A week before the festivities known as Advent 2019 in Zagreb officially start on November 30th, tportal brings you the ultimate guide to all of the locations and events you can look forward to seeing in Zagreb.
We’ve also already written about the biggest tourist event of the year in Zagreb, but today Iva Butković Tešija writes a more detailed article for tportal. The lighting of the first Advent light will happen next Sunday, with two separate opening ceremonies taking place on Zrinjevac and King Tomislav’s square, and for over a month after that (until January 7th 2020) a lot will be prepared for the tourists and the people of Zagreb. The theme of this year will be The Nutcracker, and you’ll be able to enjoy various content with that theme at 16 different locations:
- The Ice Park at King Tomislav Square, with an open-air ice-skating rink with additional stuff, such as food and drink stands (as you certainly need some mulled wine after skating),
- Fuliranje on Strossmayer Square will offer great food and creative drinks, as well as a lot of dancing with over a dozen live performances (including the New Year’s party),
- On Zrinjevac this year you’ll be able to find many Croatian artists, offering their artwork and unique decorations, and traditional food offered on the stands (including stuff like krpice sa zeljem, which is something each Croatian would have a strong opinion on, and you should try if you’ve never had it),
- European Square is the place to be if you feel young: concerts, exhibitions, stuff the kids like these days is what you’ll find here,
- Christmas Fairytale at the eastern side of the Ban Jelačić Square will be the central point for taking photos and selfies,
- the rest of the Ban Jelačić Square will host the booths by the craftspeople of Zagreb, selling the decorations and souvenirs they’ve created for this opportunity,
- Oktogon passage is a novelty in this year’s Advent, as it will host several large Nutcracker sculptures where you’ll be able to take your photos,
- Croatian National Theatre will offer holiday-appropriate shows during the period (including the often-mentioned Nutcracker ballet, which will be performed almost every other night during December), but there will be Advent around the Theatre building,
- Grič Tunnel has proved to be a hit before, so this year it will be decorated with the Nutcracker theme as well,
- Tuškanac will host the movie Advent, where the forest of Tuškanac will be bonded with the movie theatre in a magical world with holiday movies shown there each day,
- Strossmayer Promenade is the most romantic part of Zagreb, and will be decorated with colourful and joyful lights as a backdrop for the wonderful evening in two,
- Caffe de Matoš, also in the Upper town, brings you the feel of a bar in the Zagreb of old,
- Baš Naš Advent in Klovićevi dvori and the plateau Gradec next to the museum will be a gourmet festival, offering the finest cuisine to their visitors, along with 24 concerts (schedule here, in .pdf),
- Maksimir Park will host a family-oriented Advent 2019 for the first time this year, right next to the entrance into the park there will be colourful workshops, concerts, installations, mostly to entertain the children, and the Zagreb Zoo will see the so-called Polar Advent with light installations to highlight its architecture,
- Vila Prekrižje will open its doors to the visitors during Advent, with numerous concerts held at the wonderful ambient on an amazing building,
- the location where it all started years ago, the street of the centre of downtown Zagreb, Bogovićeva, Gajeva, Cvjetni trg, Varšavska, will again see a lot of different foods and drinks, as well as souvenirs and decorations.
There will be, as usual, something for everyone in Zagreb during December. You can find more information, including a map of all of the Advent 2019 events on http://www.adventzagreb.hr/?lang=en.
