Having lived in Prague for 5 years, I’ve become addicted to stunning views. Upon return to Zagreb, I’ve spent nights looking for a view of the city that would give me that feeling – when you have the overview of the whole city beneath you and feel calm and privileged to be a part of it.

Zagreb’s topography, however, is completely different, without available hills on every corner and you really have to climb up to Medvednica mountain to get a view of the city. This was frustrating, until I realized I had to alter my expectations and that the view was right under my nose the whole time.

Maksimir park is a few minutes walk from the house I grew up in. In the centre of this beautiful park, there’s a small hill with a belvedere on top, standing proudly overlooking the main entrance. Here I’ve spent numerous afternoons having coffee in the sun with friends, after or before those long walks by the Maksimir lakes.

However, my favorite moments were by myself on a bench overlooking the main entrance, contemplating and realizing that I am indeed left with a beautiful view in front of my eyes. Completely different from the ones I was used to but with the same feeling – of peace and happiness.

So if you’re passing by at any time of year, feel welcome to sit next by, have a chat or simply be happy to belong to this place and time as well.

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Maksimir Belvedere | Coffee & tea, Relaxing | Free
Park Maksimir | Maksimir
24 hours daily

Svijet Stripa, meaning “Comic World” in Croatian used to be a cool neighborhood cafe where I sometimes enjoyed my afternoon coffee, surrounded by all the retro comics, it’s a place where you’d come to hang out by yourself and browse through the endless stacks reminiscing childhood .

Last spring, we discussed with a couple of friends how it would be a cool place to host acoustic gigs, just to find out that the same idea had occurred to the owner as well. So ever since then, you can find someone playing in “SS” every weekend and sometimes during the week. And I must say, it’s a great place for coming to enjoy a relaxing evening with friends or by yourself, and listen to some good music.

Another great thing about this place is that it is in a somewhat secluded street and the bar opens up with one whole wall onto the terrace, so no matter if you’re sitting outside or inside, you can hear the music. It also makes the air circulate, so it doesn’t get too hot or smoky inside.

It is definitely a spot to look out for, and I’m just hoping they have more surprises in store.

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Svijet Stripa | Bars, Coffee & tea, Music | Coffee w/milk Kn 9
Ožegovićeva 5 | Maksimir | +385994449567
09:00 – 00:00 daily

Peaceful and tranquil, this body of water has a magic appeal to human beings trapped in the city. Located in Novi Zagreb (New Zagreb), on the southern bank of Sava, this place used to be one of favourite bathing places in Zagreb in the 60-s and 70-s. During the 80-s and 90-s people kinda forgot about it and it turned into a swamp and a thicket, a small jungle in the city centre. Luckily, the whole place was rediscovered and refurbished in 2005 and has ever since become favourite location for pleasant festivals and relaxing events, or just spending an afternoon chilling and BBQ-ing.

For the sportsmen types, there’s a running/cycling track, a fishing pond and a beach volley court. When the sun sets, its BBQ-time. In the grove around the lake, you can find wooden gazebos and nearby BBQs, use of which is free of charge, you just need to get there in time and claim your spot. You can even rent a grill (however only on Saturdays and Sundays, and they have to be returned by 19:00) for free, bring your own or ask someone to use theirs.

In the middle of the lake, there is a floating platform for bands and performers. Each year there is a FloraArt flower festival in May and a four-day Summer fireworks festival in June – when you get to listen to Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra in open air and later lie on the grass, watch fireworks and nibble on delicatessen from the nearby fair.

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Lake Bundek | Art & culture, Coffee & tea, Relaxing | Beer Kn 15.00
Lake Bundek | Novi Zagreb
24 hours daily

Situated next to the Student’s Centre, this café is very popular amongst younger population. In line with its name, everything about it has a slightly artistic, yet tasteful, air. The chairs on the terrace are some old wooden chairs, usually no two of the same design, and the interior is filled with retro billboards and posters. The lights inside are dim, the music is blended in the background chitchatting noise, which combines into a very pleasant and cosy atmosphere.

Once there, it is advisable to enjoy a cup of great coffee, a pint of excellent beer or just some plain old cider (rare to be found in Zagreb). If you’re wondering whether you’ve come to the right place, you’ll know by the time it takes for the waiter (they’re called WAITers for a reason) to take and bring your order. Then again, in a place called “Godot”, that’s probably the point.

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Café Godot | Coffee & tea | Cider Kn 18.00
Savska 23 a | Lower town
07:00 – 00:00 daily

One of my favorite places in Zagreb is definitely Booksa. Booksa is a book club, but you don’t have to be a member to enjoy everything this place offers (only, if you come there more than once, it’s advisable to sign up for their membership card). The catchy name comes from a slang – in Croatian “buksa” means prison. So, if you are “prisoner” of your love for literature you will feel like home here.

The atmosphere is very “homely” indeed – ordering drinks is a sort of self-service thing and after you sit back and relax on one of the cozy sofas you can feel free to take a look at various newspapers and literature magazines, even in foreign languages. This tobacco-free place delights all your senses because, once you enter, you are immediately surrounded by pictures or photos from local artists, good music and, of course, books.

You can run into a live concert, book presentation, some literature festival or one of many literature workshops held for its members. However, Booksa isn’t a standard bar – they serve alcohol only when mentioned manifestations are being held. “Soft” drinks, like coffee or tea are always attainable.

Booksa also offers lots of brochures and information about Zagreb cultural happenings. In that way, this book club is a perfect starting point for exploring the city.

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Booksa | Art & culture, Coffee & tea, Relaxing, Shopping | Caffe Latte Kn 9.00
Martićeva 14d | Lower town | +38514616124
Tue – Sun 11:00 – 20:00

Zagreb has been known for pretty tasty pastries but if you looked for a cheese cake in a traditional patisserie a few years ago your search would be unsuccessful.

Citizens of Zagreb enriched their list of favourite pastries when the founder of the Café TORTE i to revealed her recipes to the public. After presenting her famous cheese cake, many pastry-chefs decided to put them on their menus and a cheese cake revolution began.

In a comfortable café that looks like a living room (with an exception of its outdoor space) and is supplied with newspapers and magazines, satisfying your taste buds is very easy thing to do. There are a few varieties of an original cheese cake – you may find the one with chocolate or different kinds of fruit, and lots of other lush cakes. Their names are interesting and creative, such as supercalifragilisticexpialidocious cake, for example.

Beside cakes, you can order muffins, brownies and different kinds of biscuits that go well with coffee, tea or home-made red prosecco wine.

The Café is situated in two locations, but the one closer to the main square is in the Kaptol Centre. Sometimes it is very crowded and the prices are more on the expensive side, but having a taste of those pastries could be exactly what you had in mind on a certain day.

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TORTE i to | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Cheese cake Kn 18.00
Nova Ves 11 (1 st floor) | Upper town | +38514860691
08:00 – 23:00 daily

Café Velvet was a former meeting point with a cult status. But several years ago it closed its doors, leaving Zagreb without one more bustling and colorful café. That is, until last year, when the new owners reopened it with a significant touch of an artsy flare. Now Velvet is constituted of a beautifully decorated café, where you can treat yourself with a tasty coffee, freshly made juices, toasts, cakes, pies and soups, and an art-gallery situated right next to the café.

Personally I find Velvet as one of the ideal places for a relaxing chit-chat with your friends. After a hard-day work, when all the lights in Velvet come up, having a pleasant conversation in a smoke-free environment and a nice cup of coffee with all those tasty delights on the menu feels right to me. Even if you don’t have a friend to keep you company, this place is relaxing enough for you to read newspapers or a book, watching locals and movie buffs from Cinema Tuškanac pass by.

Of course, if you are in a very chatty mood, you can make friends with the co-owner Saša Šekoranja, an acclaimed florist and artist, who is there very often. In fact, if one of the customers in some way inspires the artist, he will personally draw the costumer’s portrait and hang it on the wall along with the numerous pictures, mostly blank and waiting for future models.

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Velvet | Art & culture, Coffee & tea, Shopping, Snacks | Fresh juice Kn 15.00
Dežmanova ulica 9 | Upper town | +38514846743
Mon – Fri 08:00 – 22:00, Sat 08:00 – 15:00, Sun 08:00 – 14:00

Have you ever been to a place where you felt like a millionaire, but in a potentially non-pretentious way? I thought that such place doesn’t exist but clearly it does. It is called Galerija Lav. Hence the name, it is also a gallery.

There are three separate rooms, each of them differently decorated but in an equally stunning decor. The owners, art-lovers themselves, carefully paid attention to every detail of the Caffe. Some of the furnishings are high-class designer products (Philippe Starck Louis Ghost chairs, for example) and the paintings and sculptures are originals, ready for sale.

Coffee is served in porcelain cups, along with a cookie (needless to say) and it tastes like it looks like – really good. Its price isn’t overpriced, which is very important.

The location of the place is also great, for it serves as a stand during a walk through the Upper town, as it is situated right over the Stone Gate (Kamenita vrata), one of the Zagreb sights. Actually, the terrace of the Caffe overlooks it, so if you decide to sip your drink in the outdoors you will also enjoy the view.

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Caffe Galerija Lav | Art & culture, Coffee & tea, Relaxing | Coffee Kn 9.00
Opatička 2 | Upper town | +38514922108
Mon – Sat 09:00 – 23:00, Sun 10:00 – 15:00

Although somewhat secluded, Cyber Funk Café is very well known among fruit and vegetable lovers. Simply decorated, this courtyard/garden place offers another kind of riches – it serves around 40 different varieties of freshly made juices and smoothies, sandwiches, coffee and tea, as well as excellent daily soup (all of which you can order to-go).

Everything Cyber Funk Café serves is delightful and tasty, not to mention healthy, so if you are in desperate need for your daily dose of vitamins, Cyber Funk Café is the obvious answer.

Also, as its name suggests, the spot provides internet access (0,25 Kn/min) and similar kinds of service (document copying, scanning and faxing). Of course, what definitely stands out about it are its smoothies and juices, which will fill your batteries and light up your day with some Endorphin fueled optimism.

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Cyber Funk Café | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Juice (Fresh) 0.2 L Kn 14.00
Masarykova 26 | Lower town | +38516399070
Mon – Fri 08:00 – 22:00, Sat 09:00 – 22:00

MSU – Muzej suvremene umjetnosti is a newly built museum, after years of putting effort into securing an adequate space for vast art collections dating from the beginning of the 20th century.

The architect of the Museum, Igor Franić, respected the tradition of functionalist architecture and designed a building which continues the orientation of the Green Horseshoe – series of interconnected parks situated in the city center designed by famous architect Milan Lenuci.

Except, MSU is situated in the area called Novi Zagreb, right across the river Sava. A five-story museum looks like a meander and its presence is best seen at night when it is lit up with fantastic light shows.

On the ground floor you can find museum shop, children’s workshop, library with a reading hall, a minor exhibition space, restaurant, and a multimedia hall, where arthouse cinema Metropolis takes place. The exhibition rooms are located on the upper floors of the Museum.

My typical Museum day consists of a coffee and croissant breakfast at the Museum café, after which I take a walk through the Museum’s collections. Interesting to explore is also the studio of the famous artist Ivan Kožarić, integrated between the permanent collection and occasional exhibitions.

There is always something exciting to be found related to Croatian and ex-Yugoslavian rich cultural heritage – every time I visit the Museum I am surprised by noticing something I missed last time, which makes me eager to visit MSU more often.

Tip: every first Wednesday of the month there is free entrance.

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Museum of Contemporary Art | Art & culture, Cinemas, Coffee & tea | Adults Kn 30.00
Avenija Dubrovnik 17 | Novi Zagreb | +38516052700
Tue – Wed & Fri – Sun 11:00 – 19:00, Thu 11:00 – 22:00