Things to do in Zagreb & Plitvice Lakes

Zagreb's Upper Town gathers the Gothic St. Mark's Church, with its 14th-century south portal and the oldest known Zagreb coat of arms, the Lotrščak Tower on the Strossmayer Promenade, where the noon cannon still fires every day, and the award-winning Museum of Broken Relationships, full of anonymously donated everyday objects and their stories. Below it, Dolac Market fills with fruit, vegetables and fish under red Šestine umbrellas near the Cathedral, the Museum of Illusions on Ilica street makes a playful rainy-day stop, and Mirogoj Cemetery, designed by Hermann Bollé, feels like an outdoor gallery of arcades, domes and sculpted memorials. Families can spend a day in Maksimir Park, with five lakes and the Zagreb Zoo inside, and in Advent the squares, parks and pedestrian streets of the Upper and Lower Town light up with Christmas markets and an ice rink on King Tomislav Square. Day trips reach the lakes and waterfalls of Plitvice Lakes National Park, the old water mills of Rastoke above the Korana river, and Trakošćan Castle, a castle museum in a forest park by a lake.

Good to knowThe Lotrščak Tower is closed on Mondays, Dolac Market is liveliest in the morning, and the Museum of Illusions also offers pre-booked guided tours; please visit Mirogoj quietly and respectfully. Plitvice Lakes is open every day of the year but its hours and services change by season, so check conditions and buy tickets online, as you can for the Rastoke promenade. Trakošćan Castle keeps shorter hours from November to February, with tickets sold at the museum reception.