Great things to do in Zagreb in June

Compact and easy to navigate, Zagreb contains plenty of historic sights and fascinating galleries, complemented by destination restaurants, clusters of busy bars and numerous live-music venues. The main square divides the hilly Upper Town – museums, institutions of national importance, panoramic views – from the flat, grid-patterned streets of the Lower Town, with its gastronomic landmarks, designer boutiques and art galleries. Spread out east and west are areas of bucolic greenery while south over the Sava river stretches the post-war residential blocks of Novi Zagreb. Done something on this list and loved it? Share it with the hashtag #TimeOutDoList and tag @TimeOutEverywhere. You can also find out more about how Time Out selects the very best things to do all over the world, or take a look at our list of the 50 best things to do in the world right now.

Born out of the ubiquity of concrete and a love for functional shapes, the architecture of Brutalism is frequently misunderstood. The very term seems to attract us for all the wrong reasons, inviting us to admire buildings for their roughness, or their obstinate refusal to be pretty. Recent years have seen the word Brutalism fall victim to a warped social media aesthetic in which it is exoticized as something east European, communist, falling to bits – an object of nostalgia or pity that is shorn of its social context. Touring the modernist neighbourhoods of Zagreb is something of an antidote to this – Croatian Brutalism is restrained and sympathetic to its surroundings in a way rather different to the application of the same style in, say, Sheffield or South London. Not all of it is pretty – Brutalism was above all a functional style designed to provide social planners with cheap solutions to big problems. However, there is plenty here of compelling interest – enough to justify Zagreb’s growing reputation as an unsung treasure-trove of Central-European modernism.

Zagreb is quickly gaining the big-city vibe of Vienna and Budapest, its Habsburg-era counterparts, while managing to hold on to its distinctive charm. Set below Mount Medvednica, where the last Alpine foothills meet the Pannonian plain, the city still feels like a big village. You can walk to most places you'd want to visit and the majority of tram routes pass through Trg bana Josipa Jelačića, the main square, making the city easy to navigate. Everything has an order common to German-speaking Europe, but with a Balkan sense of fun and after dark hedonism. Read our daytripper's guide to experiencing the best of Zagreb in one day. RECOMMENDED: more great things to do in Zagreb.

For the first-time visitor, Zagreb seems distinctly urban, the historic thoroughfares of the Upper Town and grid-patterned streets of the Lower Town far removed from the narrow river Sava to the south. Yet waterside recreational attractions are within easy reach of the centre, whether it’s windsurfing on Lake Jarun, swimming in Bundek, bird watching at Savica or even golf the other side of the Sava. RECOMMENDED: More great things to do in Zagreb.

The distance from Zagreb to Split is just over 400km. The quickest way from Zagreb to Split is to zoom down the A1 motorway, a journey south of just over four hours and 400km plus, passing close to Zadar and Šibenik. Croatian motorways have a toll system, so be prepared to pay about €25 between the two main cities. To make the journey more comfortable, you can organise a Zagreb to Split transfer in style with Octopus Transfers. In fact, why not go from Zagreb to Plitvice Lakes which is on the route to Split, and take in the amazing cascades and waterfalls of Croatia’s most stunning national park. A Zagreb to Split via Plitvice Lakes transfer is both a cost and time effective way of travel! Buses from Zagreb to Split leave about every 30 minutes, average direct journey time around five hours, tickets €20. You’ll pay an extra €1 for every item of luggage you store in the hold. Some Zagreb to Split bus services actually stop at Plitvice Lakes, so again you can break up your journey, either with two buses or by arranging a transfer with Octopus from Zagreb to Plitvice or Plitvice to Split. Trains from Zagreb to Split take about six hours during the day, eight hours overnight, allowing you to arrive in Dalmatia with the day ahead of you. A Zagreb to Split train ticket is around €30 but you can also pay a supplement for a couchette, with extra services laid on in high season. If you are after a Zagreb to Split flight, the National carrier, Croatia Airlines, provides around half-a-

Sick of being bombarded with the fake smiles and ridiculous pouts captured in selfies on social media? Zagreb's Museum of Broken Relationships is the reality check you need. A collection of mementoes and texts which mark the end of love affairs, its intriguing artillery of objects will fascinate you and bring forth a variety of all-too-recognisable emotions. © Museum of Broken Relationships Created as a temporary exhibition in 2006 by former couple, artist Dražen Grubišić and festival producer Olinka Vištica, souvenirs of their own failed relationship helped make up the first exhibit. It proved such a hit that eventually a permanent home was found for their souvenirs of stunted love and the museum opened in Zagreb’s Upper Town in 2010. Since then, the museum has become one of Zagreb's most popular and unique attractions. It has toured the world, everywhere from Tokyo to London and Mexico City, and found a permanent second home in Los Angeles, picking up tokens of failed relationships everywhere it travels. Inundated by donations, the love letters, objects and photographs on show are just a fraction of the fascinating tragedies the museum now possesses. Accompanied by bittersweet explanatory texts, the exhibits depict the surreal but understandable narratives formed from fraught, post-breakup emotional states. © Museum of Broken Relationships If you’re recently heartbroken, you can cheer yourself up at its appetising new restaurant, which features playfully experimental take

An easy tram hop from the city centre, the beautiful tree-lined cemetery of Mirogoj is a rarely visited attraction. Founded in 1876 and designed by Hermann Bollé, few visitors reach Mirogoj, but those who do discover an expansive space filled with excellent sculptures and seemingly endless tiled arcades. Here are ten reasons why you should make the journey to Mirogoj Cemetery. 1) It's an architectural treasure Designed by Hermann Bollé, the architect responsible for Zagreb’s Cathedral, Mirogoj cemetery covers a vast area that stretches up towards the base of Medvednica. The green oxidised copper domes, with their intricate, pastel coloured inner designs, are magnificent. So too are the tiled arcades that appear to stretch on into infinity, past an endless succession of memorials and flowers. The arcades are especially striking in the summer time when they are clad in bright green ivy and the sun patterns the innumerable columns and arches. Bollé is buried here alongside plenty of notable local figures. 2) The Croatian poet Petar Preradović is buried here Mirogoj is an excellent place to indulge in a spot of taphophilia, or tombstone tourism as it is otherwise known. The cemetery is the final resting place of Petar Preradović, a seminal figure in Croatian Romantic poetry. Born in the north-eastern village of Grabrovnica, Preradović fought as a soldier in the Wars of Italian Unification and produced some of the country’s most celebrated verse. He

Breathe in sea salt-infused air as you wander through dinosaur tracks, look out for wolves howling as you hike, behold an eagle gliding over a rippling river. Welcome to Croatia's great eight. From island archipelagos and turquoise waterfalls to plunging canyons, eight national parks call Croatia home: Brijuni, Kornati, Krka, Mljet, Northern Velebit, Paklenica, Plitvice Lakes and Risnjak. Take in 48 spellbinding photos of the picture-perfect parks that span Croatia, from Dalmatia to the continental regions. 

This great building, located centrally in Maksimir park, looks older than it actually is, but it's sympathetic design is not the only reason to visit. Vidikovac lies on an elevated point of the park, at the end of a roughly 500 metre walk. It is therefore a great place to stop and take a rest, and get a view of the surrounding area. In warmer months, a cafe operates in the structure (which also holds cinema, music and the occasional rave events), although in colder months, from October to March, it is usually closed.

Overlooking the main square, and in the shadow of the Cathedral is Zagreb’s most precious resource: the Dolac. This is more than just a place of trade. In this fractured capital of Upper and Lower towns, the Dolac is a constant, a hub of classless social interaction, a weathervane of the local economy and Zagreb’s connection with the surrounding villages, even with distant Dalmatia. Traders voices are either distinctly urban (Kaj), provincial, or come from the deepest south. Around the square are little bars and eateries offering gableci, cheap late-morning lunches. Daily from 7am, the Dolac is abuzz until the early afternoon.  After considering several locations, the city fathers had a main market built between Kaptol and Tkalčićeva, Zagreb’s most atmospheric thoroughfare. Opened in 1930, it comprised a raised open square lined with stalls of fruit, vegetables and eggs. At street level was an indoor market for meat and dairy traders, then in 1933, a fish market – based on the one in Trieste – was set up alongside. This layout remains in place today, with the addition of a mezzanine in the indoor section and the bright reconstruction of the Ribarnica (the fish market). Florists now occupy the top level, where the Dolac meets Opatinova. Entering from the street, you walk through the main hall of bakers and butchers. Pekara Dinara from Sesvete is so renowned there are queues outside its two downtown outlets. Of the butchers, Pečun-Pečun is a quality purveyor of sausages fro