After spending five weeks in Spain, it was time to set off for the second leg of our two-month trip. First stop: Zagreb, Croatia.
Neither of us had ever been to Zagreb or Croatia before, and I was eager to visit it as one of the last two new countries I needed to achieve my goal of 30 countries at age 30. Croatia was number 29! We flew direct from Madrid to Zagreb, where we spent three days exploring Croatia’s capital city.
Here’s what you need to know about visiting Zagreb, Croatia.
About Zagreb
Thanks to Instagram and travel influencers, the secret is out about Croatia — if you’re looking for a beach vacation in the Balkans, Greece isn’t your only option anymore. Croatia also boasts miles of Mediterranean shoreline and is typically cheaper than Greece, meaning you get many of the same benefits for a lower price. If you want coastal Croatia, you’ll have to head to Dubrovnik or Split. But the only place we visited in Croatia on this trip was Zagreb, the country’s land-locked capital.
Zagreb, with a metropolitan population of about 1.3 million, is the most populous city in Croatia and is home to about 1/4 to 1/3 of the country’s population. It does receive a decent amount of tourism, though mostly from nearby European countries Austria, Germany, and Italy. Out of all the cities we visited on this trip, Zagreb definitely seemed the least touristy.
In Zagreb, as in the rest of Croatia, the population speaks Croatian. Luckily, pretty much everyone we interacted with in the tourism/hospitality industries had a proficient level of English. And everyone was so nice! All the Croatians we met were so friendly that we felt welcome throughout our whole visit.
How Many Days Do You Need in Zagreb?
Truthfully, Zagreb is not a very big city. You could definitely see most of the highlights of Zagreb in 24 hours if you really wanted to, but I always think slower travel is better, so I’d say two days.
If you have three days in Zagreb or more, consider taking a day trip from Zagreb to Plitvice Lakes National Park. Known as one of the most beautiful national parks in Europe, Zagreb is a great jumping-off point for your visit.
(I was thinking about doing this, but Matt caught a cold right when we got to Zagreb so we decided to take it easy.)
Things To Do in Zagreb
Some of the most iconic sights in Zagreb are its churches. St. Mark’s Church, the photo at the top of this article, is famous for its colorful tiled roof, with the crests of Old Zagreb and Croatia. Due to the construction on the church, we weren’t able to get too close, nor go inside — though apparently it’s only open at Mass times, anyway. The other can’t miss church is the Zagreb Cathedral, which makes up an essential part of Zagreb’s skyline. It was most unfortunate that both bell towers were completely shrouded in scaffolding during our visit… but here’s how it looks normally.
You can see that, in front of the cathedral, there’s a plaza with tables and a few red umbrellas. This is where you can find Dolac Market, an open-air famer’s market that is held daily from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., and until 1 p.m. on Saturdays. In the picture above, they must be cleaning up, because normally that square is totally filled with red umbrellas and market stalls!
On Friday nights in the spring and summer — when there’s good weather — the market comes alive again as PLACe Market. Now, I can’t tell you why the name is stylized that way, but it was designed for “the National Tourism project of the Revitalization of Croatian markets.” From 8 p.m. to midnight, you’ll find long picnic tables, a pop-up bar, and several food and drink vendors from throughout the city, all set up for patrons to enjoy the evening socializing in the market square. We were lucky to come across it and tried some sweet Croatian dumplings called knödel.
Just a minute’s walk away from the market — down a set of stairs — is Zagreb’s main square, Ban Jelačić Square. Just like any good European plaza, it’s got a massive statue of a guy on a horse. The square is also home to some pretty buildings with really ornate architecture, so it’s worth a visit. Sometimes, the square holds events — during the 2018 Men’s World Cup, when Croatia made it to the final, Zagreb’s residents gathered for celebrations. During our visit, there was an international track meet being held and we stopped to watch a bit of it.
Speaking of architecture, there are several beautiful buildings in Zagreb you can check out (and they weren’t under construction while we were there!). The bright yellow, Baroque-style Croatian National Theatre sits at the end of a long park, which is part of the city’s “Green Horseshoe” — a collection of eight parks forming a horseshoe shape, each with gardens, monuments, and flowers. Another part of the horseshoe has the also-yellow, also-beautiful Zagreb Art Pavilion.
One last thing you can’t miss in Zagreb is the Museum of Broken Relationships. While there are sometimes traveling pop-up versions of this exhibit in museums around the world, the original, permanent collection is in Zagreb. It costs €7 per person to enter, and we probably spent about 1-1.5 hours there. It was so interesting to see the items that people have donated in memoriam of past relationships — whether it be romantic, familial, or even relationships with themselves.
If you’re already in lower town and want to get up to the Museum, you can always take the Zagreb Funicular, which is the oldest funicular in the world! It’s also one of the shortest in the world, taking just 64 seconds to ascend/descend 217 ft/66 meters.
How Expensive Is Zagreb?
When it comes to the cost of visiting European countries, I typically compare places to Spain. For example, places like London and Dublin are way more expensive than Spain. I would say that Zagreb was slightly more expensive than Spain.
Something to note is that Croatia, while part of the EU, just started using the Euro as its currency on January 1, 2023. During this transitional period, you will likely see prices given in both the Croatian Kuna (HRK) and Euros. If you look at photos of menus at different restaurants online, you might see the prices only given in HRK if the photos are old, so don’t panic.
When our driver, Luka, picked us up from the airport, we asked him for restaurant recommendations, and he told us that many places in the city center had higher prices for the tourists. So we worked a little bit harder to find restaurants with prices in a range that we were comfortable with. Most of the entrées we ordered were between about €10-€15.
At coffee shops, a cappuccino would cost about €2. A pint of beer was about €3; a glass of wine was between €3-€6. And the Uber we ordered to take us to the bus station on our last day was about about €6 for the 15-minute ride.
Where We Ate
I feel like usually I just highlight one or two places that stood out, but we really didn’t eat a bad meal anywhere in Zagreb. All of these places met our budget and were tasty, too!
Stari Fijaker: This was a place recommended to us by Luka, so we checked it out on our first night. While it seemed a little fancy, it was very warm and cozy inside, and the food was delicious! It was a great introduction to Croatian food. Try the Popečci a la Fijaker.
Stari Fijaker
Mesnička ul. 6
10000, Zagreb, Croatia
La Štruk: There’s only one thing on the menu — štrukli — which is a Croatian dish similar to lasagna but doughier. We went with one sweet (blueberry) and one savory (truffle) and split them, which was enough to fill us up for dinner. And the best part was that each štruk was only €7 each.
La Štruk
Skalinska ul. 5,
10000, Zagreb, Croatia
Nokturno: While we ate at La Štruk, which is in a super cute location in the middle of a downhill street with other restaurants, we saw a huge line of people queued up to eat at Nokturno. The next day, when we were looking for a lunch spot, our search led us to Nokturno, which was much less busy for lunch. I had a black risotto which is made with cuttlefish and is a traditional Croatian dish.
Nokturno
Skalinska ul. 4
10000, Zagreb, Croatia
Element Food&Bar: One night, we just wanted something quick, nothing fancy. We found Element Food&Bar not far from our place and liked that it wasn’t a chain, so we checked it out. The owner/chef was super friendly and attentive, and he even gave us free samples of cherry schnapps that he had made. If you want bar food like burgers, tacos, etc. — and great service — check out Element Food&Bar.
Element Food&Bar
Varšavska ul. 7/1
10000, Zagreb, Croatia
Vinodol: Vinodol was also recommended to us by Luka, but when we looked at the menu and photos initially, we thought it was too fancy for us. (People who had been wearing the same clothes for six weeks.) But on Sunday afternoon, our last day, we were having a hard time finding somewhere that was open for lunch. We checked out the menu posted outside a restaurant, thought it looked good, and then realized it was Vinodol. Luckily, they had one non-reserved table available! This was our most expensive meal in Zagreb, but it included two entrees, an appetizer, a bottle of water, a beer, and a glass of (expensive) wine, and bread. And it was still only about €58.
Vinodol
Nikole Tesle ul. 10
10000, Zagreb, Croatia
Note #1: Almost everywhere we went asked us if we had a reservation. It seems like this is somewhat typical in Zagreb, so keep that in mind if there’s somewhere you really want to eat.
Note #2: Google tells me that Croatia is a tipping country, though you’ll likely have to do it in cash if you do it at all. We tried to tip when we could or when the service was outstanding.
Where We Stayed
We stayed in a studio apartment called Studio Apartment Green Door in Zagreb, and it was perfect.
It was in a great location for a great price — we were able to walk everywhere we wanted to go in Zagreb in just a few minutes. Plus, it was in a private location in a courtyard behind a parking lot, so it was nice and quiet. I definitely recommend it!
Final Thoughts
While Zagreb may be a small city that doesn’t take much time to visit, it’s still worth a stop if you want a walkable city with great food, friendly people, gorgeous architecture, and lots of parks. On my next visit, I’ll probably add a day trip from Zagreb to my itinerary — and maybe all of Zagreb’s churches won’t be under construction anymore. 😉
What do you think? Are you planning to visit Zagreb, or have you been there before? Let me know in the comments!
-Cathy
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