Why you should stay in Zagreb for the weekend

From Ljubljana to Zagreb - our third stop on our world trip was the capital of Croatia. We just stayed for the weekend and only had a quick glimpse of this manifold city. In this blogpost you will find out what we did in Zagreb and why we would love to come back again.

We took the Flixbus for our trip to Zagreb similar to what we did before from Munich to Ljubljana. It took us about five hours to get there, but we can highly recommend it if you like to travel more sustainable. We always try to do the balancing CO2, which Flixbus offers. The contribution is approximately 1-3% of the original ticket and on their website you can read how they donate the money. We will pay this extra feed as long as we can bear it.

First thing that we did when we arrived in Zagreb was to change our money from Euro to Kuna. Until now we were used to pay everything with Euros and now we needed a little time to get used to the new currency. The next thing we really liked was to drive by tram through the entire city. The partially tat, but kind of lovely blue tram is part of the cityscape and we really enjoyed it - even when it was very crowded during rush hour.

Certainly our highlight was the super nice AirBnB we got for two nights in Croatia’s capital! Our very friendly hosts welcomed us so warmly in their beautiful Clyra Apartment and offered us a grappa as a welcome drink. The apartment is so pretty, very sophisticated and everything is quite new - we were their second guests ever. Ante and his wife made most of the apartment by themselves and we really liked the style of it. As you can see in the photo - we immediately felt homey there. We would come back to this flat any time and in a heartbeat!

Because of the great flat we decided to cook our own food in the nice kitchen and that’s why we really didn’t go out for dinner in Zagreb. After all the restaurants on our trip it was a nice and way cheaper alternative. It was quite nice and we really enjoyed it because we are a great team when it comes to food and cooking. Of course we still tried a few bars and cafes for snack and coffee.

In this very cozy cafe near the cathedral of Zagreb we stayed almost two hours and enjoyed the homemade and fresh Struklji. As in Slovenia this is a typical Croatian food. They offer nice espresso and smoothies as well. If you order the Struklji, be aware that it will take around 20 minutes to get prepare it.

In this bar we had a very delicious and good mixed Motjio. But the best thing was to watch people because the bar is on the popular Ul. Ivana Tkalčića. We also had an interesting conversation about start ups in Croatia with the guys from Trinity Dynamis.

Street food market at the C’est is d’Best is nice because they offer a small selection of vegetarian and vegan food. You just can walk around and get inspired by the tasty smells.

Speaking of festivals reminds us of the Budek Park in Zagreb where a lot of events are hosted as well and where to go when it’s too hot in the centre. We would describe it as a really beautiful local recreation area where many events take place - for example “Floraart”. During this exhibition you will recognize early if you head to the right part out of town. Nearby you will see a lot of people who are carrying colorful and big flowers through the streets. It’s funny to see a big Ficus or great orchis drive in the bus or tram towards their new homes. The Budek Park is located in Novi Zagreb just between the neighborhood of Središće, Zapruđe and the river of Sava. Save some time to just sit down or walk around, to swim or for a picnic.

Because it was a muggy weekend in Zagreb we tried to explore Zagreb in the early morning on a Sunday which is quite nice as so to avoid the tourist crowds. On our way to the center we passed a really nice flea and antique market on Britanski trg. Afterwards we found out that it’s one of the most popular flea market in Zagreb and a real cultural treat for all fans of antiquity.

The Green Horseshoe - Zelena potkova - designed by architect Milan Lenucci is an impressive green area in the heart of Zagreb. It links for example the beautiful and well preserved Hrvatsko narodno kazalište with the Umjetnički paviljon so nicely that you have to walk around there and sit down for a snack.

We enjoyed the cathedral of Zagreb as well. What we really recommend is to circle this impressive building whose two towers are the largest one in Croatia. We were surprised to be alone in the inner courtyard of the cathedral. It’s totally worth to get a glimpse of the church life context behind the church itself.

Later we discovered the nice park behind the cathedral which got his name after the fishpond of the bishops - “Ribnjak”. What we really liked about this place was the relaxed atmosphere and the wriggly paths along the impressive town wall.

Zagreb seems to be a capital which is proud of its history and ambitious to keep up with other European capitals. That suits the city very well and we are looking forward to come back in the near future for sure.

• Tap water is drinkable everywhere and all the time - so we still didn’t buy any plastic water bottle!
• Coffee and wine comes with tap water and you don’t have to order it separately!
• You still have to refuse the plastic bag son every shopping. We use our cute “travelbees” tote bag instead. Maybe you get an odd look but we think it’s worth it!
• Zagreb has over seven parks to go in and the Maksimir Park is the biggest public park in South-Eastern Europe!
• In Zagreb you will be never get lost because it has free WIFI almost everywhere in the centre and was one of the first city to offer free WIFI over the whole town!
• We just use one vehicle in Zagreb: the blue tram!