"Love at first sight - Zagreb" Top 5 Page for this destination Zagreb by sabsi


Zagreb Travel Guide: 2,344 reviews and 4,402 photos

City with a heart - Zagreb
City with a heart

While talking to Nikša (diocletianvs on VT) I heard so many nice stories about Zagreb so when I heard that there were great deals with Germanwings I decided to go on a pre-christmas city break in December 2004. It sounded like my kind of city somehow.

I arrived on a typical grey Zagreb winter day and the grey colour would remain. I didn't care that it was grey and cold though - I fell in love with the city straight away. There's so many nice things to do that I was running out of time. The people there are very friendly even though I had some communications problems with most of the locals.

I am quite sure that being a real tourist (without my local VT guides Nikša, Zdenka and Boris) I wouldn't have liked this place half as much and I probably wouldn't even have seen 1/4 of what I saw in my 3 1/2 days in Zagreb. They were definitely a big "part of the experience".

Thanks for everything Zagreb people. I can't wait to come back ... and next time I will bring some sunshine. That's a promise!

Sabs

Boris, Zdenka and Nikša, the local VT gang - Zagreb

Boris, Zdenka and Nikša, the local VT gang

When I returned exactly a year later for a long weekend I was shocked. Zagreb greeted us with blue skies and I had no chance to show "real" grey Zagreb to Thomas, it was sunny all the time while we were here. cold though. Which doesn't mean that we didn't have a great time. Even in the sunshine Zagreb was as relaxing and nice as the year before ;-) When I read my old intro to this page I had to smile. I even promised to bring sunshine the next time. So I guess it was all my fault...

This time I showed Thomas around town and he immediately was equally enthusiastic about this place as I was. It might have been because of cheap great coffees and the great food though ;) During this trip Niksa had organised a day trip to Opatija at the coast for us. It actually was the first time I have ever seen the Mediterranean Sea at the age of 33.5 years. I loved the Istrian coast but I enjoyed Zagreb even more this time!

Unfortunately this trip ended with an emergency landing back at Zagreb airport after one of our plane's engines exploded when we were on our way to Cologne already. So we turned around and even though I had been in Zagreb only twice I had landed at Zagreb Airport three times. The last time landing felt better than ever, all the panic had disappeared suddenly. We had survived and went back into town to calm down a bit even though it was hard work. It took several sips of the Schnapps I had bought at the Duty Free shop as well as a last dinner at our favourite restaurant, Boban's, before we could relax a bit on the night train to Munich... I had refused to get back on the plane in order to fly home and happily have never set a foot inside a Germanwings plane again afterwards!

Blue Skies of Zagreb - Zagreb

Blue Skies of Zagreb

We came back 1 and a half years later, this time by car. Where could we start our 4,500 km road trip through Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia better than in our favourite "hidden secret" Zagreb? This time we came in May and Zagreb wasn't grey at all. The city welcomed us with sticky 30°C, sunshine and blue skies. Terraces were everywhere and the city was much more alive than in winter. We weren't. It was a bit too hot for our taste so we spent our day in Zagreb in the terraces of our favourite cafés and in the cool shops of town. A day was rather short so we came back for a few hours after two weeks on the way back. It almost felt like coming home....

Pros and Cons
  • Pros:A fantastic city with wonderful people, lots to see and a great atmosphere!
  • Cons:Hotel prices can be a bit "over the top" but apart from that I can't think of anything.
  • In a nutshell:It was love at first sight!
  • Last visit to Zagreb: May 2007
  • Intro Updated Jul 9, 2008
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Comments (33)

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  • BruceDunning's Profile Photo
    BruceDunning Jun 8, 2011 at 3:37 PM Report Abuse

    You have done a very good presentation of this city. On our trip last year we had no time to get there.

  • seopositive2 Nov 8, 2009 at 2:04 AM Report Abuse

    Thanks for a wonderfully written and informative post. The examples really bring the concepts to life. glucosamine malaysian

  • Arkeolog's Profile Photo
    Arkeolog Feb 9, 2009 at 12:36 AM Report Abuse

    This is a good page on oneof my top cities. Great. best wishes from Istanbul. Bora

  • rsean's Profile Photo
    rsean Sep 23, 2007 at 9:52 AM Report Abuse

    Excellent page on my favourite city. I'm going back to visit Zagreb next month. Best wishes

  • yumyum's Profile Photo
    yumyum Apr 15, 2007 at 12:21 PM Report Abuse

    Excellent page! Greetings from the landlord and his guest :))

  • GyuriFT's Profile Photo
    GyuriFT Apr 10, 2007 at 3:11 PM Report Abuse

    On Sept. 1, 1848 Ban József Jellasics with 45000 men entered Hungary. On Sept. 26, 1848 he took Székesfehérvár. On Sept. 29 he lost a battle at Pákozd and withdraw. But: his grand-grand daughter, Ilona Horváth is a celebrity in Hungary.

  • keithwright Jan 22, 2007 at 12:26 AM Report Abuse

    wot r u?

  • mavl's Profile Photo
    mavl Dec 12, 2006 at 12:39 AM Report Abuse

    wow, zagreb looks great! grey or sunny, your pics convey the kind of character that makes one want to see it up close. hope to visit eastern europe one day, language difficulties or not.

  • ffchavo Oct 24, 2006 at 8:27 AM Report Abuse

    Hi! Would you remember how much a one-way ticket from Zagreb to Ljubljana would cost me appoximately? Thanks a lot for your help

  • polardabar's Profile Photo
    polardabar Mar 22, 2006 at 8:06 AM Report Abuse

    luv die angel foto ;D

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