avoid in Zagreb parks and areas at night suspicious night clubs eat at food joints around main railway and bus station tram night lines taxi Zagreb-airport
In Zagreb, like in all tourist destinations in the world, some things is better to avoid. Generaly Zagreb is safe city for tourists, crime rate is relatively low, so apart from several parks/areas at night and some rip-off night clubs, you can go enywhere. To make your belly happy and satisfied some places is better to skip, taxi from airport can be overpriced (as in all world cities) and timetable of night trams is not reliable.
1. Aviod some parks and areas at night
Although night cruising at Zagreb Downtown streets is relatively safe and night life in/in front/ to/from clubs is not violent like in UK and some Eastern European countries, some areas, parks especially, is better to avoid. By that we particularly mean Ribnjak Park, just behind the Zagreb Cathedral, with violent history of fights between young subcultural groups and several attacks. Same groups had clashes at King Tomislav square/park in front of the main railway station, so all that area is not tourist friendly at night. If you are travelling at night from/to main station there is no need to stay long there, just pass by. The same applies for Zagreb Bus Terminal area with some unsafe 24/7 bars and casinos there, square/park Ivana Mažuranića behind the Croatian National Theatre and Zagreb West railway station.
2. Aviod suspicious night clubs
Zagreb is not famous for striptease/table dance clubs like Budapest or some other cities in nearby countries. And Zagreb has no tradition of classic strip clubs with table and stag dance. All Zagreb variations are scam, avoid it. Fortunately there are only few that kind of clubs here. But be careful not to stumble right there in early hours. Solo businessmen and some naive party geezers could. And then they are in trouble, because just one drink will be a classic rip-off. Not to mention the price for round of drinks for girls or lap dance. That kind of scam clubs have red signs on, there is no crowd at entrance and they are not on any list of Zagreb clubs, so it is easy to avoid them. And do not ask the taxi drivers about clubs with girls because they might take you to some shabby suburb night clubs. You don’t want that either!
3. Avoid to eat at food joints around main railway and bus station
Fine dining experience is very important for good memories from each journey. Give yourself a chance to taste local cuisine away from fast food and tourist restaurants. However, sometimes you have to grab a quick bite along the way. In Zagreb, try to avoid all fast food joints near the main railway station (Importanne centar). If you are there you can only go with 24/7 bakery chain Mlinar. At Zagreb Bus Terminal aviod all food places exept 24/7 bakery chain Dubravica. In Downtown, like in all tourist cites, try to aviod tourist restaurants with big pictures of food in front of the restaurants and colorful, simple and easy to order menus. Safest way to find a good restaurant abroad is to spend a little time before the journey and surf trough web pages with such content. Beside TripAdvisor we can recommend you, our list at CityPal recommended restaurants
4. Aviod expensive taxi from Zagreb airport
From Zagreb airport to city centre and back you can only go by rent-a-car/private car, taxi or bus. If you want to save some money and you are not in a hurry, avoid taxi. From airport to city you can only go with one taxi company, because other companies are not allowed to wait their customers there, so prices are high (around 200kn (25€)). And they are known for overcharging foreigners up to 200kn per head, although the price should be the same for one or max 4 people in cab, not per head, so price can go much higher. Recommend alternative way is to go by Airport Bus to Zagreb Bus Terminal from where you can take cheaper taxi or tram to your destination. Bus is parked just outside the terminal, and it runs every 30 min from 07:00h-20:00h, afterwards depart is after each lending. One-way ticket costs 30kn (4€) plus bags,travel time is 30min. Back to airport you can go again with bus or order in advance fix price taxi.
5. Aviod Zagreb tram night lines
From 00:00h-05:00h regular daily Zagreb tram lines do not operate, during that period tram network consist of 4 night lines with exact timetables averaging at about every 50 minutes. Night lines are often substituted by buses due to track maintenance and repairs. Unfortunately, Zagreb tram night lines are not reliable, sometimes without any explanation, they skip the ride from timetable, so you must wait for next one almost an hour at night. Or you can go by foot. Plus dominant crew in night trams (especially on weekends) are drunken youngsters returning from a night out and homeless people trying to catch a sleep. Because all of that, night tram ride in Zagreb is better to avoid. So, skip the last round of drinks and save some money for taxi, it is the best option in Zagreb for going to bed in late-night hours.
