We will be in Zagreb for one night at the end or our trip before we fly home. We will have a car which we will be returning to the airport. We would anticipate arriving in Zagreb around noon on a Sunday and we will need to leave for the airport around 10 AM the next day. Not a lot of time but hopefully enough to see some of the city. We realize things are quiet on Sunday but assume restaurants are open.
The question, stay at Hotel Dubrovnik or Hotel Astoria. Dubrovnik is slightly more expensive and charges for parking. Astoria has free parking. Dubrovnik seems to have the best location but is Astoria still walking distance to things and is the neighborhood okay? I'm leaning toward Astoria for cost but will pay for Dubrovnik if the location is worth it. I'm obsessing about this!! Please help! Thanks.
Zagreb Hotel--Astoria or Dubrovnik?
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Topping just to see if anyone has any ideas. Thanks very much!
Could you drop the car before you get to your hotel (drop it in town not at the airport)? Then you wouldn't have to worry about parking it anywhere, then take an airport shuttle in the morning and you won't have to worry about returning the car (plus save a day of car rental?).
Zagreb's core isn't very big. In 2009, I stayed at the Westin (very cheap with points then). It's on the very edge of the downtown core. There are trams that run all over town; I walked from the Westin a few times to the center (I had two nights) and took the tram a few times - I think the center area is "free tram zone."
I see on a map that the Dubrovnik is RIGHT in the center, the Astoria is just slightly further, and the Westin where I stayed a bit to the west. Personally, the Astoria looks central enough for me. It will still be only a short walk to the main square and just up the hill from there to most of the things you'll want to see. Can't vouch for the neighborhood but I imagine it's fine. I'm sure I walked through it once. (Read the Trip Advisor reviews of both hotels, of course.)
A few people absolutely love Zagreb - but like most I didn't care for it much. Nothing wrong with it, just not a ton to see and not a very interesting place for me. But you will have plenty of time to walk around and see much of the interesting stuff, I think - the upper town, etc. The small museum of peasant paintings up there was fascinating. I wonder if Zagreb will be pretty quiet on a Sunday like some of the towns in eastern Slovenia I visited last year?
I did the very same thing last November except I did not have a car. I would drop off the car at the airport the day before and take the airport bus service to Zabreb. Walk through the small lobby at the bus station and walk out front and take the tram 5 stops I think. (Look for other posts here abut what tram). 5 stops away is right at the main square area and the Hotel Dubronik is a half block away.
Do the reverse the next day. Right around the hotel, there is good shopping, restaurants, etc. Good to be in a Euro city after travelling through small town Croatia.
Great Tram system in Zagreb. Airport bus service leaves every hour. Should be plenty of space.
Just my opinion
We dropped off the car at the airport on the last leg of our trip, then stayed right in the middle of town at the Jagerhorn for a couple of nights. As others have said, Zagreb has a fairly compact center and you should be able to see quite a bit of it on-foot or by using the tram system.
Click on my name if you'd like to read our very recent trip report (the trip itself was just last month). Zagreb is near the end of the report. We enjoyed the town, its vibrant cafe scene and the many distinctive little architectural touches around town.