11 Best Sights in Zagreb and Environs, Croatia

Today a historic site and home to part of the City Museum, Varaždin's main attraction is the massive Stari Grad (Old Town), which assumed its present form in the 16th century as a state-of-the-art defense fortification against the Turks, complete with moats, dikes, and bastions with low round defense towers connected by galleries with openings for firearms. In the ensuing centuries it was often reconstructed by the families that owned it; for more than three centuries, until its 1925 purchase by the city, it belonged to the Erdödy clan. From the 12th century up until 1925, the castle served as the seat of the county prefect. You enter through the 16th-century tower gatehouse, which has a wooden drawbridge, to arrive in the internal courtyard with three levels of arcaded galleries. Indoors, there's an extensive display of antique furniture, with pieces laid out in chronological order and each room representing a specific period. Even if you don't go inside, do take a stroll around the perimeter along the path that takes you between the outer wall and a ditch that used to be the moat.

Built in 1773 and thoroughly relandscaped in 1905 by Herman Haller, a self-taught landscape architect who revolutionized traditional notions of what graveyards should look like, Varaždin's City Cemetery is as pleasant a place for a restful stroll as can be. Replete with flower beds and rows of tall cedars and linden trees flanking ornate memorials, all laid out in geometric patterns, the cemetery sublimely manifests Haller's conviction that each plot should be a "serene, hidden place only hinting at its true purpose, with no clue as to whether its occupant is rich or poor, since all are tended equally, surrounded by every kind of flower . . . producing perfect harmony for the visitor." Haller, who ran the cemetery from 1905 to 1946, is buried here in a rather conspicuous mausoleum. You can reach the cemetery by walking about 10 minutes east of the castle along Hallerova Aleja.

Varaždin's city museum is composed of multiple departments, including Archaeology, History, Ethnography, and more, and is housed in three buildings: the Culture and History Department in the Stari Grad (Old Town) fortress; the Gallery of Old and Contemporary Masters in Sermage Palace, and the Entomology Collection in Herzer Palace. The latter is one of the museum's highlights, with a fascinating presentation of some 50,000 different insect specimens.

Consecrated in 1650 on the site of a medieval predecessor, this pale yellow church has the highest tower in Varaždin, at almost 180 feet tall. In front is a statue of 10th-century Croatian bishop Grgur Ninski, a replica of the original, which is in Split; another such replica can be seen in Nin.

Housed in the striking 18th-century rococo Palača Sermage (Sermage Palace)—characterized by cinnamon-colored, black-framed geometric medallions decorating its facade and an impressive wrought-iron terrace—this gallery has a rich array of traditional paintings by Croatian and other European artists. It's part of the City Museum Varaždin.

This imposing landmark, one of Europe's oldest city halls, has been the seat of Varaždin's public administration since December 14, 1523. It was completely restored after the great fire of 1776. From May through October you can stop by on a Saturday morning between 11 and noon to watch the changing of the guard called Purgari ( www.varazdinska-garda.com), a 250-year-old tradition that lives on.

Built in the16th century, this tower is the only part of Varaždin's northern town wall that has been preserved. The wall formed part of the onetime city fortress, but most of it was razed in the early 19th century. It's from this spot that Ban Josip Jelačić (to whom Zagreb's main square is also dedicated) led 50,000 soldiers across the Drava in 1848, taking back Croatia's northernmost region of Međimurje from the Hungarian Kingdom. In 2022, during work on the tower, archaeological ruins of the ancient defense system around Varaždin were discovered.

Consecrated to Varaždin's patron saint in 1761 on the site of an older church, this Baroque structure is more attractive on the outside than the inside. Note the false yet imposing white columns in the facade, the red-tiled conical steeple, and the sculpture at the foot of the steeple of a firefighting St. Florian pouring a bucket of water onto a church, presumably an allusion to the fire that devastated Varaždin in 1776.

This single-nave, pale-pink Baroque church with a particularly colorful late-Baroque altar was consecrated in 1712 by the Ursuline sisters, who came to Varaždin from Bratislava nine years earlier at the invitation of the Drašković family. Its charming, strikingly slender tower was added in 1726.

Enjoy the smells of fresh fruits and vegetables, plus the friendly clamor of locals negotiating the best prices, with a stop at the City Market, open from around 7 am to 2 pm. The open-air marketplace also features a number of bakeries and meat and fish stores.

The palace rivals City Hall (on nearby Trg Kralja Tomislava) in terms of sheer visual appeal, even if it is more than two centuries younger, what with its flamingo-pink facade and its location right across from the Franciscan Church. Opened in 1772, it boasted a late-Baroque pediment for four years only, until the fire of 1776 did away with that; the replacement was a triangular neoclassical one. Today regional authorities use the building, so the interior is generally off-limits to the public, but the outside is worth a look.