The best eco-friendly way to see Zagreb.
Zagreb is a town whose downtown has been built well before the invention of cars, and it is definitely not adjusted to the amount of cars we see in the centre every day. The pedestrian zone and parks in the centre are narrow; so among numerous ways to get around Zagreb cosy, eco-friendly guided ride in pedicab definitely stands out. If you’re staying in Zagreb for a short time, and if want to wind down, relax, have a nice meal and whatever else, you have to be economical with your time.
Well, to solve all those problems, a new service has emerged in Zagreb in late 2016: pedicab, where you sit in the trailer in the back, and are being ridden around the city by your local pedicab driver/guide. By no means is it a huge innovation, as it has been around in various towns around Europe and the world for a while now. pedicab.hr first came to Zagreb for the Advent season of 2016, so now it’s doing the second full season of catering to tourists.
Two young Zagreb entrepreneurs, Emil Kirbiš (seen in the photos) and Filip Pribilović brought the pedicab to Zagreb. If you’ve been travelling around you’ve already seen it: it’s a so-called electric-assisted trike, ridden by your driver/guide. You don’t have to do anything yourself – just sit back and relax, pick the tour you want to do and they will take you around the City, and tell you all you need to know along the way. The riders speak numerous languages; English (of course), German, Italian, Spanish and even some Arabic, so there won’t be a language barrier for most customers.
There are three pre-tailored tours to pick from, a two-hour Private Zagreb Pedi Tour for 80 EUR for two people, (which includes all the time you need to take that selfie in every single selfie-worth site in Zagreb), an hour-long Historicab tour – 40 EUR, or a short, half an hour tour of either the Uptown or the Downtown for 20 EUR, and pedicab people are more than happy to adjust the rides to what their customers want to see and do while in Zagreb.
While taking us on a tour of the downtown, Emil told us a bit about what they’re offering to the tourist. He says that they have tourists from all over the world, joining them for rides around the town almost all year round. If it’s raining, the tourists will be protected from the rain in the trailer (unless it’s really a downopour, in which case they’re not working), if it’s cold you’ll be given a blanket to warm you up – and the foreigners don’t seem to mind the weather at all. The trailer is just wide enough to get through the many, many traffic delineator posts which are just about everywhere in Zagreb, which will allow the pedicab to get to wherever you want to go faster and easier than any other guided tour.
Pedicab is also friendly to the elderly people and people with reduced mobility: they can just rest comfortably in the pedicab and relax, and still get the full Zagreb-experience. And, yes, I know what you’re wondering, you can grab an ice-cream or a bottle of beer while you’re riding, why not? The passenger seat in pedicab is large enough for two adults (and a couple of kids who’d sit on their laps), and there’s 20 pedicabs in Zagreb, so if you’re a larger group looking for a joint tour of the town, that too can be arranged.
In addition to being a service for tourists and people visiting Zagreb, pedicab.hr would also like to become a staple of public transportation infrastructure in the town. If you need to get from one side of the town centre to the other, and you’re in a hurry, probably your best bet to get there in time is to get yourself a pedicab to take you there in style, avoiding the traffic jams, and for a very affordable price, charged by the minute (5 kuna per minute).
Contact them at mobile phone +385 (0)99 603 75 75, at www.pedicab.hr, [email protected], their Facebook site, Instagram, Tripadvisor. Or just wave them down if they’re passing you by, and you’d like a ride!
