Coming from Croatia’s south to visit my family in the capital Zagreb, I always like to get a bit outside the city to explore the areas of nothern Croatia. I’ve never been a big fan of Zagreb from tourist standpoint as it lacks a lot of things a proper EU capital should have so I’ve made up my mind to do a full day escape with a plan of visiting Trakošćan castle - Town of Varaždin - Town of Čakovec.
Being that I am Croatian, I’ve spent first couple of hours of my visit not actually taking photos because, well, I’m Croatian and it doesn’t seem too exciting taking photos of your own country - but boy was I wrong. The more I explored more excited I was by these charming little towns, beautiful architecture, churches, castles and food. By the time I realized I might snap more pics, I’ve lost peak sunny weather and missed taking a pic of an incredibly delicious traditional meal consisting of pumpkin and gourd soup + risotto based on pear (it was as big of a shock as trying pinapple on pizza for the first time lol), some amazing interior of churches and areas of Trakošćan. Oh well…
My first stop was Trakošćan castle: in my opinion the most beautiful castle of Croatia, dating from the 13th century it used to belong to Croatian noble family Drašković. It is surrounded by a lake and creates a legit romantic and fairytale vibe. Being that both my wife and I visited castle before, we took a walk around the lake and skipped visiting the inside. After that we proceeded to Varaždin.
Approx 30ish minutes later we reached the town and started exploring the city that was until 1776 in fact the capital of Croatia. The nickname of Varaždin is “Baroque city” and my first thought after walking around it was “I could live and raise a family here”. City is so peaceful and family and pedestrian oriented with gorgeous central European architecture that really differentiates from the costal regions of Croatia where I grew up and live. Coffee culture is strong and caffes are everywhere. After exploring the old town with it’s amazing churces and streets we proceeded to the 12th century fortress that is surrounded by beautiful green parks and we explored the area. Final stop in Varaždin was visiting the city cemetery that was founded in 1773 which gave a final touch to this charming city that I would say was the highlight of my trip.
Day ended with a short 15min ride to Čakovec where we also explored the city center and 13th century Čakovec castle that belonged to Croatian noble family Zrinski. Since it was Sunday and my wife and I are practicing catholics, we decided to go to mass at St. Nicholas church. We really enjoyed rich decorated golden interior of the church but decided not to take photos to avoid being rude.
Overall take is I really have to appreciate the diversity of my country - despite being so small (3,8mil people) the scenery pretty much changes every 1 or 2 hours of driving and there are so many differences between the regions of Croatia that all make us uniqely ourselves. As a local of Split and somebody that spent his life living in Croatia’s 2 largest cities, I’d highly advise you to sacrifice a day or two that was dedicated to Zagreb or the coastal areas and check this area of the country - you won’t be sorry! It’s nowhere near as popular or known among tourists which is an added bonus. 🙂
Pictures:
1: Čakovec castle
2. Varaždin cemetery detail
3. Church glass in Varaždin
4. Streets of Varaždin
5. Church detail, Varaždin
6. Streets of Varaždin
7. King Tomislav square Varaždin
8. Church in Varaždin with small “crack” between 2 buildings with “Angel’s nest” and some people looking at it (picture 14)
9. Trakošćan castle
10. Detail from Čakovec
11. Memorial to fallen heros from Čakovec that died during Croatia’s war od Independence 1991-1995
12. “Licitarsko srce” symbol on Nothern Croatia
13. Inside of Čakovec castle
14. Angel’s nest in Varždin (connecting to picture 8)
15. Varaždin castle and my wife disguised as penguin😃
16. Church interior Varaždin
17. Školska ulica Varaždin
18. Church in Varaždin
19. Castle of Čakovec inside yard
20. Old town Varaždin