ZagrebCity.com :: Today

Zagreb Today

if I was a foreigner, I would have liked Zagreb like not many other cities

A.G.Matoš

So wrote a great Croatian poet who was not born in Zagreb but was irresistibly inspired and attracted by the city.

Zagreb is still a city of magical charm. Admired and appreciated by all who have met it.

Through its history, Zagreb has developed into a cultural, scientific, commercial, administrative, and industrial centre of the Republic of Croatia and the Central Europe.

There are only few cities that managed to preserve such various sceneries.

Virtually descending into the city centre are the hillsides of Medvednica and vine growing hills upon which the historical Baroque centre of the Upper Town continues.

In the heart of the city a visitor will breathe the Austrian-Hungarian spirit of Vienna and Prague. Spacious squares of the Lower City, monumental buildings built in the classicist manner and all together blended with numerous parks and green promenades.

Many lakes and river Sava that separates the old from the new city add special charm to Zagreb.

Zagreb is a modern city. A city of the 21st century with its tall buildings, commercial and shopping centres and residential areas.

Zagreb does not need praise, only the truth to be spoken.

Zagreb is the city of culture and arts

Over 3,6 millions of different items are kept in more than 30 museums, excluding church and private collections.

Zagreb hosts the famous Museum of Naive Arts. Also the Gallery of Ivan Mestrovic, one of the greatest 20th century sculptors besides Auguste Rodin . World famous is the art collection by Ante Topic Mimara and Strossmayer Gallery rich with old masters. Archaeological Museum holds a famous Egyptian mummy and the world's longest extant Etruscan text. Croatian National History Museum has the world's largest Neanderthal collection – Krapina Pre-Historic-Man as well as tools and weapons.

Technical Museum shows the oldest machine in this part of Europe made in 1830 and still working.

You can visit some 20 permanent and temporary theatres and theatrical scenes. Here is the Croatian National Theatre as one of the most beautiful theatres in Europe. The Zagreb Puppet Theatre is the oldest national professional puppet theatre, founded in 1948. Among Zagreb concert halls, the most popular is ‘Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall’, named after the composer of the first Croatian opera. Here you will find the first university and the academy in this part of Europe. Zagreb cartoon school is famous worldwide.

Zagreb is a festival and entertainment place

The city hosts numerous national and international performances and events, concerts and festivals.

Known are Zagrebdox – international documentary film festival and Zagreb Film Festival. International cartoon festival is biennial as is the Musical Biennial – international avant-garde music festival, held on odd numbered years. Yearly happenings are Zagreb Philharmonic Festival and Floraart flower exhibition, Modern Dance Festival and Eurokaz, the international contemporary theatre festival. The International Folklore Festival is a special summer attraction for tourists because traditional dances and songs from all over the world are performed in city squares and streets. Zagreb hosts the oldest popular music festival – Zagrebfest.

During spring and summer months, we may easily say, Zagreb is a big open theatre. St. Marko's Fair – a traditional crafts fair, Urbanfestival, Strossmartre – summer on Strossmayer Promenade, Cest is d'best – international street entertainers' festival are just some of the events that make Zagreb special and unique.

Entertainment is also offered in many clubs, night-bars and casinos…

Zagreb is a city of open markets and coffee bars

Open markets and coffee bars are the soul of today's Zagreb. There you can find the rich and the poor, the young and the old. These are places where people meet, laugh, comment news and gossip.

Zagreb has about 20 open markets but the best known is old Dolac in the very centre. Almost every of Zagreb districts has an open market where fresh fruits and vegetables, fish and meat, flowers and many other things can be bought daily.

Coffee bars are without doubt a city specialty. We may say they make a part of Zagreb's living culture.

There the business is done, friends chat over coffee or fruit juice, lovers hold hands or people just stop to read newspapers. Whether you are in Tkalciceva Street, a well known promenade full of coffee bars, or at a modern shopping centre, one can always sip an espresso or enjoy a glass of beer. Cheers!

Zagreb is a city of parks and promenades

Zagreb is a green city. There are over 30 parks that make an area of around 402 km2

Unique is Lenuci's Belt, a long stretch of parks and squares in the very heart of the city whose most valuable spot is the Botanical Garden, an English and French style arboretum with over 10.000 different plant species. In the city centre are also Ribnjak and Tuskanac parks.

The Upper Town's Strossmayer promenade and the promenade along river Sava are favourite leasure places of many Zagreb people and guests. In the eastern part of Zagreb is Maksimir, an English style park with garden style architecture of classicistic and romantic features and rare vegetation species. The ZOO is in its most beautiful part.

Zagreb is a sport s city

Basketball players Kresimir Cosic and Drazen Petrovic, then Janica Kostelic, the most successful female skier of all times, football club Dinamo, basketball club Cibona, water polo club Mladost, handball club Zagreb, all are just some of the sport's legends to whom Zagreb has always been a home.

Known for its ski-resort Sljeme, on the top of Medvednica, Zagreb is the only capital in the world hosting world ski-cup races for men and women.

During the year, there are many other international competitions like Zagreb Indoors ATP Tournament, Golden Pirouette figure-skating competition, IAAF Grand Prix International Athletics Competition ZAGREB, etc…

Sports park Mladost and sports centre Salata are only some of Zagreb's sports and recreational centres that offer various possibilities to top sportsmen as well as recreational activities for everyone. They also host numerous competitions and sports games.

Racecourse Zagreb is a venue hosting many international horse races.

You may not know about that, but Zagreb also has its little see. Sports Centre Jarun located at the Jarun Lake in the south-western part of the city waits for those who love nice gravel beaches and the sight of swans and wild ducks. Besides sunbathing and water-skiing, fishing and other water related activities here one can play beach-volley, football, basketball, handball, table-tennis, and mini-golf. The lake has a run and hosts a number of world class regattas.

Zagreb is a special city

Zagreb offers special experiences. It has its peculiarities that make it unique. Some we have mentioned allready but it won't matter to remind you of them once again since it is what makes Zagreb so special. They are Zagreb!

Zagreb has its cathedral, the Cathedral of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of St. Stephen the King, the tallest and largest in this part of Europe.

Zagreb has the Lenuci Belt. Nikola Subic Zrinski Square also called Zrinjevac, Strossmayer Square, King Tomislav Square, Ante Starcevic Square, Marko Marulic Square, Mazuranic and Marshall Tito's Square together with the Botanical Garden comprise a tract – squares shaped in the form of a green belt in the heart of the city.

Zagreb has, the largest and best known Zagreb open market since 1930. Situated in the heart of Zagreb, just above the main city square, Ban Josip Jelacic Square, Dolac is certainly one of the most famous Zagreb features.

Zagreb has the Lotrscak Tower, a part of the fortification built in 13th century, around the settlement. For centuries its bells served to warn to danger from the enemies and alarm inhabitansts in cases of fire or dangerous stroms. From 1927 to date, every day the Tower marks the noon with a cannon shot.

Zagreb has its “Nazigace”, the two city workers that every evening, when it gets darker, put on 217 gas lamps on the Upper City and Kaptol and then put them off in the morning. It takes 2 hours to do it.

Zagreb has its Stone Gate, one of the gates in the fortress around the old Gradec, also known as the chapel of Blessed Virgin of the Stone Gate and a place where many come to pray to Virgin Mary, the protectress of the city.

Zagreb has a funicular connecting Upper with the Lower city. The lower station is in Tomiceva Street (off of Ilica) while the upper station is on Strossmayer promenade, next to the Lotrscak Tower. Having the shortest rail, only 66 meters long, it is the shortest funicular railway built for public transport in the world. It is operating since 1890.

Medvednica – the hill of Zagreb, and its top Sljeme (1033 m) hold a special place in the life of the people of Zagreb. It is a natural resort and a favourite picnic place. From the top the view reaches as far as to the Velebit mountain and snow covered tops of Slovenian Alps.

Zagreb is a tourist city

Zagreb is a major Croatian tourist destination. Not just a stop-over on the way form the western and central Europe towards the Adriatic See, but an aim and a tourist destination. It is an important place of meetings and incentives, commercial and business events and fairs, not just Croatian but of this part of Europe. As a major European traffic junction, Zagreb is well connected by roads, air, rail and bus lines with many European cities as well as cities and tourist destinations in Croatia. Situated in central Croatia, Zagreb is an ideal starting point for travel to various Croatian regions.

Hrvatsko Zagorje with its numerous medieval castles and fortifications, National Park Plitvice Lakes, a unique place of Croatian and world-wide natural heritage, the Bbaroque city of Varazdin or Istria, Croatian Toscana, are just some of the suggestions for one day trips from Zagreb. Wherever you go, you cannot make mistake!

Zagreb offers a superb cuisine in many restaurants, local and international specialities as well as a rich variety of Croatian wines. It is worth tasting dishes like turkey with “mlinci” (traditional Croatian pasta), “strukle ( dough filled with cottage cheese, boiled or baked), then fresh cheese with cream or walnut loaves. Since Zagreb in not far from the coast, fish restaurants offer fresh fish and see-fruits.

Even though the number of tourists is increasing, Zagreb is still a somewhat undiscovered destination. And it definitely adds to its charm. Makes it even more appealing. A city that with its surroundings has quite a thing to offer. Zagreb is a challenge!

And, at the end, Zagreb has its wonderful people… some 800.000 inhabitants of which everyone has a story.

Each takes part in the history of Zagreb, the present and the future. Each is a part of Zagreb’s story. The story that has not been told yet and that you can add a piece of yourself to…

All of it is Zagreb. One comes to Zagreb like to an old friend. Your expectations cannot fail.

Welcome to Zagreb! And feel like at home!

Linked pages:

• History
• Zagreb Today
• Arrival
• Service Info
• Districts