Lower town – Local tips (bars & cafes)

All jazz lovers coming by train won’t see much of Zagreb if they enter Bacchus. Situated less than 100m from the central train station, this bar offers food and drink for both body and soul, serving as a perfect welcome, farewell or just a quick resting place for an inquisitive wanderer.

A bar with history, a former legendary notorious hot spot and gay meeting point, reopened its doors in 2008. with a new concept, slowly regaining it’s undeservedly lost cult status.  The first thing that one notices upon entering is the details.

Everything here is about details. Every time you look around you will notice something new, from numerous antique writing machines, gramophones, radios, television sets, car models and wardrobes to a trapped baby doll, yellow rubber duck and a shark gnawing on a disco ball, to name just a few. The counter itself is made of an old bookshelf filled with books, and you get the check in one of them.

Jazz is played Wed-Sat, and the programme can be checked on their web page. If the weather is nice, you can sit in the garden up front, which reminds of a grandma’s back garden, extremely pleasant and relaxing.

The bar is rather small, with just 8 or so tables, which adds to the appeal, but should be taken into account when coming in the evening.

The wine list is rather short but carefully selected, featuring wines from Argentina, Chile, California, Republic of South Africa as well as Croatian pride and glory.  Besides wines, they offer a great list of cocktails and rakija made with herbs, berries, sour cherries, honey, pear, myrtle, and even nettle.

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Bacchus Jazz Bar | Art & culture, Bars, Music, Relaxing | Wine bottle from Kn 110
Trg Kralja Tomislava 16 | Lower town | +38514922218
10:00 – 00:00 daily

When it comes to bars in Zagreb, great interior design doesn’t always mean good things on the menu. However, in Flores, a fancy café situated a couple of steps away from the Jelačić square, you can get both.

For me it means the best chocolate pie I’ve had in this city, plus pretty good coffee. What more could you ask from life? Well, Flores will also give you good background music (a little bit of lounge, a little bit of funky – nothing that loud that you won’t hear yourself talk), decoration that’s posh but not overly pretentious and a polite staff that will serve you right away and won’t be troubled to recommend a dessert you’ll surely like. They also offer a wide range of both non-alcoholic drinks and fine spirits.

Of course, quality comes with a price: the pastries and drinks in Flores will cost you a bit more than in some other bars. Still, you won’t regret it – empty tables are hard to find in this place for a reason.

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Café Flores | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks | Chocolate pie Kn 15.00
Frane Petrića 1 | Lower town | +38514819272
07:00 – 23:00 daily

The KIC club is a funky little place situated on the second floor of a building overlooking the edge of the Preradović square.

The bar itself isn’t really visually impressive- it could be described as a simple square room with walls painted in a dull shade of grey, and a cluster of small tables surrounded by colourful but shabby chairs and sofas. Yet there’s a cool, laid-back vibe to it that you just won’t be able to resist. KIC is always buzzing with lots of people, mostly young intellectuals.

The waiters have serious mood swings- one time they’ll serve you right away and even throw in a smile for free, another time you’ll wait and wait until you get pretty frustrated. Eventually you’ll grow fond of them and you’ll start to play along.

Oh, not to forget- as KIC stands for ‘cultural information centre’ in Croatian, you might think that something cultural actually takes place there every now and then. You’d be right: there are movi

e nights (and most of those aren’t silly blockbusters, but something you’d be glad to watch), various lectures and photography exhibitions.

Those photos are one of my favourite things about this place- you’ll spot them the minute you walk in, and they’re usually quite attractive so they’ll give you something to occupy yourself with as you’re drinking your morning coffee. Oh, it’s evening already? Well, just enjoy the company of your friends while having a drink and chilling out at this great artsy bar.

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KIC club | Art & culture, Bars, Coffee & tea | Cappuccino Kn 10.00
Preradovićeva 5 | Lower town
Mon – Sat 08:00 – 01:00, Sun 10:00 – 01:00

Kolding is one of the coffee bars that I always return to. It is in the very city centre, in the Berislavićeva street, but still, it is not a coffee bar that you go to just to be seen. You go there to enjoy yourself.

And the first thing you’ll enjoy when you come to Kolding is the interior decoration. A big photo of  the street of some town (unfortunately, I’m not sure what town it is) covers the entire wall and a couple of palm trees will make you feel really cosy and comfortable.

Then you’ll sit down and order your drink. Very soon you will start  to feel like you could just sit here, doing nothing, for hours. And that’s what is so great about Kolding: its easy going atmosphere is infectious and something you always want to repeat. Whether you come here just to get a coffee in the morning or a drink in the evening, you’ll return pretty soon; you simply can’t help it. I know I never can!

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Kolding | Bars, Coffee & tea, Relaxing | Beer Kn 15.00
Berislaviceva 8 | Lower town | +38514872488
Mon – Sat 08:00 – 01:00, Sun 12:00 – 01:00

Kraš (see the Kras article) is a famous Croatian candy factory founded in 1911. There’s another side of Kraš, though, that’s a lot younger than the original.

Kraš choco bar is a place where you can enjoy cake and pastries, some of whose ingredients are the most popular products of this great brand. For example, there’s a palette of ice cream flavours that are designed to remind you of famous Kraš chocolates. You’re not into ice cream when it’s cold outside? Well, there’s no reason not to treat yourself to a great chocolate fondue with fruit to dip in.

You also might want to try one of the numerous cocktails. You can get them either hot or cold- just choose a combination that you like best. They include coffee, milk, vanilla, chocolate syrup, nougat, fruit, juice, popular liqueurs… when you taste one, you’ll probably want to go back and get some more.

Most of the pastries in Kraš choco bar are so sweet that both your teeth and your brain might hurt afterwards, but it’s worth it. I would usually suggest trying some of the cakes, but as it gets really hot over the summer, I recommend dark chocolate icecream – it’s lush, not too sugary, but really really intense.

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Kraš choco bar | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks | Icecream Kn 7.00
Ilica 15 | Lower town | +38514876362
07:00 – 23:00 daily

First things first – this ain’t no fancy lounge bar or a cozy bean-bag chair club, you need to have some balls when going here. When a couple of alternative hotspots around the city closed, Krivi put (Wrong Way) filled the much needed space by becoming the starting point (god forbid the ending point, since it closes at 2am) for people that love and know how to party.

The insides look pretty grim, with uncomfy wooden benches and a huge open podium and graffiti covered walls, but when did that mean anything. The most important is that the drinks are cheap, the music good and loud and the crowd filled with positive energy.
By coming on Thursdays or Saturdays you can sometimes get lucky and see a concert, if not, you’ll probably see the band members mingling around with other punk/rock/ska music lovers.

Anyways, no words can do justice to this place, it’s like Marmite, you either like it or not. If you have ever drunk a bottle of the cheapest wine on a bench in a city park, you’d feel at home in this place. If not, you can always join somebody on the benches out front and then get inside! No entrance fee, dark atmosphere, sweaty crowd, loud energetic music, cheap drinks (eeeeeeexcelllent rakija)… I hope you’re not reading this far because you should already be on your way to Krivi put!

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Krivi put | Bars, Music | Beer Kn 12.00
Joispa Runjaninova 3 | Lower town
10:00 – 02:00 daily

There are bars you can’t stay indifferent to – you either fall in love with them at first sight, or you start hating them five minutes after you walk in. Maraschino is one of those bars- with its psychedelic wallpapers, kitschy decoration and a funky choice of music, it quickly makes you decide whether you’re going to be here every day of the week (as myself) or if you’ll never step inside again.

This colourful place is located in the heart of the city, just a minute away from the Jelacic square. The ground floor is pretty peaceful compared to what you’re going to find if you head to the basement. There’s a messy bunch of tables, crystal chandeliers, pillars wrapped in orange fur and occasionally a good movie being projected to a nearby wall. The waiters are buzzing around in that nonchalant way of theirs, the coffee is good and they also have the coolest, most creative menu design in town. At weekends the tables are removed from the room, making more space for a dancing crowd.

Maraschino takes its name from the popular Croatian sweet cherry liqueur produced in the city of Zadar. That’s also the first thing you’ll find on the menu… you can even get coffee with a drop of this great marasca stuff in it. Cheers!

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Maraschino bar | Bars, Coffee & tea | Coffee latte Kn 10.00
Margaretska 1 | Lower town | +38514812612
Mon – Sat 08:00 – 01:00, Sun 09:00 – 01:00

Tvornica is a club/concert hall/coffee bar. During a day it is a regular coffee bar full of, mostly, students from the near by Faculty of Political Science. A couple of times a year some big shoe stores organise big sales in there.

But Tvornica didn’t earn its reputation by selling coffee or cheap shoes. Great concerts of so many famous and important musicians of our time, performances, dance shows… have made this place so special and unique on Zagrebian scene.

As a club, Tvornica hasn’t got a weekly program. Instead, from time to time, it pops up with something like Studio 54, a night dedicated to the disco music from the 70s. A few years ago this was a regular Friday night scheme (also one of the reasons of Tvornica’s popularity).

Nowadays Tvornica is focused more on making its own programmes instead of just repeating one week after week, so the full name of Tvornica, which is Tvornica kulture, meaning culture factory couldn’t be more true.

Some upcoming events:

20-02-10 Pakleni šund by Tomo Ricov | 22:00 | Tickets 40kn

06-03-10 Jura Stublić & Film | 21:00 | Tickets 70/80kn

13-03-10 Hugh Cornwell | 21:00 | Tickets 120/150kn

19-03-10 Belfast Food (St. Patrick’s Day) | 21:00 | Tickets 70/80kn

26-03-10 Esma Redžepova | 21:00 | Tickets 90/110kn

27-03-10 These New Puritans | 21:00 | Tickets 120/150kn

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Tvornica | Art & culture, Bars, Coffee & tea, Music | Beer Kn 15.00
Šubićeva 2 | Lower town | +38517778673
Coffee bar 08:00 – 22:00 daily, Club 22:00 – 04:00

Zlatni medo (golden bear in English) is a restaurant, as well as the biggest beer hall in Zagreb. As a restaurant it offers a good menu with lots of typical Croatian food, so it’s a good recommendation if you’re looking for a place to eat. But even though the food here is nice, I like Zlatni medo much more as a beer hall.

This place is great to go to when you don’t feel like going out the entire night, but you just want to spend a good time with your friends and a lots of great home made beer. The place itself is really big so the best thing is to come here with lots of friends. One other good thing about Zlatni medo is its furniture. Massive dark brown chairs and tables just make you enjoy your beer even more.

Zlatni medo is a place where you can have a good time, no matter if you just want to get a good meal or a good drink, so try not to miss it.

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Zlatni medo | Bars, Restaurants (Croatian) | Beer Kn 12.00
Savska 56 | Lower town | +38516177119
Mon – Sat 10:00 – 00:00, Sun 12:00 – 00:00

Zrin is a place you’re going to like the moment you step in it. This basement coffee bar/gallery is simply charming. The first thing you’ll like about Zrin is the fact that it is in the city centre, but it’s kind of hidden, and it’s definitely nothing like usual city -centre-coffee bars are.

The interior decoration is another characteristic that makes this place so special. Zrin’s furniture is giving the place old-fashioned vibes, it even has old Singer sewing tables re-decorated as tables. The atmosphere is always nice and easy going and so are the people that work there.

Besides being a coffee bar, Zrin is also a some sort of a gallery. In agreement with the owner, or if the owner invites them to, painters can exhibit their work

Zrin is one of the rare places that will make you feel good no matter if you’re the only guest or if it’s full of people and no matter what time of the day you come. and when it gets cold outside, this is a place with the best hot chocolate in town, so when you come to Zagreb, don’t miss a chance to experience that.

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Zrin | Bars, Coffee & tea | Chocolate Kn 18.00
Berislavićeva 3 | Lower town | +3851427693
Mon – Sat 07:00 – 23:00, Sun 09:00 – 23:00