16 April), so the weekend is a little calmer than usual for local crowds. Good Friday is a bank holiday.
Related Glasgow Guides
- Best time to visit Glasgow, month by month
- Glasgow in February: weather, events and what’s on
- Glasgow International Comedy Festival guide
- Glasgow weather: what to expect and what to pack
- Glasgow events and festivals calendar
- Glasgow’s parks and outdoors
- The Merchant City
- Day trips from Glasgow
Photo Credits
Daffodils in a Glasgow garden square: Host Of Golden Daffodils (26453537860) by dun_deagh, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Spring light over the West End: Spring 2009 – Glasgow West (3436207156) by Graham Campbell, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Merchant Square: Easter Monday in Glasgow (33792289968) by Daniel from Glasgow, United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Upstairs at the Willow Tearooms: Willow Tearooms Glasgow upstairs 2026 by Deadstar, released into the public domain (CC0), via Wikimedia Commons.
