Lower town – Local tips (music venues)

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.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
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

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!

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Krivi put | Bars, Music | Beer Kn 12.00
Joispa Runjaninova 3 | Lower town
10:00 – 02:00 daily

The core of student life in Zagreb is the Student Centre, popularly known as SC (pronounce it as S-Tzay, otherwise people won’t get what you’re talking about). I’ll be honest – the main reason people go there is to eat, as it’s the biggest student restaurant in the city. But don’t give up on SC so quickly – there’s a bunch of structures besides the cafeteria where you can have fun, and you don’t have to be a local to do so.

First of all, there’s Teatar &TD, an experimental student theatre that gives quite attractive shows. Not your thing? Go see a movie or a photography exhibition – you can find your way through the complex using the legend on the big map hanging above the entrance.

My favourite part of everything this place has to offer are the concerts. The SC has brought a number of great bands to Zagreb, such as The Young Knives, Conor Oberst and The Mystic Valley Band, Handsome Furs, Animal Collective… nothing mainstream, but fantastic music.

The slogan of the SC is the one mentioned in the title – the culture of change, and that’s exactly what they do. Through good movies, alternative music scene and various amazing cultural festivals, they’ll do their best to open up your mind and show you there’s more to this society than you can see in the newspaper and on TV.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Student Centre | Art & culture, Music, Theaters | Concert ticket Kn 80.00
Savska cesta 25 | Lower town
24 hours daily

Even though I’m not the biggest fan of jazz music, this is the only place in Zagreb where you can find me on a night out, listening to some live music, hanging with my friends and drinking beer after work in Cyberfunk C@fe (see this article).

The place itself is only few minutes away from the main square, based in a basement with a small stage where almost every night there is someone playing, either a solo performer or some band. Genre they play is mostly jazz, but you can find blues, rock and few more types of music – something for everyone.

The waiters are friendly, prices lower than average in center of the city, and everybody is drinking beer or some home-made shots, which I strongly recommend – Medica is my favorite, its a strong drink made of honey, really tasty.

There is also enough room to chill out with your friends and engage in some conversation after few rounds of beer, the atmosphere for couples is great, just sit around with a candle on and listening some live music in the next room…what more do you want?

The ultimate place to go out if you enjoy great live music and friendly environment. Or if you just want to buy me a beer.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
The Jazz Club | Bars, Music | Entrance fee Kn 20.00
Gundulićeva 11 | Lower town
18:00 – 01:00 daily

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

Details about this spot (Show on map)
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