Zagreb, Croatia’s northwestern capital, is distinguished by its 18th- and 19th-century Austro-Hungarian architecture. At its center, Upper Town is the site of the Gothic, twin-spired Zagreb Cathedral and 13th-century St. Mark’s Church, with a colorfully tiled roof. Nearby is pedestrian-friendly Tkalciceva Street, lined with outdoor cafes. Lower Town has the main square, Ban Jelacic, plus shops, museums and parks.

Zagreb is a vibrant city of around 800,000 people (metropolitan area: 1,200,000). The city boasts a charming medieval 'old city' with architecture and cobbled streets reminiscent of Vienna, Budapest, Prague and other Central-European capitals. In 2011 it was visited by over 700000 tourists, mainly from Austria, Germany and Italy.

You’ll have to love Croatian and Italian food to enjoy Zagreb’s restaurants, but new places are branching out to include cuisines from around the world, as well as some vegetarian options. The city centre's main streets are lined with fast-food joints, bakeries and snack bars. Many restaurants close in August for their summer holiday, which lasts anywhere from two weeks to a month. In the Upper Town, the chic Tkalciceva is throbbing with bars and cafes. With half a dozen bars and sidewalk cafes between Trg Petra Preradovica (known locally as Cvjetni trg) and Bogoviceva in the Lower Town, the scene on summer nights resembles a vast outdoor party. Things wind down by midnight though, and get quieter from mid-July through late August. Ilica is Zagreb’s main shopping street, with fashionable international brands peeking out from the staid buildings. Most stores are closed on Sunday.

Zagreb has culture, arts, music, architecture, gastronomy and all the other things that make a quality capital city – it's no surprise that the number of visitors has risen sharply in recent years. Croatia's coastal attractions aside, Zagreb has finally been discovered as a popular city-break destination in its own right. Visually, Zagreb is a mixture of straight-laced Austro-Hungarian architecture and rough-around-the-edges socialist structures, its character a sometimes uneasy combination of the two elements. This small metropolis is made for strolling the streets, drinking coffee in the permanently full cafes, popping into museums and galleries, and enjoying the theatres, concerts and cinema. It’s a year-round outdoor city: in spring and summer everyone scurries to Jarun Lake in the southwest to swim or sail, or dance the night away at lakeside discos, while in winter Zagrebians go skiing at Mt Medvednica (only a tram or bus ride away).