"Don't believe the news." a Zagreb Travel Page by planxty

Like many of my generation (and if this sounds like a re-run of my Skopje page I make no apologies) I had an inbuilt vision of the Balkans as being a place of terror, ethnic cleansing, genocide and all the other things that the horrible conflicts of not so long ago brought with them.

Like most preconceptions, they turned out to be total nonsense. I visited Zagreb on a beautifully sunny long weekend in June 2006 and had the most wonderful time. I'm a reasonably experienced traveller and I am always game for going to more out of the way places when I visit anywhere, and I have to say Zagreb did not disappoint.

My hotel (see separate tip) was a little out of the centre due to budget constraints, but was more than adequate, in fact it was very nice. It did, as a bonus, offer me the opportunity to see a side of the city that perhaps the more cosseted business traveller doesn't get to see. I didn't bother with taxis, took local transport (I love central European trams!), ate and drank where possible in local places, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I was greeted with uniform friendliness (albeit that English is not particularly widely spoken away from the tourist haunts - the universal sign language comes in useful).

I felt entirely safe whilst there (safer indeed than in parts of London where I live) and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone thinking of visiting. The opening up of budget airlines from the UK (and possibly other European destinations) makes this a great place for a short break.

Get there before everyone finds out!