🛫 Single Terminal — Schengen + Non-Schengen Wings

Layout: one concourse, two levels, Schengen and non-Schengen departures separated airside. The 2017 architecture is the wave-roof concrete-and-glass form by Kincl/Neidhardt — restrained Yugoslav-modernist successor.

EES booths: in the non-Schengen border zone, used for UK Ryanair/easyJet, Türkiye (Turkish Airlines, Pegasus), Israel (charters seasonal), and selected long-haul.

📍 Pleso / Velika Gorica

Pleso sits inside the satellite city of Velika Gorica (~58,000 residents), 17 km southeast of central Zagreb on the south bank of the Sava. Flat, industrial-residential, served by the A3 (Zagreb-Slavonski Brod) motorway exit.

Pleso Prijevoz stop: directly outside arrivals; the shuttle bus is signposted in Croatian and English.

EES — Fully Operational Since 10 April 2026

Non-EU passport holders are biometrically registered on first entry: four fingerprints and a facial image. UK Ryanair morning waves are ZAG’s queue stress point; peak waits 25-35 min during the post-rollout summer adjustment.

ETIAS — Coming Q4 2026

€7 pre-travel authorisation for visa-exempt non-EU nationals launches in autumn 2026. Apply through the official EU travel portal once it goes live; verify the exact date before travel.

Euro Since 1 January 2023

Croatia replaced the kuna with the euro at the fixed rate of HRK 7.53450 per €1 set by the Council of the European Union. Cards everywhere; tap dominant in Zagreb. Older menu cards in the Upper Town and Dolac stalls sometimes still show kuna prices crossed through in pencil — harmless nostalgia, the euro is real.

⭐ Pleso Prijevoz Shuttle — The Default

• Direct from ZAG to the Main Bus Station (Autobusni Kolodvor, with onward tram and city bus connections) in 35-45 minutes.
• Departs every 30-40 minutes from ~04:30 to the last evening flight; on-board departure board synced to flight arrivals.
• Single ticket €7-9 adult (the price has crept up post-2024 base launch). Children under 7 free; daily return ~€11. Pay on board in euros or by card; advance booking online via plesoprijevoz.hr.
• Pickup directly outside arrivals; the bus is the operator’s yellow Pleso Prijevoz livery.

🚌 ZET Bus 290 — The Cheap Option

• ZET (Zagrebački električni tramvaj) city bus 290 connects ZAG to Kvaternikov trg via Velika Gorica and Folnegovićevo Naselje — 60-75 minutes depending on traffic.
• Single €1.20 (also valid for 90 min on city trams/buses including transfers).
• Buy from the driver in cash or via the ZET app.
• Slower and quieter than the shuttle; favoured by locals.

🚆 Onward Rail from Glavni Kolodvor

Once you reach central Zagreb, the Main Train Station (Glavni Kolodvor) opposite the Esplanade hotel runs Croatian Railways (HŽ) and Eurocity services.

• Split: 6h 30m on the new direct HŽ daily train via the karst tunnels — €25-50 advance.
• Ljubljana, Slovenia: 2h 30m on Eurocity Mimara — €15-30.
• Vienna Hbf: 6h 30m on Eurocity Mimara — €25-50.
• Budapest Keleti: 6h on EC — €25-45.
• Trieste: 7h via Ljubljana — €25-45.

🚕 Bolt / Uber / Taxi

• Bolt — the dominant ride-hail in Zagreb. Pickup at the dedicated zone outside arrivals. €20-30 to central Zagreb, 25-30 min off-peak.
• Uber — second app, similar pricing.
• Metered taxi (Eko Taxi, Radio Taxi Zagreb) — €25-35 to centre via the airport-zone tariff. Make sure the meter is on Tariff 1 (06:00-22:00) vs Tariff 2 (22:00-06:00 + weekends/holidays).
• Croatian VTC regulation is enforced; unmarked drivers in arrivals are illegal. Ignore them, use the rank or the app.

🛋️ Primeclass Business Lounge — ~€25 Walk-in

Location: Schengen Departures, Level 2, just past security.

Access: Priority Pass, LoungeKey, DragonPass, Diners Club, TAV Passport; Croatia Airlines Business, Star Alliance Gold (Lufthansa, Swiss, Turkish, Air Canada, United, LOT, ANA etc.); Qatar Airways Business; Lufthansa Group eligible.

Walk-in: from €25 if you have no membership.

What’s inside: self-service buffet (cold cuts, cheese, hot snacks, salads, sushi rotation), open bar with Croatian Karlovačko and Ožujsko beer, Plešivica white, Pelješac Plavac Mali, espresso, sit-down dining tables.

✈️ Important Caveat: Schengen Departures Only

Lounge access is for international same-day departures only. Domestic flights (Split, Dubrovnik, Pula, Zadar) are not eligible.

Non-Schengen passengers: with the Schengen-area location, the lounge is past Schengen passport control. If you are connecting onto a non-Schengen flight (UK, Türkiye, US-via-IST etc.), check that your boarding routing allows you to clear non-Schengen security from the lounge area.

Hand-stretched filo pastry, fresh cottage-cheese filling, sour-cream-and-butter topping. Baked štrukli arrive in a small earthenware dish, between a soufflé and a lasagne; boiled štrukli are the older Zagorje-region version. UNESCO-listed (Croatian intangible heritage 2007). €5-10 per portion at city restaurants; the most-cited central producer is La Štruk on Skalinska, between Dolac and the Cathedral. The airport version is competent but lacks the cottage-cheese softness.

Lamb, veal or octopus, slow-roasted under a heavy iron bell (the peka) buried in hot embers for 2-3 hours. A Dalmatian dish that has migrated north, served at converted-farmhouse restaurants in the Zagreb hills (Sljeme area) and at the Plešivica wine villages. Must be ordered hours in advance, €25-40 per person. Mali Raj on Sljeme and Vinodolska Konoba on the Plešivica wine route are the central anchors. Not airport food.

Rakija is Croatia’s national category of fruit brandy, distilled to 40-45% ABV. The canonical Continental Croatian variants are šljivovica (plum), travarica (herbal-infused, often with eight wild herbs), orahovac (green walnut, almost black, traditionally taken as an aperitif), kruškovac (pear) and lozovača (grape, distinguishable from Italian grappa by source). €4-6 a glass at a Zagreb kafić; €12-30 a bottle from the duty-free.

The Plešivica wine region runs southwest of Zagreb in the foothills of the Plešivica mountain — 35 km from the city. Sparkling whites (Pjenušac) are the regional specialty, with Pinot Noir, Riesling and the indigenous Portugizac making good still wine. Tomac (since 1932, sparkling pioneer), Šember, Korak and Krežić are the credible estates. Sundays in the hills mean cellar-door brunches with peka and Pjenušac — the best single weekend day-trip from Zagreb. €15-30 at the airport duty-free.

🍷 Plešivica Pjenušac (Sparkling)

€15-30 per bottle. Tomac, Šember or Korak sparkling Plešivica — the indigenous sparkling-wine style. Cleaner than Prosecco, more interesting than supermarket Cava. Also look for Plavac Mali from Pelješac (Dalmatian coast) and Malvazija from Istria.

🥃 Travarica or Orahovac

€12-30 per bottle. Maraska, Hrvatska Loza, Old Pilot — the commercial label producers. Travarica (herbal) is the “Croatian Jägermeister” that is much more drinkable than Jägermeister; orahovac (green-walnut) is distinct, dark and herbaceous.

🫒 Istrian Olive Oil

€15-35 per bottle. Istria has dominated the Flos Olei guide for years; the airport stocks Chiavalon, Mate, Cuj, Brist — the indigenous Buža, Carbonera and Žminjska Crnica varieties produce some of the highest-rated olive oils in Europe.

🎀 Kravata / Cravat

€25-80. The neck-tie was invented in Croatia — the word “cravat” descends from hrvat (Croat), via the 17th-century Croatian mercenaries in Paris. Croata at the airport, plus their Cravat-Tie boutique on Kaptol, is the official heritage source. A genuine Croatian export gift.

Zagreb’s Upper Town is the medieval Gradec/Grič settlement on the southern hillside — cobbled streets, the Stone Gate Marian shrine (Kamenita vrata), Lotrščak Tower with its noon cannon (fired daily at 12:00 since 1877, originally to synchronise the city’s bells), and the Church of St. Mark with its tiled Croatian and Zagreb coat-of-arms roof. The funicular from Tomićeva Street climbs the 30 metres up in 64 seconds — the shortest funicular in the world by some measures, in continuous operation since 1890. €1 single.

Dolac is the open-air farmers market above Ban Jelačić Square, the city’s main produce supplier since 1930. Recognisable from above by the rows of red parasols. Best 07:00-15:00; peak 09:00-11:00; quietest after 13:00 when serious producers have packed up. Cheese, charcuterie and fish move to the covered hall (Trgocentar) below the open square; flowers run along the southern edge. Free, central, and worth combining with štrukli at La Štruk on Skalinska two minutes downhill.

The Grič Tunnel is a 350-metre WWII bomb-shelter dug beneath the Upper Town, running between Mesnička and Radićeva streets, with side passages opening at Stross promenade and Tomićeva. Open free of charge, daily 09:00 – 21:00 — the cleanest air-conditioned shortcut between the modern centre and Upper Town in summer when the streets are 35°C. The tunnel hosts the occasional art installation and the “Festival of Lights” in March.

Mirogoj is the city’s monumental graveyard, designed in 1876 by Vienna-born architect Herman Bollé (1845-1926), with a 500-metre main arcade topped by 20 ivy-covered cupolas. Roughly 300,000 souls buried, including Franjo Tuđman, Vladimir Prelog, Tin Ujević, Drazen Petrović. Multi-confessional: Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish and Muslim sections share the grounds. Free, daily 06:00-20:00; bus 106 from Cathedral, 15 min. A serious 20th-century Croatian historical anchor.

EU/EEA visitors: Croatia is in Roam Like At Home — do nothing.
UK/US/non-EU visitors: Hrvatski Telekom (HT), A1 Hrvatska and Telemach sell prepaid tourist SIMs at the ZAG arrivals kiosks. €10-25 for 5-30 GB plans, photo-ID registration required. eSIM via Holafly, Saily or Airalo cheaper for most and skips the ID step.
5G: default across Zagreb and the airport.

With 4+ hours airside-to-airside, the move is the medieval centre. Pleso Prijevoz to Main Bus Station (35-45 min, €7-9), tram 6 to Ban Jelačić Square (10 min) — you arrive at the foot of Dolac. Walk the market, take the funicular up Tomićeva (64 sec, €1) to Upper Town, see Lotrščak Tower and the St. Mark’s tiled-roof church, štrukli lunch at La Štruk on Skalinska. With 6+ hours, add Mirogoj cemetery (bus 106, 15 min each way) for the Bollé arcade. Allow 60 min for return security and EES queue.