Zagreb Entertainment
Zagreb is an extremely lively European capital, with hundreds of great places to spend an evening. There are dozens of quality cafés and restaurants, while the nightlife consists of a myriad of pubs, bars, clubs and discos. Zagreb also boasts a thriving performing arts scene, and there are plenty of great festivals and events year-round.
Nightlife
Much of Zagreb's fantastic nightlife is concentrated in the Lower Town district. Here, visitors will find hundreds of cafés, restaurants, bars, clubs and discos catering to a wide variety of tastes. Many bars and clubs feature live music, with jazz and blues being quite popular. Most of the discotheques have trendy DJs, mixing great techno tracks.
Theatre and music
A legacy of being the cultural capital of the region for centuries, is Zagreb's fantastic array of quality performing arts productions and classical music concerts. The city boasts more than 20 permanent theatres and venues, with the best considered to be the Croatian National Theatre, a magnificent 19th century opera house.
The venue hosts a variety of productions including operas, dramas, comedies, musicals and concerts most weeks of the year. Music is also very prevalent in Zagreb, with plenty of annual events celebrating different genres.
Festivals
Zagreb features the usual annual religious festivals typical of Croatian towns, but also has a wide variety of unique and interesting events held in the spectacular squares around the city. Most of the events are held during summer.
- Music Bien-nial: a fantastic, lively music event, which is held in odd years only. The festival focuses on avant-garde music (April; odd years).
- Statehood Day: one of the most important annual events in Zagreb, this day marks Croatian independence, which was only achieved in 1991. The celebrations feature lots of traditional performances, parades, eating and drinking (May).
- Festival of the Zagreb Philharmonic: an extremely popular classical music event is this wonderful festival, which features a variety of orchestras, who play some of the finest classical music you'll hear anywhere (May/June).
- Floraart: an amazing event that has thousands of floral displays. The creativity and artistry that goes into each display needs to be seen first- hand to be appreciated (May/June).
- World Festival of Animated Films: an important film event that is held in Zagreb in even years only. The festival showcases the best in animated films produced during the year (June; even years).
- Old-timer Rally: a fun-filled event that involves hundreds of vintage and classic cars touring around Zagreb and the hinterland area (June).
- Week of the Contemporary Dance: this event showcases all forms of contemporary dance, with dance groups from all over Europe sending teams to perform (June).
- Eurokaz: this unique event celebrates contemporary theatre. The best production companies from across Europe participate and put on some great performances (June).
- Zagreb Histrionic Summer: held on a stage in Opatovina, this unique event has very dramatic acts by performance artists. Very exciting and often hilarious, this is one of Zagreb's most popular annual events (July/August).
- Zagrebfest: the iconic Croatian pop music festival is held in Zagreb each autumn and features popular local and international acts. Prizes are awarded for several different categories (November).
- Day of the City of Zagreb: a celebration of all things Zagreb, this event has dozens of different activities at numerous venues around the city. Lake Jarun is one of the most popular locations for celebrating this important day (November).
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