Zagreb Travel Guide: Upper Town, Dolac Market and Where to Stay

Zagreb is Croatia’s capital without a coastline. Two medieval hilltops sit above a nineteenth-century grid of parks, cafés and tram lines, and almost everything travellers come for sits within a 20-minute walk of Ban Jelačić Square. Two days cover the Upper Town, Dolac market and the Lower Town; a third adds Maksimir park or a run to Plitvice. Zagreb costs less than Split or Dubrovnik, and the sights that matter most are free.

Key Takeaways

• Tram and bus rides cost €0.53 for 30 minutes bought at a kiosk, €0.80 on board; a daily ticket is €3.98.
• The funicular reopened in May 2026 after 16 months of repairs: 66 metres, €0.66 a ride, 6.30am to 10pm.
• The cathedral reopened for visits in April 2026, free, daily 8am to 7pm, with the spires still partly scaffolded.
• The Museum of Broken Relationships charges €9; Lotrščak Tower charges €3 and closes on Mondays.
• Two nights cover the city. Advent runs from 28 November 2026 to 7 January 2027.

What should you see first in Zagreb?

Start on the hill, where the city began. The funicular leaves from Tomićeva street, climbs 66 metres in about a minute and costs €0.66, on top of any tram ticket. It runs from 6.30am to 10pm every 10 minutes, and it came back from a 16-month closure only in May 2026, after the biggest overhaul in more than 50 years (Zagreb Tourist Board). Walk down instead: the steps and Radićeva street take about 15 minutes.

The funicular track from Tomićeva, with Lotrščak Tower above it. The ride lasts about a minute.

At the top, three sights sit within two minutes of each other. St Mark’s Church is known for its roof: glazed tiles laid out as the coats of arms of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia on one side and the city of Zagreb on the other. The church opens mainly for services, so the roof is the practical attraction. Beside it, Lotrščak Tower charges €3 for the viewpoint (children 7 to 18 pay €2) and closes on Mondays; Tuesday to Friday it opens 9am to 8pm, at weekends from 11am (Klovićevi dvori Gallery). A cannon fires from the tower at noon each day, a tradition the city dates to 1877, so be on the hill at 12 sharp or miss it.

St Mark’s roof: the chequered shield of Croatia on the left, Zagreb’s coat of arms on the right.

Drop down to Kaptol for the cathedral, the twin-spired landmark that has defined the Zagreb skyline since the 1880 earthquake rebuilt it. The 2020 quake brought down part of one spire and closed the building for six years. It reopened for visitors in April 2026, free to enter, with the nave open daily 8am to 7pm and paused for Mass at 10am on Sundays (katedrala.hr; reopening covered by Total Croatia News). Scaffolding still wraps parts of the towers, so judge the interior rather than the postcard. The Stone Gate on the way down holds a painting of the Virgin that survived an 18th-century fire, and locals still stop for a candle.

Then do the market. Dolac sits on a terrace above Ban Jelačić Square under rows of red parasols: fruit, vegetables, flowers, cheese and kajmak, with covered halls below for meat and fish. It opens from 6.30am and shuts at 4pm on weekdays, 3pm on Saturdays and 2pm on Sundays, so mornings are the only reliable visit. Below the terrace runs Tkalčićeva, one long street of café terraces that fills from morning coffee to late drinks.

Dolac at trading hours. The stalls close by mid-afternoon, so come before lunch.

One ticket earns its keep in the Upper Town. The Museum of Broken Relationships, on Ćirilometodska street, charges €9 for adults and €7 for students, seniors and groups (official ticket page). It opens 10am to 10pm in summer and 9am to 9pm in winter, and an hour inside is usually enough.

Everything in this section can be done before lunch. The cathedral opens at 8am, Dolac shuts at 3pm on weekdays, and the hill empties once the day visitors ride the funicular back down. Travellers who take the market and the Upper Town first see the city at its best, and leave the Lower Town terraces for the evening.

The Lower Town answers the hill with the Green Horseshoe, a U of linked parks laid out by Milan Lenuci in the 1880s between the main square and the railway station. Zrinjevac holds the bandstand and the plane trees; the Botanical Garden next to the station costs nothing and takes 20 minutes. This is where the city sits down for coffee, and where the architecture turns Austro-Hungarian.

Zrinjevac, one square of the Green Horseshoe. The benches fill on Saturday mornings.

Which part of Zagreb should you stay in?

The Lower Town is the sensible first base. It puts the museums, Dolac, Tkalčićeva and the tram lines within walking distance, and the widest choice of hotels and apartments sits around Ban Jelačić Square and the parks of the Green Horseshoe.

Area	Suits	Trade-off
Lower Town, Ban Jelačić to the station	Trams, museums, first visits	Busy square, tram noise
Upper Town, Gornji Grad	Quiet evenings, views	Steps, cobbles, fewer hotels
Tkalčićeva, Kaptol	Late nights, market mornings	Terrace noise into the small hours
Station area, Trnje	Early trains, better value	Walk or tram to the sights

Sleeping on the hill buys silence after the day visitors take the funicular back down, and the streets between St Mark’s and the cathedral empty out by nine. The cost is stairs, uneven cobbles and a walk up after dinner. Rooms on the hill run higher than the grid below; expect roughly €70 to €180 for an Upper Town boutique room or apartment against €18 to €130 for hostels and three-star rooms in the Lower Town (city-break price surveys, 2026).

Families and anyone with luggage should take the Lower Town. The station area works if you have an early train to the coast or to Slovenia, since trams 2, 4, 6 and 13 pass the main station and reach Ban Jelačić in minutes. Whichever you pick, the centre is compact: Dolac to the funicular is five minutes, the Green Horseshoe to the cathedral is ten.

Experiences · GetYourGuide

Find experiences for your Zagreb trip

If you book through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Browse activities in Zagreb on GetYourGuide ↗

What does a day in Zagreb cost?

Less than a day on the Croatian coast, and far less than a Western European capital. Prices below are 2026 figures; the transport and ticket rows come from the operators themselves.

Item	Price
Tram or bus, 30 minutes	€0.53 from a kiosk, €0.80 on board
Daily transport ticket	€3.98
Funicular one way	€0.66
Museum of Broken Relationships	€9 adult, €7 reduced
Lotrščak Tower viewpoint	€3 adult, €2 ages 7 to 18
Museum of Contemporary Art, permanent collection	€11 adult, €7 reduced
Cappuccino at a neighbourhood café	about €2.20
Half-litre of draft beer	about €3
Mid-range dinner for two, no wine	about €60
Pleso airport shuttle, one way	€9
Plitvice Lakes bus, one way	about €15.60

Add them up and a comfortable day lands near €110 with a room, roughly €55 on a hostel dorm, bakery breakfast and market lunch. Museum and transport totals are the part people underestimate. Two days of transport is €7.96, the Museum of Broken Relationships and Lotrščak together are €12, and the cathedral, St Mark’s Square, the Stone Gate, the parks and Mirogoj cemetery cost nothing.

One day of transport (€3.98) plus the two paid stops (€12) comes to €15.98, against €38 for the 24-hour Zagreb Card listed on its own booking page in October 2026. The gap only closes if you add a third museum, such as the Museum of Contemporary Art at €11, and ride the trams across town all day. For most visitors paying at the door is cheaper; check the live price and the current inclusion list before buying (zagrebcard.com).

Day-to-day money follows the usual Croatian pattern. Cards work in shops, hotels and most restaurants; small market stalls, bakery counters and konobas prefer cash. Croatia has used the euro since 2023, so there is no conversion to do. For the wider country picture, the Croatia trip cost guide breaks down a week across the coast.

How do you get around, and in from the airport?

The centre runs on foot; transport matters for Maksimir park, the station, the airport and anything south of the river. ZET runs the trams, buses and funicular on one ticket system. Buy at a kiosk or a ZET office before boarding. A 30-minute ticket costs €0.53 against €0.80 from the driver, and 60 minutes costs €0.93 against €1.33. The €3.98 daily ticket is the only one worth having if you are making three or more rides (ZET fares). Validate paper tickets in the orange machine by the door, and the same ticket transfers between trams and buses within its validity. Night trams run on separate lines until about 4.30am.

There is no train to Zagreb airport. Two buses cover it: the Pleso Prijevoz shuttle goes direct to Autobusni kolodvor in 35 to 45 minutes for €9 one way, departing roughly every 30 minutes until about 10.30pm, with later runs meeting inbound flights (timetable). From the bus station, tram 6 reaches Ban Jelačić Square in about 10 minutes. The cheaper option is ZET bus 290 to Kvaternikov trg, 45 to 50 minutes on a €0.93 60-minute ticket, then a tram west; it runs roughly every 35 minutes and thins out late. A taxi or ride-hail costs about €20 to €30 and saves half an hour with luggage. Trains reach Split in about six hours, Ljubljana in about two and a quarter, and the main station sits at the south end of the Green Horseshoe.

Two quirks save confusion. Trams have right of way at crossings and do not slow down for jaywalkers, so look both ways. And coffee is a sit-down event: a single cup buys an hour on a terrace, and Saturday morning špica, the ritual of meeting friends over coffee on Bogovićeva and Tkalčićeva, fills the central streets from about 10am.

What fills the third day?

Maksimir park, 15 minutes by tram east of the square, is the easy half-day: English-style avenues, lakes and woods laid out in 1794, free to enter, with the city zoo inside the gates for anyone travelling with children. Mirogoj cemetery is the architectural alternative to the park, north of the centre: Hermann Bollé’s arcaded walls, green domes and cypresses, free to enter and quiet on a weekday morning.

For a full day out, Plitvice Lakes is the standard choice and it works from Zagreb. Direct buses leave Autobusni kolodvor for the park entrances in about two and a half hours, with fares around €15.60 one way when checked in October 2026 (Arriva timetable). The early bus is the one to take, and tickets and walking routes are covered in the Plitvice Lakes guide. The mountains of Medvednica rise directly behind the city for forest walking, and the town of Samobor, half an hour west by bus, is a standard Sunday outing for kremšnita cream cake.

If December is your month, skip the day trip. Advent in Zagreb runs from 28 November 2026 to 7 January 2027, spreads roughly 25 markets across Zrinjevac, the Upper Town lanes, the Grič tunnel and King Tomislav Square, and stays free to walk (City of Zagreb dates). You pay for what you eat and drink, not for entry, and the first days of January are the quiet way to see the same lights. Rooms in December are the exception to Zagreb’s cheap-bed rule, so book the Advent weeks early.

One more calendar note. The Mimara Museum on Roosevelt Square, shut since the 2020 earthquake, is scheduled to reopen in late October 2026 after a rebuild of about €70 million, with a new permanent display and a restaurant (HINA, July 2026). Confirm the opening date on the museum’s site before you plan a visit around it; the Museum of Arts and Crafts stays closed into 2027.

Zagreb rewards two unhurried days rather than one rushed one. Walk the Upper Town before the funicular empties, keep the Lower Town for the evening when the day trippers leave, and leave the third day open. From here the 10 days in Croatia itinerary carries on to the lakes and the coast, while Split and Dubrovnik hold the Adriatic end. The Croatia hub collects the country as it publishes, seasons and shoulder months are set out in the best time to visit Croatia, and what to order sits in the Croatian food guide.

Frequently asked questions

How many days do you need in Zagreb?

Two nights cover the Upper Town, Dolac market, the Lower Town parks and two museums at an easy pace. Add a third day for Maksimir park, Mirogoj cemetery or a full day at Plitvice Lakes. One night only works if you arrive early and accept skipping the galleries.

Is Zagreb expensive?

No. A 30-minute tram ride is €0.53, a cappuccino about €2.20 and a restaurant main €10 to €18 in 2026, which sits below most Western European capitals and well below Croatia's coast in July and August. Budget roughly €55 a day, €110 for a comfortable mid-range trip, and more if you want an Upper Town boutique room.

Where should you stay in Zagreb?

The Lower Town around Ban Jelačić Square and the Green Horseshoe: walkable to everything, best served by trams and the widest choice of rooms. The Upper Town is quieter and prettier but involves steps, hill lanes and fewer hotels. Tkalčićeva suits late nights; the station area suits early trains.

How do you get from Zagreb airport to the centre?

The Pleso Prijevoz shuttle runs from the airport to Autobusni kolodvor in 35 to 45 minutes for €9 one way, about every 30 minutes until around 10.30pm. Cheaper is ZET bus 290 to Kvaternikov trg, 45 to 50 minutes on a €0.93 ticket, then a tram west. There is no train to the airport.

Is the Zagreb Card worth it?

Usually not for two days. The card lists at €38 for 24 hours on its booking page in October 2026 and includes unlimited transport, while the cathedral, St Mark's Church, Mirogoj and the parks are free and the Lotrščak Tower costs €3. Buy it only if you are adding the Museum of Contemporary Art (€11) and plenty of rides, and check the live price at checkout.

When is the best time to visit Zagreb?

May, June, September and October give mild walking weather and thin crowds. December is the one month that outdraws summer: Advent runs from 28 November 2026 to 7 January 2027 with around 25 markets and an ice rink, and it is the stretch when rooms go up. January and August are the cheapest and the greyest.

Useful links (9)

1. ZET fares, Grad Zagreb ZET— zet.hr
2. Zagreb funicular, Zagreb Tourist Board— infozagreb.hr
3. Museum of Broken Relationships, Zagreb tickets— brokenships.com
4. Pleso Prijevoz airport shuttle timetable and fares— plesoprijevoz.hr
5. Advent Zagreb 2026 dates, City of Zagreb— zagreb.hr
6. Lotrščak Tower hours and tickets, Klovićevi dvori Gallery— gkd.hr
7. Zagreb Cathedral visitor hours— katedrala.hr
8. Buses from Zagreb to Plitvice Lakes, Arriva Croatia— arriva.com.hr
9. Zagreb transport and prices 2026, Zagreb Info— zagrebinfo.org

Photo credits

Thank you to Nick Savchenko from Kiev, Ukraine, Fred Romero from Paris, France, Paula Borkovic, Jorge Franganillo and Sharon Hahn Darlin for sharing these beautiful photographs and helping bring this guide to life.

Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0 · CC BY 2.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0