Zagreb History & Culture: Old Town, Tunnels & Museums
Zagreb rewards curious travellers with cobbled Habsburg streets, secret wartime tunnels and a turbulent 20th-century story. This history and culture itinerary walks you through the Upper Town, the funicular, the communist and Yugoslav past and the city's quirky museums and markets — with the best-rated Zagreb tours, tastings and experiences to book for each.
At a glance
- 1Upper Town & funicular
- 2WWII tunnels beneath the city
- 3Communist & Yugoslav-era stories
- 4Dolac Market food tasting
The Upper Town and the funicular
Start where Zagreb began, in the medieval Upper Town. Ride the tiny 1890 funicular — one of the world's shortest — up to the Lotrscak Tower, then wander to St. Mark's Church with its famous tiled roof and the Stone Gate shrine. A guided walking tour joins the dots between the parliament, the cathedral and the Baroque palaces, sharing the stories behind Zagreb's split identity as two rival hilltop towns that only merged in the 19th century.
Wartime tunnels and the 20th century
Beneath the streets, the Gric Tunnel network was dug as a WWII air-raid shelter and now offers a cool, atmospheric walk through the city's underground. Above ground, dedicated tours trace Zagreb's communist and Yugoslav decades and the Homeland War of the 1990s, explaining how the capital reinvented itself after independence. Together they turn abstract history into something you can walk through, from socialist architecture to memorials and everyday Cold War life.
Museums, markets and local flavours
Zagreb's culture is famously offbeat, home to the original Museum of Broken Relationships and a cluster of playful museums of illusions, hangovers and lost tales. Balance the quirk with the buzzing Dolac Market, the city's red-parasoled belly, where food tours graze on cheese, cured meats, strukli pastry and local wine. A tasting walk is the tastiest way to understand how Zagreb actually lives today.
Book the experiences in this itinerary
Top-rated tours for exactly what this plan recommends in Zagreb — prices per person.
