How to spend 5-days in Zagreb, Croatia

Zagreb is the Croatian capital and after my recent trip, here is how I recommend you spend 5-days in Zagreb. I have been visiting Zagreb for the last 5 years for work and in that time, I have only had a couple hours each time to either explore or rest before my flight back home. I have shared posts on the ultimate guide and how to spend a day in Zagreb but each has been different to my recent 5-day visit to the Croatian capital. This recent trip was intentional, relaxed and exactly what the doctor ordered after not travelling for almost a year.

Zagreb is the capital city of a small country in Europe called Croatia formerly part if Yugoslavia. This city is often overlooked by travelers for more seaside cities like Dubrovnik. Zagreb is located on the southwest part of the country and only 140km away from Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana. The city of Zagreb is a pretty easy to navigate on foot or even cycle but if all else fails, there is always Uber which is what we used for the entire 5-days and it cost less than £30 in total. So, here is how I recommend you spend your 5-days in Zagreb, Croatia.

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How to Spend 5-days in Zagreb, Croatia

Its already been a month since I returned from my trip to Zagreb and I am still reminiscing about the brunches, the massage, the wine and much more. Having visited the Croatian capital many times before, I always thought I had done my ‘tourist due diligence’ in visiting all the popular sights in the city but this trip which was super relaxed taught me that I was far from it. On this trip, everything I did, I had not managed to do during my last 5 trips to the city.

As a solo traveller, I have a rule when I am visiting new places and that is, ‘explore 5 popular sights and 5 unknown spots (through recommendations by the locals)’. But because every single time I visited Zagreb it was for work, I only managed to do the ‘popular city sights’ and did not manage the discover the ‘not so popular sights’. On this trip, thanks to a fellow traveller who was there at the same time, I got to explore more places that I had not considered or explored on my previous trips.

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Brunching in Zagreb

Whenever I visit Zagreb, I always eat at the hotel and never had the time to check out the gastronomy scene but I am glad to have started off by sampling their brunching scene and it did not disappoint. For the 5-days we were there, we visited 4 popular branching spots which I must say I recommend each one of these highly. Check out Culture Trip’s recommendations which is what we went by and glad we chose these four spots as they were perfect and met our needs.

• Eggspress Zagreb
• Otto & Frank
• Kavkaz Kazalisna Kavana
• Jolie Petite Pattiserie

Wine Tasting in Zagreb

I still do not know why I didn’t think about the wine scene in Zagreb, Croatia makes and promotes their local wines more than any other place I have visited which I love. Local wines always hit different and on this occasion I am glad we had an opportunity to sample some of the best wines the country has to offer from different regions. Let me introduce you to Bornstein, a family owned Vinoteka (wine shop) which was born 30 years ago and changed the wine scene in it’s promotion of Croatian wine. We had a lovely time chatting with the owners Doris and Ivan, they are such lovely people and explained every single wine we tasted and the Croatian wine scene.

Thalea Massage Place

How did I not know about this incredible massage parlour, I really love travelling with other solo travellers and they always find the best city gems (well at least my solo partner did). Thai centaur Thalea is an incredible massage place located in the heart of Zagreb with a big mission of ‘providing their clients with maximum wellness pleasure‘. Their therapist are all qualified from Thailand and when I tell you they give the best massages ever, I was in pure heaven and came out of Thalea feeling renewed and ready to take on the world. Before travelling to Croatia I was suffering from my bad back and shoulder pains and that’s what I asked them to focus on and I got just that and more.

City Tour Bus

For every trip I do abroad I either do a walking tour or a city tour bus and for Zagreb I had done neither on my last 5 trips there. I felt right to do a city tour bus on this occasion because the weather was super hot and I would not have survive a walking tour regardless of the time of day. One thing I will mention is that due to the traffic in Zagreb, the tour bus seemed to always be running late but I would still recommend it because it is a great way to learn about the city especially when you are short of time but want to accomplish more.

Enjoy dinner in a 300-year old cellar

When you are hungry and looking for authentic local cuisine, the dodgy looking places on the outside can surprise you once you go inside. At least this was our experience with Restoran Lanterna na Dolcu, a restaurant we stumbled upon as we where making our way to Bornstein.

Museums all the way

I can not remember the last time I visited a new place and did not find the local museum and checked it out. Zagreb is the exception to the rule as somehow I never truly has the time/chance to explore them but this time I made time. Although the two museums were visited were highly recommended, I did not know what to expect until I arrived and let me tell you, one touch my heart, made me laugh and the other scared the crap out of me making me question the human nature.

• Museum of broken relationships –
• Museum of Torture –

Other recommendations

• The Mirogoj Mortuary – not your typical cemetery but one that must be explored if you have the time, apart from being propositioned by an old taxi driver, we enjoyed the slow pace it brought.
• Izakaya restaurant – an amazing Japanese restaurant that we absolutely loved and recommend for anyone looking some amazing Japanese dishes in the city of Zagreb.
• Vinodol – This is my favourite restaurant in Zagreb, it was the first I ever ate at and every single time I have visited the city I have dinned there.

We had such an amazing time in Zagreb, we used our 5-days in the city wisely, in that we took the most relaxed approach and didn’t feel the need to rush around. I hope you enjoyed my recommendations on how to spend 5-days in Zagreb, Croatia. Not every trip has to be jammed packed, sometimes relaxing is exactly what the doctor ordered for us and we had an amazing time and absolutely recommend it.