The Royal National Mòd 2026: Glasgow's Gaelic week

Glasgow is currently in the middle of its biggest Gaelic week. The Royal National Mòd, Scotland's premier Gaelic arts festival, is running across the city from 9 to 17 October, and this year Glasgow has been given the title 'City of the Gaels' (Baile Mòr nan Gàidheal) for the duration. It is the 13th time the festival has come to Glasgow and its first return here since 2019, so there is a bit of a homecoming feel to it.

The scale of the thing is hard to overstate. Around 10,000 people are expected through the doors, with more than 2,000 competitors registered across 16 venues. The programme runs to nearly 300 events — concerts, competitions, art exhibitions, sessions, film screenings, processions, literary events and sporting spectacles — plus more than 80 fringe events. The competitions themselves cover traditional music, Gaelic song, storytelling, poetry, highland dancing, instrumental performance, drama, sport and literature, so there is something whether you are a serious listener or just fancy a look round.

It opened at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall with 'Ar Cànan 's ar Ceòl', a concert marking 40 years of Gaelic Medium Education in Glasgow, with the traditional band DLÙ and an orchestral score by past and present students. Phil MacHugh and Catrìona (Carrie) MacNeil hosted the opening ceremony, and on the day the Gaelic Ambassador of the Year award went to Calum Ferguson, founder of ALBA FA, who has been promoting Gaelic through football. The Gaelic Learner of the Year and Friends of the Mòd awards were also announced.

With the festival still going, there is plenty left to catch. 'An Drochaid' (The Bridge) pulls together talent from Glasgow's diaspora islands on 13 October, and the family cèilidhs on 12 and 13 October are an easy way in if you are bringing younger ones along. 'Gael Force 10' takes over the Barrowland Ballroom on 16 October, and the whole thing closes on 17 October with the Massed Choirs, which includes a procession along Sauchiehall Street. In between, there are football and shinty matches, talks, workshops and exhibitions dotted across the week.

The venues are spread across the city, so you can build a day around whatever takes you closest. The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall at 2 Sauchiehall Street sits at the top of Buchanan Street in the shopping district and can hold up to 2,000 people in its main auditorium; it is open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm, and closed on Sundays, with wheelchair access only through the Killermont Street entrance. The Barrowland Ballroom at 244 Gallowgate is the other big name on the list, a historic room that has been taking crowds since 1934. The National Piping Centre, the City of Glasgow College and Edward House on Sauchiehall Street, where 'Ceòl is Curry' and the morning 'Tì is Cofaidh' meetings are held, round out the bill.

Behind it all is An Comunn Gàidhealach, the registered charity that has run the Mòd since it was founded in Oban in 1891. It is backed by a long list of supporters, from Glasgow Life and Bòrd na Gàidhlig to the Scottish Government, VisitScotland and BBC ALBA. For tickets and the full line-up, the festival site at modghlaschu2026.org is the place to go.