Best Zagreb Sightseeing Tour 2023

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Greetings, Internet Stranger, and welcome to the best Zagreb sightseeing tour! Zagreb, which is the capital city of Croatia, does not get as much attention as many other cities in Croatia like the gorgeous Dubrovnik.

Most bloggers out there will tell you that Dubrovnik is prettier than Zagreb, and I am no different! If you only have enough time to visit one city in Croatia, let it be Dubrovnik. But if you have time for two cities in Croatia, let the second be Zagreb. That is what I did on my travels through Europe, and I regret nothing.

If you have never been to Zagreb before, or if you would just like to learn the city better, you would probably like to book a Zagreb sightseeing tour so that you can find your way around and learn the city better. And that’s what this list is for! Allow me to show you a Zagreb sightseeing tour or two, and I am sure you will have just as much fun in Zagreb as I did.

Best Zagreb Sightseeing Tour List

One) Zagreb Sightseeing Tour: Food Tour

You might be a little confused here because you were supposedly looking for a Zagreb sightseeing tour, and yet here I am recommending a food tour. How can a food tour be a sightseeing tour? After all, you eat food with your mouth and tongue and you see things with your eyes. They are not related to each other at all.

Well, I think a food tour can absolutely be the best kind of sightseeing tour. After all, on a food tour, you will learn about the yummiest local foods, along with the help of a thoughtful local guide. And along the way, your guide will teach you about landmarks and other things that make Zagreb interesting. It doesn’t get better than this!

So go ahead and check out this delicious food tour if you want to sightsee in Zagreb in the most delightful way.

You can book this tour for yourself by going here.

I can’t guarantee you will eat exactly what I ate on this tour, but I can give you an idea of what to expect!

One dish that you absolutely have to try when you go on a food tour in Zagreb is the burek. It might not be much to look at, but it is a feast for the belly, if not for the eyeballs.

Bureks are hand pies, and they are available and popular in pretty much every country in the Balkans. I have eaten burek everywhere from Sarajevo to Skopje, and I regret nothing. Now there are even burek places in my hometown of New York City. But the bureks you can get at the market in Zagreb might be my favorites.

This market is right in the middle of town, and it is covered with massive red umbrellas, so it is basically impossible to miss. However, it is much better to come here with a local guide on the food tour because he will know the best stalls with the tastiest bureks.

What can you expect to find inside a burek? I’ve had everything from meat to cheese to apples. (Yes, you can have a dessert burek.) Fortunately, my guide was able to introduce me to a kind of burek I had never experienced before. The cheese and sugar kind.

That might sound a little odd, but it’s really just like a sweet and salty version of a cheese danish. Just the perfect breakfast treat! However, you will be able to get a more standard flavor of burek if you wish.

Aside from sugar cheese bureks, what kinds of foods is Croatia famous for? Well, Croatians have many gourmet delicacies, like their Pag cheese and their Plavac Mali wine, which we will get to soon. However, I do not think anyone should visit Croatia without getting into their amazing truffles and olive oil.

And what’s better than truffles or olive oil? How about truffles AND olive oil, combined into one magical substance? That’s right, we’re going to sample bread with truffle olive oil and you can even buy a bottle of your oil to take home and glam up your salads.

Then we also snacked on some toasts with Croatian olive paste and paired the toasts with two excellent Croatian wines: Plavac Mali and Dingac. It is quite difficult to find these wines back home in the United States at such a reasonable price, so this was a real treat.

The one thing I wondered is how Plavac Mali got its name. The words mean “little blue”, but aren’t grapes purple and not blue? Who is Little Blue? Will this shocking secret ever be revealed? I guess we’ll all have to drink a whole bunch of Croatian wine to find out.

I promised that it would not only be food on this Zagreb sightseeing tour, and I surely intend to keep that promise. We will also be learning about Croatian history and famous folks, and no one is more famous than the legendary inventor Nikola Tesla, whom you can see in this mural above.

Are you aware that Tesla designed our alternating current electrical system? I’m sure that you are because you look like a very well informed person. However, according to my guide, Tesla also invented the radio. Apparently mean non Croatians will not give him credit for this amazing accomplishment.

When he was a young inventor, Tesla was also cheated by Thomas Edison. Edison got Tesla to help him with an invention by promising him a big amount of money. However, when Tesla did the work and requested payment, Edison said he had only been joking and Tesla should have known better.

Oh Tesla, you really should have known better than to trust Edison. He was not a super scrupulous person.

Are you ready for another Croatian pastry? Of course you are! This might look like a burek, but it isn’t. I wrote down in my notes that it was something that sounded like strudel, but is not in fact strudel.

Now, that could be a lot of things, but it is most likely a pastry called strukli, which is dough stuffed with cheese, kind of like a stuffed pizza crust. Some people call it a Croatian white lasagna, which doesn’t seem much like what I ate. But it’s got carbs on carbs, so you know it is good. I’m just going to keep on calling it “not strudel” because the name amuses me.

24 Hour Treasure: Tolkien’s House

It isn’t included with the tour, but I was so excited when our guide took us past a hobbitesque bar called Tolkien’s House. At first I thought that Tolkien actually lived here, which surprised me because I didn’t think he spoke any languages except for English and Elvish.

However, Tolkien’s House was never inhabited by the author of the Lord of the Rings. Instead, it’s a charming pub where you can sit on some tasty local beers, like the Red Hobbit Ale. I would drink Red Hobbit Ale just for the name, so it was a pleasant bonus that it was also delicious.

Of course, you do not have to stop here after your time on the Zagreb sightseeing tour, but if you do decide to drop by, say hi to Bilbo for me.

24 Hour Tip

Those are all the secrets of the Zagreb sightseeing tour I can share with you for now. You’ll have to go ahead and book the tour by to find out the rest.

Check rates and availability by going here!

Two) Zagreb Sightseeing Tour: Walking tour

Ok, since we have delved deep into the food of Zagreb for our first Zagreb sightseeing tour, it’s now time to try a more conventional Zagreb sightseeing tour. This one will be more focused on the history and architecture of this unusual city. Then join me on a walking tour of the coolest features of Zagreb.

Are you interested in world records? Las Vegas? Fighting Nazis? Then this is the tour for you! We won’t waste any more time talking about it.

Check rates and availability for this tour right here!

I can’t spoil everything we saw on the tour, but I can share a few of my favorites.

One of the first things you will notice when you visit Zagreb is that there is a lower portion of the city and then there is an upper portion. The upper portion is older and has much better views, but on the minus side, it’s harder to get here than it is to get to the lower part, mostly because getting to the upper part involves a little climbing.

However, if you can’t or won’t do the climbing, which is not really that long, you can wait patiently to ride one of the world’s strangest funiculars. This is the smallest funicular in the whole wide world. Doesn’t that make you want to build a tiny funicular just to beat the record? Go on and live your dreams, Internet Stranger!

Who would create such an unusual contraption. Well, if you guessed a 19th century Austrian businessman, you guessed rightly. This was actually a business scheme on his part, but it did not work very well. It is a one minute ride up the funicular, but it only takes three minutes to walk up to the top of the funicular, and it does not cost anything to walk.

I guess most people decided that they’d rather take the walk for free, especially since the funicular used to break down a lot. Now, the funicular works fine, and it’s an odd treat, so people like to ride it when they visit Zagreb. It’s pretty much just for tourists, the best kind of people.

You can probably tell that we have arrived in the higher section of Zagreb because it’s a lot lovelier. The most famous building in this part of town is St Mark’s Church, which you can see in my photo above. The tile patterns are what make this the most notable landmark of Zagreb.

But where do those checks come from? After all, we’re in Zagreb, not Prague. According to the guide, the checkerboard became a symbol of Croatia because a Croatian king was once kidnapped by Venetians. (This was back in the day when Venice had its own army, which might have been led by lions.)

Anyway, the Venetians made this king play a game of checkers for his safety. As you can probably guess, he won! And that is why everyone associates Croatia with the game of checkers to this very day!

Ooh! What is this photo of a creepy tunnel doing on a Zagreb Sightseeing tour? Who wants to spend their vacation lurking underground? We’re not mole people, after all.

Well, get used to this tunnel because it’s the Tunel Gric, which was a bomb shelter in the days of World War II. (I didn’t misspell Tunnel. It is really called the Tunel Gric with only one N.)

The tunnel had fallen into bad shape, but they restored it and made it into an intriguing pedestrian pathway. Do you need a guide to avoid getting lost in this tunel? Only you can know the answer to that question. However, I think it’s more fun to see it with a guide.

The tunel will lead out into an art park. This used to be a popular spot for doing drugs, or so I have heard. I personally have never done a drug in my life, and I’m not just saying this because my grandmother reads this blog.

Our final stop on the Zagreb sightseeing tour is the lovely Zagreb Cathedral. You can see it any time, but without the guide, you won’t learn the history of this special place.

Most people would say that the coolest fact about this cathedral is that the chandelier was actually from a defunct casino in Las Vegas! How many cathedrals or casinos can say the same thing. Perhaps that is where the term Holy Roller comes from.

24 Hour Tip

Those are all the secrets I can share with you for now. You’ll have to book the tour for yourself if you want to find out more!

Check rates and availability for this tour right here!

Zagreb sightseeing tour

Where to Stay

There’s only one hotel I can recommend for your Zagreb sightseeing tour and that’s the Hotel Jagerhorn. It has an insanely convenient location near both Ban Jelacic Square and some of the best views in all Zagreb. Plus the hotel is one of the most glamorous in the city because it is the oldest hotel left in Zagreb. Yet the prices are still totally reasonable. Really, what more could you ask for?

If you’re excited to book your stay at the Hotel Jagerhorn, just click here.

And if you’d rather explore great deals on tons of other hotels in Zagreb, I’ve got you covered here! This search engine will help you find the perfect place to stay for your Zagreb sightseeing tour. With hundreds of options to choose from, I’m sure you’ll find something for your schedule and budget.

Zagreb sightseeing tour

Tools For Travel

• A portable cell charger so that your phone won’t die a miserable death during your Zagreb sightseeing tour
• The best international travel adapter because if you’re American like I am, you’ll need one to be able to plug in electronics
• I always get good advice from Lonely Planet’s guide to Croatia, including Zagreb. They divide the guide into sections by region, which is very helpful.
• The most reliable travel umbrella that is small enough to fit in my purse, but strong enough to stand up to powerful winds
• These great TSA approved clear toiletries bags, so I can always keep spare toothpaste and travel sized toiletries in any carry-on.
• My book Get Lost, that I wrote myself with all my best travel tips. This book will show you how travel can take you on a journey of self-discovery.

Those are the best Zagreb tours!

What would you do in Zagreb? Are you ready to start booking your hotel in Zagreb right away? Please email me at stellajane@aroundtheworldin24hours.com and let me know!

Note: If you want to know how I put my travel itineraries together, just click here. Keep in mind that while each article is about how to spend 24 hours in a place, that doesn’t mean you should ONLY try 24 hours in Zagreb.

Enjoy 24 hours in Dubrovnik. Experience the best walking tour in Dubrovnik. Look for the best Dubrovnik top hotels. Try a 24 hours in Zagreb itinerary. Enjoy the best Zagreb things to do in a day.