Three days that cover the Upper Town on foot from the market to the noon cannon, the Lower Town's parks and the museums that have reopened since the 2020 earthquake, and a long day at Plitvice Lakes by bus.
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Checked October 10, 2026. That’s the day we last confirmed the hours, prices and closed days.
May, June and September are warm and dry enough to walk all day. July and August are hot and the city empties for the coast. Advent in Zagreb runs from November 28, 2026 to January 7, 2027 and fills the parks with markets; book a room early for those weeks. Plitvice is cheapest and quietest from November to March, but the upper boardwalks can close for ice.
Sleep in the Lower Town between Ban Jelačić Square and the station: every tram passes, the parks are outside the door and the Upper Town is a ten-minute walk uphill. The Upper Town itself is quiet and pretty but has few rooms. Avoid anything west of Črnomerec or across the Sava unless you have a car.
Walk. The center is small and the Upper Town is pedestrian. Trams cover the rest: a 30-minute ticket is €0.53, 60 minutes €0.93, 90 minutes €1.33 and a day ticket €3.98, bought in the Moj ZET app or at Tisak kiosks (the driver charges more). There is no tap-on-board yet; the city opened the tender for bank-card validators in September 2026, so check before you assume you can tap. The funicular to the Upper Town is €0.66 and runs every ten minutes from 6:30 a.m. to 9:50 p.m.; it reopened in May 2026 after a year of repairs.
Dolac · 60 min
The red umbrellas above the main square: fruit and cheese on the raised terrace, meat and dairy in the hall underneath, fish at the back. Open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sundays to 1; go before 10 and buy cornbread from the dairy stalls for later.
Kaptol · 40 min
The 2020 earthquake broke a spire and the towers are being rebuilt, so expect scaffolding. The nave reopened to visitors on April 17, 2026, daily 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and free; Sunday Mass at 10 a.m. pauses visits.
Tkalčićeva · 25 min
The old stream bed turned cafe street. Walk it now while it is quiet, since it is the evening on Day 3; the lane up on the left, Krvavi most, leads to the Stone Gate.
Gradec · 15 min
The last medieval gate, now a shrine to a painting of the Virgin that survived a fire in 1731. People pray here on their way to work, so walk through quietly and do not photograph them.
Gradec · 20 min
Look at the tiled roof with the two coats of arms. The church opens only for Mass, and police control the edges of the square since the 2020 attack on the government building; you can walk it, but not sit on it.
Gradec · 45 min
Objects left over from ended relationships, each with its story; 45 minutes is right. €9, open daily 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. (10 p.m. in summer), two minutes from St Mark's.
€9
Gradec · 40 min
Be on the Strossmayer promenade below the tower at 11:55 a.m.; the Grič cannon has fired at noon every day since 1877 and it is loud. Then climb the tower for the roofs (€3, closed Monday), or on a Monday keep just the cannon.
€3
Gradec · 10 min
Sixty-six meters in 64 seconds on the funicular, €0.66 every ten minutes; a tram day ticket covers it. The lower station is on Tomićeva, off Ilica.
€0.66
Ilica · 75 min
Zagreb cooking in a wood-panelled room three minutes from the funicular. Order the zagrebački odrezak (a veal cutlet stuffed with ham and cheese) or sarma, with soup first; open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, no reservation needed at lunch.
€18
Lower Town · 120 min
The long shopping street and the main square with the horseman. Coffee at one of the square's cafes, then the shops along Ilica as far as Britanski trg, where a Sunday antiques market runs.
Gradec · 45 min
Ride the funicular back up for the sunset over the Lower Town roofs along the chestnut-lined promenade on the old southern wall. In summer there are stalls and music, and in Advent it is a market.
Lower Town · 100 min
A courtyard restaurant in the Lower Town that locals use for family dinners: lamb from Pag is the dish, the pašticada the other. Open noon to midnight; reserve, especially Friday and Saturday.
€35
Lower Town · 60 min
Start at the station and walk north through the parks: King Tomislav Square, Strossmayer Square and Zrinjevac with its music pavilion and the weather station from 1884. Then west to Marulić Square; the horseshoe is the plan of the 1880s city and still reads on the ground.
Lower Town · 30 min
Both face Roosevelt Square and both were damaged in 2020. As of October 2026 the Mimara is still closed and the Museum of Arts and Crafts has been shut since January 2022, so check both; the National Museum of Modern Art on Hebrangova is the open substitute.
Lower Town · 45 min
The university's garden at the bottom of the horseshoe, free, open from April to early November and closed in winter. The ponds and glasshouses are the bits to find; twenty minutes is enough.
Dolac · 60 min
Štrukli are the Zagreb dish: pastry filled with fresh cheese, boiled or baked, savory or sweet, and this place serves only štrukli in a courtyard below Dolac. Order the baked one with sour cream and a sweet one with walnuts; open daily from 11 a.m., with a line at one, so arrive at noon.
€12
Gradec · 45 min
Peasant painters on glass, Generalić and the Hlebine school, in a few rooms opposite the Museum of Broken Relationships. Weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., closed Sunday; the ticket is a few euros.
Mirogoj · 90 min
Take bus 106 from the stop by the Cathedral on Kaptol, ten minutes. Bollé's arcades and domes are the thing to see, though parts are still under restoration behind screens; open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. April to October, 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. in winter, so keep your voice down.
Lower Town · 75 min
Zagreb's afternoon is a long coffee on a terrace, and Saturday morning's version, the špica, is a dress-up ritual. Take bus 106 back to Kaptol, then walk to Petar Preradović Square (everyone calls it Cvjetni); one coffee, around €2, buys the table for as long as you like.
€2
Dolac · 100 min
A small bistro and wine bar in the lane under the Upper Town wall, by Dolac, with a short menu that changes with the market and Croatian wines by the glass. Book a table; it is small and in the Michelin guide.
€40
Lower Town · 150 min
Buses leave from the main bus station (tram 6 from the center) and take 2 to 2.5 hours, about €15 one way; the first goes around 6:45 a.m. Book both legs online in summer and get off at Entrance 1 (Ulaz 1); Entrance 2 is the upper lakes.
€15
Plitvice · 240 min
Buy the ticket online for a specific entrance and hour; you cannot enter early and may be at most an hour late. Route B from Entrance 1 is 4 kilometers, 3 to 4 hours with the boat, and Route C adds the upper lakes; the park opens at 7 a.m. in the warm months.
€23
Plitvice · 60 min
The park's own restaurant across the road from Entrance 1, a wooden hall with an open hearth. Order the Lika lamb or lička juha (a thick soup) and the cheese with cream, or carry a picnic from Dolac.
€20
Plitvice · 150 min
Return buses stop at both entrances roughly 4 to 6:30 p.m.; the schedule thins in winter, so check the last one before you set out. Buses run late in summer traffic, so do not plan anything in Zagreb before 7 p.m.
€15
Tkalčićeva · 120 min
The cafe street from Day 1 as it is meant to be seen, with every terrace full: a craft beer and ćevapi or a burek at whichever table has room, then a last drink on the Strossmayer promenade if the night is warm.
€20
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Pins are approximate. Tap one for the stop; the directions links open Google Maps.
From Franjo Tuđman Airport (ZAG), the Pleso shuttle runs every 30 minutes to the main bus station in about 35 to 40 minutes for €9, then tram 6 to Ban Jelačić Square. City bus 290 is cheaper but slower and stops at Kvaternik Square. A taxi to the center is around €25 to €35. Trains from Ljubljana take about 2 hours 20, buses from Budapest and Vienna about 4 to 5 hours.
About €60 to €90 a day per person for meals, tickets and trams; Zagreb is cheaper than Vienna or Ljubljana. The Plitvice day costs €55 to €75 for the bus and ticket in spring and fall, €70 to €90 in summer.
Plans change. Ask Chat and it proposes a reshuffled day you can apply, or just answers the question.
Two days for the city is right; the third adds Plitvice. A fourth day would go to Samobor and a walk on Medvednica, or to the wine villages of Plešivica.
Yes. Buses from the main station take 2 to 2.5 hours, around €15 each way, and stop at both entrances. Book the bus and the timed park ticket ahead in summer, and leave on the first departure so you have four hours inside.
Day 2: the Museum of Broken Relationships, the Naive Art museum and the cafes are all indoors, and Mirogoj's arcades keep you dry. Waystop's rain plan can add a wet-weather version of the Plitvice day, so you decide on the morning.
Yes. It reopened to visitors on April 17, 2026, daily 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., free. The towers are still being rebuilt after the earthquake, so expect scaffolding outside and a shorter skyline than the old photos.
Same country first, then the cities people tend to pair with Zagreb. Want two or three in one go? String them together in the trip builder.
Add your dates, your hotel and who’s coming, then ask Chat to change anything: it proposes the edit and you tap Apply. Want a long lunch instead of a museum? Just ask. Every place is checked against Google Maps before it lands on your day, and Chat can tell you when to leave for the next stop. Going on to another city? Build a multi-city trip.