Zagreb outskirts
- Novi Zagreb, South Zagreb, West Lower Town, Mount Medvenica, Sava River, TV Tower, Ul. Hrvatske bratske zajednice
The city center of Zagreb, especially Upper Town is beautiful with many old buildings and parks. In the outskirts, South of the Sava River, is Novi Zagreb (New Zagreb), that is newer but very few sights are situated there. Parts of Lower Town is also in the outskirts. The major part of the outskirts are a mix of very modern large buildings, neglect industrial or residential buildings with graffiti, some older buildings while the hilly Northern part towards the mountains and East outskirts are where you find upscale residential areas with villas. In the East part is Maksimir Park, by far the largest park of Zagreb, and Maksimir Stadium. Modern blue trams, and some old ones, plus buses, takes you from the outskirts to the city center.
Zagreb has fairly many modern highrises or “skyscrapers” for a European city, many of them are hotels and office buildings in glass and steel. Most of them are spread out throught the West and East outskirts of Lower Town. A tall TV tower (169m), Croatia’s tallest tower, stands on top of the highest mountain, Medvednica, which highest point is at 1035m, situated North of Zagreb. In the same mountain area is Medvedgrad Castle (temporary closed in 2021) from the 13th century, it lies 593m above the sea! We could see both from our hotel room (at the Westin) in central Zagreb.
Zagreb Franjo Tuđman Airport in Velika Gorica is a large and modern airport with a futuristic terminal, it lies Southeast of the city. We arrived there by a our Ryanair flight. The best way to get to the city center from the airport is by bus. Along the road, artists were making acrobatic movements to make some money from the trafficants. There are very few trains, so if taking a daytrip or travelling ot other cities in Croatia and neighbouring countries, you will most likely find yourself in the Central Bus Station, that is inconveniently located in the East outskirts of Lower Town. It is next to Strojarska Business Center, that is Zagreb's tallest building. There are many bus companies and all are very modern. (There is a Central Railway Station in the city center though, if you are lucky you will find a train that goes where you want, they are very modern as well.)
When arriving by bus or taxi from the modern Zagreb Franco Tudman Airport (Zagreb has no metro and trams are not going to the airport), you will most likely pass through the wide avenue Ul. Hrvatske bratske zajednice with fountains, monuments and large modern buildings, like the National and University Library is a large glass building..
In the outskirts you also find many large modern shopping malls, like Avenue Mall, Arena Centar, Cvjetni Center mall, Supernova and City Center One.Arena Zagreb is a large futuristic white arena building for sports, concerts etc.
