Zagreb Travel Guide

Zagreb — Central Europe's Best-Kept Secret

Zagreb consistently ranks as one of the most underrated European capitals — and the reason is simple: most visitors to Croatia head directly to the Dalmatian coast and never pause at the transit hub that connects their flight with Dubrovnik or Split. Those who do stop discover a city with a quality of urban life that rivals Prague or Ljubljana: beautiful 19th-century architecture, a food market (Dolac) that has operated every morning since 1930, a tram network that has run since 1910, and coffee culture so deeply embedded that the Croatian word for a coffee meeting — "kava" — is also the word for a casual social appointment.

The city divides into Upper Town (Gornji Grad) — the medieval hilltop settlement with St Mark's Church (its tiled roof showing the coats of arms of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia), the Stone Gate, the Croatian Parliament and the Funicular railway — and Lower Town (Donji Grad), the Austro-Hungarian planned city of the 19th century with broad avenues, a series of parks called the Green Horseshoe, and the city's main museums and galleries.

The Museum of Broken Relationships is Zagreb's most distinctive cultural institution — a permanent collection of objects donated by people worldwide as mementos of ended relationships, each with a brief explanatory card. It's genuinely moving and unlike any other museum in the world. Zagreb also has outstanding food: the restaurant scene has diversified dramatically since 2015, and you'll find everything from traditional Croatian lamb peka to contemporary tasting menus in converted Art Nouveau buildings.