36 hours in Zagreb

Pic taken by Paddy in front of the iconic st Marks

Some of the beautiful sights in Zagreb

Next in our mini city series is Zagreb! We sandwiched it between Zadar and Ljubljana on our little backpacking adventure. So 36 hours in Zagreb, what do you do? Here’s what we got up to, how much we spent and where we stayed.

The cool Chillout Hostel Zagreb

Our digs were at Chillout Hostel and Cost a glorious £9 per bed, per night. We were fortunate enough To be a group of 8 plus a baby so had a dorm to ourselves which was lavvvvley. It’s a nice hostel, fun and lively but I wouldn’t say it’s a luxury one. Beds aren’t the comfiest and our private bathroom was a bit like a caravan toilet but it was still an enjoyable stay. Location was perfect too. You can get tonnes of cheap Airbnb’s too, so many options.

Gorgeous views on the bus from Zadar to Zagreb

Day 1 arrival 2pm via bus from Zadar (bus takes 3 hours, 30 mins) we headed straight to our hostel which is off the Main Street Ilica. From there you are right next to the Art park Zagreb which is essentially a park with lots of street Art and you are also at the bottom of the Funicular. The Funicular is the shortest in the world and a steal at 5 kunas (around 70p) and takes you straight to the upper town and St Marks Church. Plenty to explore but we jumped on a tram in the main square (number 11 or 12) and went over to Maksimir Park as I’d seen some of the landscapes over on the gram and it looked amazing in its burnt, Autumn glow.

Beautiful Maksimir Park pic from Becky @wishesandwellies

Dinner was at the nearby Batak grill Cvjetni. It was weird In a small mall so even though reviews were good my expectations weren’t High but it was delicious and great value. We had the mixed plate and it had potato wedges, grilled Croatian kebab, a grilled patty and pork stuffed with cheese and wrapped in ham, for that, a salad, this fluffy, pillowy pancake bread 2 drinks and the biggest portion of kids chicken and chips I’ve ever seen it came to 270 Kuna which at time of writing was about £30. It was a really nice setting too.

Brunch at Otto and Frank

For our second day we managed to cram in most of the things we wanted to see in Zagreb……There are two parts of town, upper and lower. The upper town has the Famous St Marks Church and St Marks Square, the stone gate and the government buildings. Our plan was to use the funicular to go up but ended up walking as it was closed for maintenance. All of the kids including sprout managed it, there are a lot of steps but totally manageable. The views from the upper town are incredible and I would really recommend. We had a little wander and settled for brunch at Otto & Frank. I opted for coffee, homemade iced tea with mint, lemon and elderflower then the traditonal Zagreb breakfast which was really interesting. It was toast with sour cream, cottage cheese (Croatia loves cottage cheese) horseradish (opted out cause yuck) radish, bacon and crispy poached egg which is this runny poached egg that’s then coated in breadcrumbs and like fried. Totally weird but super yum! The kids had french toast, also delicious and porridge looked awesome too. It was such a lovely area to wander too.

A lovely wander round the upper town 💓

Once we had walked the whole upper town we popped into the museum of illusions as it was only £5 each and our kids were free (under 5s, over 5s are £3) so thought it would be a nice little activity for them. Don’t get me wrong it’s not life changing but fun for pictures and not pricey so if you have time to kill worth a go. I’ve also heard the museum of broken relationships is really fun too but probably less age appropriate for our family.

After a few more hours exploring we opted to see Zagreb on bikes which was an awesome decision and our guide Robert from bike tours Zagreb was amazing. The tour was so reasonable, big boy Flynn had his own bike so we had to pay but the three tiddlers were free on the back of ours. It was about £25 pp which was such good value for our nearly 3 hour tour. You can find them at Bike tours Zagreb (Instagram handle is @biketourszagreb ) and I definately recommend dropping them a message.

A few from there bike tour

That evening we visited a really rustic local place as recommended by our guide Robert, I can’t for the life of me remember the name of the place but I loved it. Very similar to the local restaurants I’ve visited in Romania but the food is heavy and not for everyone (definately not great for vegetarians). The kids fell asleep so Ben and I snook back to Tkalčićeva ulica for a drink as this street is fab for bars and cafes. Even with music playing the boys stayed asleep as they were shattered from all the fun. I would definitely visit here in the evening (and daytime) for drinks, food and cafe culture.

Spend breakdown

Transport-Uber from bus station to hostel £3.50, trams £3, bus to Ljubljana £40 (2 adults, kids were free) total £46.50

Food-2 x evening meals night one £30 for a family of four, 2 Gin’s, 1 beer, 1 wine and 2 juices. Night two £20 for four, one cider, one beer and one juice. Brunch around £20 for Zagreb Breakfast, iced tea, 2 lattes, French toast, oatmeal, 2 x juice. Snacks inc pizza, doughnuts, chocolate and lots of croissants for kids £11. Drinks on second night £10 for two rounds. Total £91

Accommodation- £36 per night for 4 people total £72

Activities-Bike tour £25 pp (kids free) £50 and £10 for museum of illusion. Total £60

So total for family of four was £269.50 I want to stress that we in no way scrimped on anything, we saved for our backpacking adventure by putting any spare cash we had in a box for a few months so we were comfortable buying extras.

I would definately say you could do 2 nights and 3 days for around £240 for a couple, kids can be cheap but things do add up. If you are looking for a lovely, scenic alternative city break filled with beautiful walks, amazing cafe culture without needing a big bucket list of sights then Zagreb is for you. I would liken it a little to Bratislava in that sense (not necessarily culturally) but a wonderful visit if you want to have a chilled lovely time. Also it’s SO accessible as I’ve mentioned with busses etc.
Have you been? Did you enjoy? I would love to hear in the comments.

A few of our gang, including Freya taking her pet Raff for a walk, confused husbands and pals holding hands.