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Central Belt

The Central Belt of is the broad lowland strip between the Firth of Forth in the east and the Firth of Clyde in the west. It includes Edinburgh and Glasgow the two principal cities, and a string of other large towns: most of the Scottish population live here.
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Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Essential Destinations

Top destinations include Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY 3.0.
is the capital of , located in the Central Belt of the country. With a population of 526,470 in the urban area in 2021, and 901,455 in the metropolitans, fizzes with a cosmopolitan yet uniquely Scottish atmosphere.

Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is the largest city in Scotland on in the Central Belt. reinvented itself from the 1990s, one of the most successful examples in Britain, with a range of developments in industry, culture, cuisine and architecture.

Photo: AlasdairW, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a city in the central lowlands of Scotland, and historically the county town of . For centuries this was the main route between the Highlands and the Lowlands, guarded by the castle on its battleship of a crag, and with the River Forth sweeping round as a moat.

Destinations to Discover

Explore places such as The Lothians and Clydeside.

Photo: AlasdairW, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is the collective name for the counties of Midlothian, East Lothian and West Lothian, plus Edinburgh city, in the Central Belt of Scotland.

Photo: AlasdairW, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a region around in the Central Belt of Scotland, with a population in 2020 of 1,028,220. It more-or-less corresponds to Greater Glasgow, and half-a-dozen other names, but it's not a metropolis or other unit of local government.

Photo: AlasdairW, CC BY-SA 3.0.
are counties in the Central Belt of Scotland. They're lowland, with a mix of farmland and urban industry, but with hills rising steeply nearby. The big attraction is Loch Lomond and the Trossachs.

Central Belt

Latitude of center
55.951° or 55° 57′ 4″ north
Longitude of center
-3.836° or 3° 50′ 10″ west
Elevation
564 feet (172 metres)
Geo­Names ID
7281598
Wiki­data ID
Q1053720
This page is based on GeoNames, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikivoyage.
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Satellite Map

Discover Central Belt from above in high-definition satellite imagery.
© Stadia Maps, Airbus DS, CNES, PlanetObserver, and Copernicus

In Other Languages

From Asturian to Venetian—“Central Belt” goes by many names.
  • Asturian: “Central Belt”
  • Bavarian: “Central Belt”
  • Chinese: “蘇格蘭中心帶”
  • Chinese: “蘇格蘭中部地帶”
  • Dutch: “Central Belt”
  • French: “Central Belt”
  • German: “Central Belt”
  • Hebrew: “החגורה המרכזית”
  • Hebrew: “מרכז סקוטלנד”
  • Italian: “Cintura centrale”
  • Japanese: “セントラルベルト”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Central Belt”
  • Norwegian: “Central Belt”
  • Persian: “کمربند مرکزی”
  • Portuguese: “Central Belt”
  • Scots: “Central Belt”
  • Spanish: “Central Belt”
  • Spanish: “Cinturón Central”
  • Venetian: “Sintura sentrałe”

Scotland: Must-Visit Destinations

Delve into Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness, and Loch Ness.

Explore These Curated Destinations

Discover places selected for their distinct character and enduring appeal.
About Mapcarta. Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, except for photos, directions, and the map. Description text is based on the Wikivoyage page “Central Belt”. Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0.