Zagreb - Post Report Question and Answers
What are the particular advantages of living in this city?
The ease in which to access great nearby cities/countries/regions, and of course the coast. - Jan 2023
Affordable, safe, located in an amazing part of Europe, not as congested as other capitols, many green spaces, pet-friendly - Jul 2018
Beautiful Croatian coast, cheap goods if you are a diplomat and can file for the 25% VAT back, clean air, clean water, safe country, tons of hiking when the weather is good. - Apr 2016
Zagreb is a safe and comfortable city to live in. The Adriatic coast is only a few hours away and the same goes for virtually all of Central Europe. - Aug 2014
Zagreb is a small and quiet city with very friendly people. The lifestyle is easy-going and has a great cafe environment (sitting around drinking coffee and people watching). It is also fairly cheap to live here and close to many great travel destinations. - Jun 2014
The city of Zagreb itself can be great, but also frustrating at times. Zagreb is so close to so many other amazing locations that are VERY easy to travel to. But the city of Zagreb has some ways to go. It's not completely unmanageable, and is an awesome place for maybe a 2-year tour, but you will be ready to leave after two years. The local people are GREAT! Most speak perfect English. They are mostly very friendly to Americans (and most other foreigners). There are many restaurants and activities, but they are all very sub-par in comparison to other places only an hour away. Don't expect any good food other than the local cuisine (which gets old after the first few months). There are ethnic restaurants but they are silly imitations at best. The local stores lack high quality goods and offer products similar to what you'd find in an American dollar store (but not at dollar store prices). We thought that this would get better once the country joined the EU, but change has been extremely slow moving. Diplomats have long been tax exempt in the country (through a very difficult process) but the process has stopped working altogether once the country joined the EU. It has been almost 8 months and there has been no traction to regaining our diplomatic tax free status. The COLA has not been raised either. Hopefully it is resolved soon, but none of us have high hopes. You also cannot sell your car tax-free anymore. So between traveling from Zagreb, the lack of tax-free status, and the changing policies, Zagreb has been a VERY expensive tour. - Feb 2014
Croatia is great. The coast is beautiful and is easily accessible on nice (but expensive) highways. Dubrovnik, Split, and Rovinj are beautiful, as are many of the lesser-known towns and the islands - we particularly liked Brac and Rab. Several national parks are well worth a visit; Plitvice Jezera, with its water falls, is amazing. Travel throughout Europe from Croatia is pretty easy and reasonably affordable. Venice, Vienna and Budapest are all around a 4-hour drive from Zagreb, and a fair number of flights connect the city to destinations further afield. Very cheap direct flights from Zagreb to London and Paris are available through EasyJet. - Jan 2012
The ONLY advantage of living here is that you have an amazing coast. However, it's a bit far away-about a 3-hour drive. - Dec 2011
Zagreb is a great tourist location. It has a few museums and the city is beautiful to stroll on. You can also go to the coast for the weekend and have a great time on the beach. My favorite places are Dubrovnik, Split and Hvar. - Oct 2010
