Lobagola is not your typical B&B. Located in the very heart of Croatian capital Zagreb, it emerged from true love for meeting people, going places, gastronomy, arts, crafts, and for our beautiful country. Here, all guests are friends. Rooms, lobby, kitchen, terrace... the whole space is a story waiting for you to immerse into its charming atmosphere. Originally, term Lobagola represents 'the path of the elephants'. These good-tempered animals, symbols of strength, honor and patience, repeatedly travel long distances to get to the source of food and water, and eventually they return using the same path. We hope that your first stay at Lobagola will make you want to come back again. We hope this guide will give you a glimpse of the beautiful city of Zagreb and help you organize your trip. Also, throughout the guide you will find many links not just about Zagreb, but also about Croatia and the region. We'll be updating Zagreb city guide throughout the year with useful information and tips using our social media profiles on Pinterest, Google+, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter.
Lobagola B&B is located in the center of Zagreb, just a step away from the main city street Ilica. Our neighborhood is a safe and quiet residential area known for many beautiful Art deco villas. Lobagola B&B building dates from 1927 and offers nine rooms, spacious living room and kitchen, and a large terrace outside. Address: Bosanska 3, 10 000 Zagreb Phone: +385 (0)1 5081 990 E-mail: 4guests@lobagola.com Website: www.lobagola.com See Lobagola B&B on Google Maps
Arriving in Zagreb by bus or train If you re arriving in Zagreb by bus or train, we recommend taking the tram to Lobagola B&B. There are 3 tram lines that stop very close to us: 2, 6, 11. If you re arriving from the main railway station or the main bus station, take trams number 2 or 6 (make sure that Črnomerec is written on them) and exit at the stop called Trg dr. Franje Tuđmana. Tickets can be bought inside the tram, just ask the driver. One ticket costs 10 kuna and is valid for 90 minutes. Arriving in Zagreb by plane If you re arriving by plane, the fastest way to reach Lobagola B&B is to take a taxi. Feel free to contact us to arrange shuttle service for you. Otherwise, you can take a shuttle bus from the airport to the main bus station. From there, take trams number 2 or 6 (make sure that Črnomerec is written on them) and exit at the stop called Trg dr. Franje Tuđmana. This will cost you 40 kuna per person (30 kn for the shuttle and 10 kn for the tram ticket). Arriving by car or motorcycle/bicycle If you have GPS in/on your vehicle then please enter our address Bosanska 3, 10 000 Zagreb, and/or GPS coordinates: 45 48'48.86"N ; 15 57'31.93"E. More info If you have any questions about how to get here or how to get around the city send us an email at 4guests@lobagola.com or ask at the reception.
Welcome to Bosanska, the street whose gorgeous architecture will take you to the past. Take a stroll uphill and be amazed by the most beautiful Art deco and secession villas that Zagreb has to offer. Our B&B is just a step away from the main city street called Ilica. Ilica is home to many shops and cultural sites and leads you to Ban Jelačić Square- the main Zagreb square which is your starting point for exploring the city. On the way to the main square, make sure not to miss British Square (or Britanski trg) and its food and antique market. The open-air food market is held every day until about noon, while you can experience the antique fair every Sunday.
The scent of fine coffee spreads around gently and mingles through the morning until it finally sneaks under your door and comes to you, whispering and inviting you to rise into a new day Well, that s how a normal day begins at Lobagola. Rich and plentiful breakfast will surely boost your energy for the day in front of you, so exploring the city will be as enjoyable as it gets! After long exploration of Zagreb s attractions, you can recharge your batteries with warm toast coupled with a cup of organic tea in our living room. And of course, we won t be mad at you for dipping in our cookie jar for some freshly baked biscuits!
Famously known as a lounge area, but, honestly, we don t like this word at all. We simply call it our living room hangout. Because everything in Lobagola is open, airy and friendly, so are the colors of our sofas. The colors represent Mediterranean treasures (wine, olive and salt) that will for sure entice you to leap forward. A leap forward to meet a new friend or to finish your business assignment on your laptop. Meeting new friends always includes sharing, that s why we set up a projector in our living room. It s not here only for your business purposes, but also to entice you to share those pictures from Timbuktu you just came from!
Just because we are placed in Zagreb city center that doesn't mean that you could not enjoy a change in perspective. Our green islands bring freshness to your perspective, and also provide a feast for a number of bees (have you tried our homemade honey yet?). Also, Lobagola B&B terrace is an ideal spot for enjoying your morning meal. What could be more relaxing than waking up to a delicious sunny breakfast? Relaxing moments need to be cherished and savored in a special atmosphere. Grab a book from our library, sip on a glass of excellent Croatian wine, and let our soothing blues and jazz vinyl melodies take you to another dimension, a timeless moment Try one of our Amazonas hammocks as a free ticket into that dimension :)
Keep your wheels safe with us; no matter if it s a two-wheeler or a fourwheeler. Lobagola B&B is placed in a safe residential area, but we all like to keep our minds at peace. So while you re exploring and discovering all Zagreb s attractions and must-do s, rest assured that your vehicle will be safe and sound. Lobagola B&B can t replace wisdom and teaching of your parents, but we firmly believe that good preparation leads you towards your goal. If you are a round the world traveler you can ship your tires, spare parts, or extra equipment to Lobagola B&B where it will wait for your arrival. Our experience and history as a service and helping point for bicycle and motorcycle travelers in the Balkan region means that you can always count on us.
It's no secret that a bike tour is the best way to uncover a city. Lobagola Zagreb Daily Bike Tour (25,00 eur) Take in the most iconic sights and attractions of the Croatian capital by bicycle! Lobagola Zagreb daily bicycle tour is a perfect way to discover (and rediscover) Zagreb and its famous sites in a fun and unusual way! Imagine yourself cycling through the heart of historic Zagreb and learning about the past and present of the Croatian capital from a guide who will tell you stories, share little known fun facts, and let you in on many local secrets. Add climbing a tower & enjoying a breathtaking view of the city, visiting hidden parks & famous food markets, as well as trying delicious local food & drinks. Well, that's our Zagreb daily tour. Lobagola Bike a Park-Picnic Tour (45,00 eur) Fancy a picnic in Zagreb's central park? Join our Bike A Park-Picnic Tour for an amazing experience that doesn't just include cycling through beautiful parks and other green heavens in Zagreb, but also includes tasting fresh local food & drinks! Following this tasty adventure, you will visit Zagreb's most famous open food market. The tour will end in Zagreb's central park with a picnic consisting of food goodies we picked along the way! All food and drinks sampling is included in the price of the tour.
Lobagola Craft Bike Tour (25,00 eur) Is time travel possible? Find out in our tour of old traditional manufacturing workshops! A shoemaker, oldest umbrella handmade production, some original leather works, with a flick of traditional jewelry making, are just some of the highlights of Lobagola Craft Bike Tour. Can you imagine sampling fresh baked warm bagels and buns from Zagreb's oldest bakery? Well that's just the thing that will await you at the end of our tour. The tour will enable you to taste coffee and bagels at scheduled stops. Lobagola A La Carte Bike Tour (45,00 eur) A bicycle tour completely tailored by your own wishes and preferences. In this tour we suggest visiting at least one of the city's museums, some of the many ateliers of young talented Croatian artists... Tour highlights will also include some of the well hidden secrets in Zagreb like the Observatory, the oldest well in Zagreb or old public water pumps, which became big street art project and are known in Zagreb as francek. The tour will enable to try specialty coffee and original and unusual cakes. More info Check out our official website for more info on Lobagola Bike Tours. To book a tour contact us at tours@lobagola.com.
1. Old Upper Town (Gornji grad): With the oldest parts dating from the 11th century, the Upper Town is a perfect place where you can sense centuries old tradition of living in Zagreb. Spots that shouldn t be missed when visiting the Upper Town include St Mark s church, the Stone gate, the Museum of Broken Relationship, the Meštrović Studio and the Gallery of Naïve Art. 2. Funicular: One of more popular tourist attractions is the Zagreb funicular. It is the shortest funicular in the world, 66-metre-long, and it will take you from the Lower to the Upper Town for just 55 seconds! Next to the funicular there are stairs in case you want to take a nice walk. 3. Lotrščak Tower: Built in the 13th century, the tower is famous for its cannon which is fired every day at noon. You can even climb the tower and be as close to the cannon as you can while it's being set on fire (woohoo!). 4. Mirogoj: Located outside the city centre, Mirogoj Cemetery is not only one of the most beautiful cemeteries in Europe, but also a beautiful park and open art gallery. It is known for its ivy covered walls, beautiful domes and arches, vaulted walkway, as well as the last resting place for many famous Croatians. Herman Bolle, the famous architect, is the author of this cemetery.
5. Observatory: Located just 10 6. Ferdinand Budicki Automobile minutes from the main square, the Museum: If you're an old-timer Zagreb Observatory is a must-see lover, don't miss the first automobile attraction for all those interested in museum in Croatia which features astronomy. It's open every evening more than 125 classic cars and from Tuesday to Friday and it's free of motorcycles. Along with popular charge. classic cars and motorcycles, the museum also exhibits car related 7. Museum of Broken photographs, organizes mechanics Relationships: This is not your workshops, film projections and other typical museum. The exhibition events regarding the long history of consists of various items left by traffic and car culture in Croatia. people from all over the world who decided to give up things from their 8. Dolac: As the biggest open-air food failed relationships. Although the market in Zagreb, Dolac represents museum is located in Zagreb, its the belly of the city. Interested in collection went on a world tour trying some fresh homemade cheese, allowing visitors from all over the sour cream, or some organic veggies world to donate their objects and and fruit? This is the place that will be a part of the museum. fulfill your fantasies. On the ground floor there is also a fish market and a 9. Uppertown underground meat market, and we highly tunnel network recommend trying the traditional Experience network of tunnels below Croatian sausage called kulen. the Upper town of Gradec, some of which dates all the way back to 16th century! Take a ride with us on Lobagola Daily Bike Tour, cool yourself down during the hot summer days and take a peek into Art park. 10. Street art: Pimp my pump Once, the center of Zagreb was full of public water pumps, where you could trench your thirst whenever you wanted. Well, progress was inevitable and a large number of water pumps, or francek as they're known among the citizens of Zagreb, were removed. When a group of street artists under the name Pimp my pump started to decorate them, suddenly water pumps became a great street art project. Now there are lots of funky decorated ones that look like Goran Ivanišević, the famous Croatian tennis player, or like comic book heroes such as Batman.
Top 5 places to bring a bottle of wine with your better half or your friends and enjoy the moment. 1. Lotrščak Tower 2. Gradec 3. Zagreb Eye 4. Sljeme viewpoint 5. Grič/Zagreb Observatory
Lobagola B&B always recommends places we tried out thoroughly and of course places that have similar energy like ours. Here we goooooooooooo: Vallis Aurea (Tomićeva 4)
Lanterna (Opatovina 31) None as the place with above average service, will for sure create amazing gastronomic experience for new and returning visitors. And, of course, they have a nice selection of wines. We recommend Pošip white wine from Grgić winery. Express Bar (Petrinjska 4) Owned by three young guys and Lobagola B&B friends, this small specialty coffee bar will draw you with its energy. Coffee offering is changed every month, so there are always new blend to choose from. It s a non-smoking place, though with a big terrace so if you fancy smoking you can do that outside. Cafe u dvorištu or Coffee bar in the backyard (Ulica Jurja Žerjevića 7/2): This is a second café we highly recommend. Placed in the center of Zagreb, has a laid back atmosphere and great decoration, and they are bicycle friendly as we are, so no more reason to wait, go there!
Melin (Kožarska 19) Located just off the busy Tkalča Street, this bar s big terrace surrounded by trees and greenery has become a cult spot in Zagreb. It s known for a unique retro style with old tables and chairs, oldtime radios, and great live music sessions. Booze & blues (Tkalčićeva 84) After almost 10 years of dreaming, a dream become reality, and Booze and blues bar was opened. It s not a huge club, but just the right size to host known and unknown bands that will offer performances to remember. The interior is really funky decorated, lots of guitars and old drums are used to make lightning cabinets that are hanged above the bar. How cool is that? Mojo Bar (Fra Grge Martića 5) Situated in a basement just beside the National bank of Croatia, it became in no time a place to enjoy great live performances of jazz/rock musicians. They offer a really wide range of homemade rakija and their wine list, with wine poured per glass, is huge and affordable. Buzz Bar (Preradovićeva 30) Newly opened, and already created a real buzz :) They offer daily live music performances of various rock, jazz and blues bands, coupled with affordable and wide range of beers, wines Bornstein ( ) Experience oldest wine basement in Zagreb located in one of the old bishop's vilas. Carrying wide and diverse selection of small Croatian wine producers, coupled with chees plates and selection of tappas will please even the most demanding wine conessieurs.
We at Lobagola really like art and we often attend art exhibitions. What are the best places to see some young talent? We recommend: 1. Lauba (Baruna Filipovića 23a): It's also known as the House for people and art. It exhibits works of many great modern and postmodern Croatian artist, as well as works of foreign artist. 2. Mala (Trg bana J. Jelačića 6) 3. Galerija Kaptol (Kaptol 13) 4. Canvas (Tomašićeva 8) 5. HDLU - Salon mladih (Trg žrtava fašizma 16) If you're interested to visit ateliers of young Croatian painters and/or sculptors join us for a Lobagola A La Carte Bike Tour where we visit ateliers, and why not spend a few euros and support young artists like Martina Grlić & Stjepan Šandrk.
1. Zrinjevac The most popular park in Zagreb and an ideal spot for taking a rest from your allday walking. On the north side of the park you can see the Meteorological Post which stands there since 1884 and to this day measures the temperature and air pressure. The park is decorated by an avenue of platanus trees, pools with fountains and busts of notable figures. Just across the park you can visit the Archeological Museum. It contains 400,000 artifacts in five main collections. The most famous one is the Zagreb Mummy covered in linen bandages with an Etruscan manuscript. Today the text is called The Linen Book of Zagreb and is known as the longest text found in that obscure and still undeciphered language. 2. Tomislavac Tomislavac or King Tomislav Square got its name after the first Croatian king Tomislav. It separates the old part of the Lower Town from the new part of the city. Here you can find a great statue of the king, the largest railway station in Croatia and the gorgeous glass domed yellow building known as the Art Pavilion.
3. Botanical garden We definitely recommend popping into the Botanical garden for a pleasant and quiet stroll in the city center. It's been open since the 19th century for the public (in 2014 it celebrated 125 years from its opening) and it s free of charge. It is part of the Zagreb famous complex of parks known as a Green horseshoe. It covers the area of 5 hectares and is home to more than 10 000 plants species from all over the world. 4. Maksimir Zagreb s oldest public park called Maksimir is located in the eastern part of the city. Founded in the 18th century, it was redesigned in the 19th century. The park consists of big meadows, creeks, and five lakes and serves as an excellent place for jogging, walking and relaxation. You can also find the city zoo in the southern part of the park. 5. Jarun Zagreb's biggest lake was built as a rowing race track for the University games in 1987. It is a huge recreational area for rowing, sailing, cycling, inline skating or just pleasant walking. During summer the lake is often visited by locals who enjoy cooling down in its waters. 6. Medvednica A nature park that is just 30 minute ride by car from the city center. Among locals it is also known as Sljeme, which is actually the name of its highest peak (1033 m high). During winter the slopes host the World ski cup slalom race, but they are mostly open for public use. After a hard day at work or after studying it s really nice and refreshing to hit the 30 minute ride to the top of the mountain and test some fresh powder. Besides skiing, Medvednica offers a big variety of trails for mountain biking and trekking. There are a few small free climbing areas at the foothills of the mountain.
1. Try some traditional štrukli 2. Ride a bicycle through Maksimir Park 3. Throw a lucky coin into the Manduševac Fountain or the Well of Life by Meštrović 4. Visit Dolac open-air food market, known as the Belly of Zagreb 5. Visit the antique fair on British Square 6. Drink a cup of coffee Croatian way (we can compare it with Fika tradition in Sweden, although a cinnamon cake is not a part of it here)
Here are some basic phrases for beginners that could come in handy when visiting Croatia! Good morning - Dobro jutro Good afternoon - Dobar dan Good evening - Dobra večer Hi/Bye - Bok Yes/No - Da/Ne Thank you - Hvala Sorry/Excuse me - Oprostite You're welcome/please - Molim See you - Vidimo se Let's go for a cup of coffee! - Idemo na kavu! Do you speak English? - Govorite li engleski? How much does it cost? - Koliko košta? One beer, please! - Jedno pivo, molim! Can you help me? - Možete li mi pomoći?
What is the best way to get around Zagreb? Since we are in the city centre, we always recommend walking or cycling around Zagreb. If the weather isn't so nice or you're tired of all-day walking, our tram system is very easy to use. Check the tram lines on the city map or ask at the reception to help you out. Where can I buy a ticket for the tram? Tram tickets can be bought inside the tram from the driver, but more convenient way is to get one from the newsstands/kiosks. How do I book a taxi to the airport? If you wish to use a taxi, you can always ask us to book it for you. Our taxi partner offers a fixed price of 200,00 KN for taking you from Lobagola B&B to Zagreb Airport. Do people in Croatia speak English? Can I get by speaking German? People in Croatia more or less all speak English, because we learn it from elementary school. German is often spoken in the northern parts of Croatia, while Italian in the southern parts. Can I pay in euro? Croatian currency is kuna, so in Croatia you can pay with kuna only. Some places act also as an exchange office and can exchange money for you. Do you tip in Croatia? In Croatia a usual amount for tipping is up to 5 %, and if you're extremely pleased with the service then 10 % is normal. What's with all the smoking in bars and cafés? Well, here smoking culture is a big one. There was a ban on smoking in bars, but then the income rapidly dropped, so the ban was removed. Nowadays smoking is not allowed in restaurants, while some bars that don t allow smoking have small glass cubicles where you can have a smoke. What's the thing with all the bakeries? In Croatia everyday food is always oriented towards bakeries if you would like to have a snack. It can be just a bagel, or a greasy burek, it's up to you to decide. Why don't bars offer food? Some bars offer food, but they're in low numbers, because of the complicated law regulations that you need to pass before you can serve simple meals in your bar.