As the weather warms up, soon-to-be tourists are setting their sights on their next holiday destination. Croatia often sits high on the list of holiday spots, but all eyes tend to look towards the coast.
Here you can find the stunning destinations of Split and Dubrovnik, nestled on the shore of the Adriatic. However, if you were to look further inland, approximately 120 miles, you will find another city – Croatia’s capital, one might add – that may well be Europe’s most underrated. It is one of the country’s most important transport hubs, where Central Europe, the Mediterranean and Southeast Europe meet via road, rail and air networks. This makes it the perfect destination for even the shortest of breaks this spring.
Zagreb is Croatia’s largest city. It is located in the north of the country, along the Sava river—the longest tributary of the Danube—at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain, providing a stunning backdrop hard to beat anywhere else.
Home to around 767,000 people, Zagreb has been named as one of the best spring city breaks, according to The Telegraph.
The oldest settlement in the vicinity of the city was the Roman Andautonia, in today’s Šćitarjevo. Here, you can still find traces of the settlement, where you can walk the same roads the inhabitants did some 1,200 years ago.
It is a city known for its diverse economy, high quality of living, museums, sporting and entertainment events. For something a little greener, head to Maksimir Park, the oldest public park in Zagreb, which opened in 1794, before the majority of Europe’s public parks.
The park has several big meadows, numerous creeks, and five lakes, and is a habitat for various plant and animal species, such as the Middle Spotted Woodpecker, an endangered species in Europe. Zagreb’s Zoo also forms part of the park’s territory, located in the southern part of Maksimir Park.
If you want to get out of the main city, there are plenty of picturesque former villages on the slopes of Medvednica, Šestine, Gračani, and Remete, which have maintained their rich traditions including folk costumes, Šestine umbrellas, and gingerbread products.
The old Medvedgrad, a recently restored medieval fortification, was built in the 13th century on Medvednica hill. It overlooks the western part of the city and also hosts the Shrine of the Homeland, a memorial with an eternal flame which pays tribute to all of Croatia’s fallen heroes.
Many Zagreb restaurants offer some incredible national dishes which deserve to be tasted, including turkey, duck or goose with mlinci (flat pasta, soaked in roast juices), kremšnite (custard slices in flaky pastry) and orehnjača (a traditional walnut roll).
Several airlines, including British Airways, Lufthansa and Eurowings, offer direct flights from London to Zagreb, with flight times around 2 hours and 10 minutes. From the airport, take the inexpensive Croatia Airlines airport bus, which takes you directly, without any stops, to to the main bus station in central Zagreb (Avenija Marina Drzica 4) in about 35 minutes.
Buses leave every half an hour (or are timed to arrive with flight arrivals at less busy periods) outside the airport terminal and cost as little as €5.97(£5).