Merchant City is where Glasgow's tobacco and sugar merchants built their fortunes in the 18th century, and the architecture still shows it, wide streets, grand merchant houses, the Corinthian banking hall that became a bar so good it's now a destination in itself. The street art runs through the whole quarter, particularly around Trongate and Wilson Street.
It sits between the city centre and the East End, and functions as Glasgow's after-dark heart, a dense concentration of bars and restaurants that fills on weekday evenings and gets busy on weekends without becoming unpleasant. Walk it by day for the architecture, return by night for the energy.