Zagreb, Croatia

Day 1

• St Mark's Church and the upper town

  The coat-of-arms roof is not medieval: the coloured tiles were laid in 1880, with the arms of the kingdom of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia on the left and those of Zagreb on the right. The church is looked at from outside and that is all: the interior is not open to tourist visits and you enter only during mass. The square around it belongs to the government and parliament, so there are security checks and on some days barriers. Walking round costs nothing and takes 10 minutes.

• Ban Jelačić Square

  The square is the city's point zero and where everyone arranges to meet: 'pod satom', under the clock, is the phrase locals use. It is pedestrian but the trams run across it, and crossing without looking is the fastest way to meet one. From here you climb to the upper town on foot via Tkalčićeva or by the funicular a hundred metres away. Beneath the square is the Manduševac spring, which by legend gave the city its name.

• Zagreb Cathedral

  Look at it knowing what it is: the earthquake of 22 April 2020 damaged it badly and the top of the north spire was taken down days later for safety. The cathedral has been under reconstruction ever since, its towers wrapped in scaffolding, and the outline you see today is not the postcard one. The rebuilding is a job of years: anyone after the photograph of the twin spires will have to settle for scaffolding.

Day 2

• Lotrščak Tower and funicular

  The funicular climbing from the lower town is the shortest public-transport funicular in the world: 66 metres of track and a 64-second ride, for €0.66. It dates from 1890 and ran on steam until 1934. At the top stands the Lotrščak tower, whose cannon fires a 130-decibel shot at noon every day, heard beyond the Sava: stand underneath without knowing and you will jump. The Strossmayer promenade beside it is free and looks over the lower town.

• Dolac Market

  It sits on a terrace above Ban Jelačić square and opens early: the outdoor stalls with the red umbrellas work from morning and pack up in the early afternoon, so after 2pm there is little left. Below, in the covered part, are the butchers, the dairy stalls and the fish hall, on slightly different hours. This is a market where local people shop: prices are by the kilo and there is little haggling, but the kumice, the countrywomen selling cheese and cream, are the real attraction.

• Tkalčićeva

  The street is not a street but a covered stream: until 1898 the Medveščak ran here, separating Gradec and Kaptol, the two settlements that warred with each other and only became one city in the 19th century. On both sides stand the mills of that time, now bars. It is the street for drinks and evenings, and prices are the highest in Zagreb: two blocks towards Radićeva and the same beer costs half.

Day 1

• Mirogoj Cemetery✦ hidden gem

  Free to enter and always open during cemetery hours, 20 minutes from the centre on bus 106 from the cathedral: a ZET ticket costs 0.53 € for 30 minutes and 0.93 € for 60 if bought at a sales point, while from the driver on board it rises to 0.80 € and 1.33 €. The five-hundred-metre covered arcades are by Hermann Bollé, the same architect who rebuilt the cathedral. What makes it different from other monumental cemeteries: it is multi-faith by design. Catholics, Orthodox, Muslims, Jews and atheists are buried within the same walls, which is rare in this part of Europe.

• Museum of Broken Relationships✦ hidden gem

  Born out of the end of a relationship between two Zagreb artists, who in 2006 gathered their friends' objects into a travelling show; since 2010 it has been a permanent museum in the upper town and in 2011 it won the European prize for the most innovative museum. The objects are donated by strangers from all over the world, each with its own text: you read more than you look, so allow a good 60 minutes. It opens every day, 09:00-22:00 from 1 June to 30 September and 09:00-21:00 in other months, with last entry half an hour before: one of the few things in the city you can do after dinner. It is ticketed and stands a couple of minutes from the Lotrščak tower.

• Grič Tunnel✦ hidden gem

  An air-raid shelter dug beneath the upper town during the Second World War, reopened as a public passage: free, open every day until evening, and with six different entrances that emerge far apart. Go in at Mesnička and come out at Radićeva without doing the climb. In summer it is about ten degrees cooler inside than out, which is why people in Zagreb use it. It hosts exhibitions and, in December, part of the Christmas market.

Day 2

• Kremšnita and continental wines✦ hidden gem

  The kremšnita is two layers of pastry with a finger-thick custard between them, eaten with a spoon because it collapses: the most famous version is from Samobor, half an hour away, but the old cafés of Zagreb keep it all year. The wines to try here are not the Dalmatian ones but the continental whites from the surrounding hills (Plešivica, Zagorje), drunk young and cheap: wine bars pour them by the glass.

• Štrukli

  Thin pastry filled with tart fresh cheese and sour cream, from the Zagorje, the countryside north of the city. They come in two versions that are really different dishes: boiled, served in broth as a first course, and baked, browned under cream, which is the one to try. There are sweet ones too, with apple or walnut. It is substantial: a baked portion is a meal, not a starter, and in the konobe outside the centre it costs half.

Day 1

• Štrukli

  Thin pastry filled with tart fresh cheese and sour cream, from the Zagorje, the countryside north of the city. They come in two versions that are really different dishes: boiled, served in broth as a first course, and baked, browned under cream, which is the one to try. There are sweet ones too, with apple or walnut. It is substantial: a baked portion is a meal, not a starter, and in the konobe outside the centre it costs half.

• Purica s mlincima and ćevapi

  Purica s mlincima is roast turkey with mlinci, sheets of dried pasta that soften in the roasting juices and soak up the fat: it is the Sunday and holiday dish, and many places serve it only at the weekend. Ćevapi are something else and come from the south: rolls of minced meat off the grill, served in somun bread with raw onion and ajvar, the pepper relish. They are counted by the piece, five or ten, and that is how you order them.

• Kremšnita and continental wines✦ hidden gem

  The kremšnita is two layers of pastry with a finger-thick custard between them, eaten with a spoon because it collapses: the most famous version is from Samobor, half an hour away, but the old cafés of Zagreb keep it all year. The wines to try here are not the Dalmatian ones but the continental whites from the surrounding hills (Plešivica, Zagorje), drunk young and cheap: wine bars pour them by the glass.

Day 2

• Dolac Market

  It sits on a terrace above Ban Jelačić square and opens early: the outdoor stalls with the red umbrellas work from morning and pack up in the early afternoon, so after 2pm there is little left. Below, in the covered part, are the butchers, the dairy stalls and the fish hall, on slightly different hours. This is a market where local people shop: prices are by the kilo and there is little haggling, but the kumice, the countrywomen selling cheese and cream, are the real attraction.

• Tkalčićeva

  The street is not a street but a covered stream: until 1898 the Medveščak ran here, separating Gradec and Kaptol, the two settlements that warred with each other and only became one city in the 19th century. On both sides stand the mills of that time, now bars. It is the street for drinks and evenings, and prices are the highest in Zagreb: two blocks towards Radićeva and the same beer costs half.