Celtic Connections is an annual folk festival held all over Glasgow, celebrating Celtic music and culture for 18 days and attracting visitors and performers from across the globe.
It takes place from mid-January to early February and features musicians taking part in concerts, workshops, ceilidhs, exhibitions and talks in various venues across the city.
The festival has become famous for the spirit of collaboration it encourages, with performances and line-ups unlikely to be seen anywhere else. Musicians come together to work, play and celebrate the rich history of Celtic music, and the popularity of the festival has continued to grow steadily over the years.
Concerts take place in around 20 venues in Glasgow, from big established places like the Royal Concert Hall and the 02 ABC to more intimate venues like Oran Mòr. There’s also a diverse range of musicians, from internationally renowned performers to local musicians just looking to join in at one of the events.
Over 100,000 people attend the festival. The festival generally closes with the world famous Transatlantic Sessions, which brings together the best Celtic musicians from either side of the pond and really lets them create and be inspired by each other. The results have historically been spectacular, and the event is always one of the highlights of the festival.
With the growth of the festival, hotel rooms in the city at this time of year tend to come at a premium and many people opt to base themselves outside of the city centre and make their way around on public transport. It’s a great way of reducing the cost of attending the various events, and getting into the city centre is fairly straightforward by train, bus or taxi.
With so much happening in so many different places it’s important to plan your experience ahead of time. Most of the venues are fairly spread out, so it’s often tricky to nip from place to place. Our Glasgow tour bus tickets let you hop on and off at all our stops around the city as many times as you like, which makes it the perfect way to get around (all while learning a little about the city).
You can find out more about the festival here http://www.celticconnections.com/
