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If you wish to get to know the interior of the country on your way to the seaside or on your way back, we recommend you visit Krapina-Zagorje County, a region in the northwestern part of the country.

The area has amazing natural beauties, castles, cultural and historical landmarks, as well as excellent gastronomy and wines. This county is a separate geographic whole in the north, surrounded by the peaks of Macelj and Ivancica in the north, and Medvednica in the southeast. It shares borders with the Republic of Slovenia, Varaždin County and the capital city of Zagreb and Zagreb County. Its area makes it one of the smallest Croatian counties, but it has an above-average population density. Although primarily known as a Mediterranean destination, Croatia also has numerous tourist attractions in its continental part, interesting to an increasing number of guests. In addition to the thermal sources used in the spas in Krapinske Toplice, Stubi?ke Toplice and Tuhelj, equally attractive for health and recreational tourism, the popular hilly area attracts more and more guests with its beauty and playfulness – its roads and pathways are suitable for hiking, biking, visiting vineyards or country estates offering original food and homemade wine, and acquainting the guests with the traditional customs of the region. Krapina-Zagorje County also has numerous castles associated with many historical customs, important events and persons significant for Croatian history, as well as the history of the broader region. Many guests also come to the shrine in Krapina-Zagorje County – the most popular one is the national shrine of Marija Bistrica, but the churches of Mary of the Mountain in Lobor, Mary of the Snow in Belce and Mary of Jerusalem on Trški Vrh are also interesting. This area offers plenty of events throughout the year. For example, the Tabor Film Festival held 11 – 19 July in Veliki Tabor castle in Desini?. This event is among the most significant short film festivals in the region. Every Sunday in August, an event called The Summer with Krapina Neanderthal is held in the town of Krapina, the center of the county. As it happens, one of the richest paleoanthropological finding sites in the world is located right here, and there is a reconstructed Krapina Neanderthal and his family and some animals from the era on Hušnjakovo brdo. On 30 August, a presentation of a traditional Zagorje wedding, including the traditional music, dancing, food and beverage, is held in the Staro Selo Museum in Kumrovec, known as the birthplace of the president of former Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito.

Source: press.croatia.hr

 Here are some useful links for you:

• zagreb24.com
• travel guide for Krapina-Zagorje Conty
  
• all about Krapina
• Videos from Zagreb
• Vacation in Krapina-Zagorje County

The Regent Esplanade Zagreb – one of the symbols of the hotel tradition and quality of the Croatian capital – recently received two valuable recognitions for quality: the Superbrands status and logo and the International 5 Star Diamond Award.

The Superbrands status – whereby the international organization of the same name recognizes brands that achieve a higher quality than its competition – has given the Regent Esplanade the right to use the Superbrands logo in marketing campaigns and promotions.

The other international recognition – the International 5 Star Diamond Award, was awarded to the Esplanade by the members of the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences, part of an exclusive network of professionals in the luxury hospitality industry sector.

They base their evaluation of top quality on marks for complete service, offered luxury, the quality of the surroundings, the relationship towards the guest, the culinary experience, cleanliness and the most important criteria – hospitality.

The Esplanade was constructed in 1925 to provide top class accommodations to passengers on the renowned Orient Express running on the Paris-Istanbul line. After a complete reconstruction in 2004 this 209 luxury room and suite hotel has operated as the Regent Esplanade Zagreb.

Source: ?Croatia Tourist Board?

A total of 1,400 Japanese tourists arrived in Croatia in August and September on direct charter flights from Tokyo. Of that number a total of 1,050 Japanese tourists landed in the capital city of Zagreb, while one group of 350 Japanese landed in Dubrovnik.

These are, namely, the first direct charter flights from Tokyo‘s Narita airport, organized by JTB, the leading Japanese tourist agency, in collaboration with Japanese Airlines. For its regional partner JTB chose the Dubrovnik-based Atlas Travel Agency, a member of the Adriatica.net Group.

The Japanese tourists were in Croatia on eight-day stints, and besides Zagreb they visited the Plitvice Lakes, Split and Dubrovnik and neighbouring countries - Slovenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Montenegro.

According to statistical data, Croatia is every year visited by a growing number of Japanese tourists, so that these direct flights linking Tokyo and Zagreb or Dubrovnik, were received with mutual satisfaction. It is, namely, known that Japanese tourists are great fans of the beauties of culture, history and nature on which account Croatia has become for them, after the large scale promotional activities organised in that country, an increasingly attractive tourism destinations.

Source: ?Croatia Tourist Board?

The Amadeo club theater-music scene first started in the summer of 2000 in the atrium of the Croatian Natural History Museum in Zagreb’s Upper Town, in the very heart of the city, which is a unique monument space home to many of the most important cultural institutions in the City of Zagreb and the Republic of Croatia.
The Croatian Natural History Museum was not chosen for the summer scene by change. Historically, this is a type of homage to the first public theater in Zagreb, the famed Amadeo Theater that operated here from 1797 to 1834. In the present day, this is an ideal chamber theatrical-musical space with beautiful architecture and fantastic acoustic, representing a fabulous framework for theatrical performances and concerts and various multimedia events.
The programme committee of the Amadeo Scene has set high criteria in the selection of the musical programme and theater performances. In the musical segment, this is an inclination for classical music concerts with a special emphasis on performances by talented young musicians, jazz concerts with affirmed Croatian and foreign musicians and ethnic and popular music concerts. Since 2002, the Amadeo Scene has put on the Evening of premiers by Croatian composers - performances of works commissioned for the Amadeo Scene, thereby stimulating Croatian musical creation.
Over the past six seasons, the Amadeo Scene stage has seen 11 theater premiers, 12 premiers of pieces by Croatian composers commissioned for the Amadeo Scene, more than 300 theater performances, classical music and jazz concerts, and film programs (Motovun in Zagreb 2001), performed by some of the most distinguished names in Croatian theater and music life and selected foreign artists (American Dexter Community Band, a world jazz great, American Clare Fischer, the Cuban ensemble Ars Longa, Japanese theater ensemble Urushi, Amsterdam jazz group Saskia Laroo Band, and many others). The performances have been met with numerous positive reviews and critiques in the printed and electronic media. We are very proud that the selective Zagreb audience has felt the powerful energy of the artists who have selflessly shared all the risk of promoting a new open scene, recognizing within it a place that allows for a premium theater and musical experience.

Source: Croatian National Board

Zagreb, the Croatian capital is an ever more popular destination for tourists, whose visits are increasing by double-digit percentages from month to month. In the first half of the year the city was visited by over 260,000 visitors for about 500,000 overnight stays, up in arrivals by 15 percent from the same period last year, and by 14 percent in overnight stays. Along with our traditional guests from Germany and Italy, Zagreb has also become a popular destination for tourists coming from the USA, France, Japan, Russia and Great Britain. To the sharp rise internationally in interest for trips to cities (city break), Zagreb has answered with an intensive development of its offer adapted to this segment of consumers. Already known for the quality of its hotel offer and hospitality services, the Croatian capital is developing new kinds of welcomes for its guests.

The traditional ways of touring the city have seen a new additional of late as they have in other tourism capitals across the world – the Segway City Tour. With these ever more popular vehicles it is possible to organize sightseeing of the city in three different packages: the Zagreb Welcome Tour which includes a tour of some 20 locations in the wider city core, the Zagreb All Around Tour – a wider sightseeing, and the Zagreb Leisure Tour for those interested in seeing more distant locations by appointment – a tour of Maksimir Park, the Jarun Sports & Recreation centre and the like. These are all, of course, tours with guides and preceded by a short Segway training course.

Along with the main tourist information centre on the city’s central square (Trg bana Josipa Jelacica), a seasonal information point has been opened (up to the end of September) at the central rail station. Visitors to Zagreb will also meet walking tourist information staff on the city’s squares and streets to help them find their way around and other information like on where to get a bite to eat, what to see … The walking information staff are recognizable by their distinct blue outfit bearing a large letter “I”. They speak English, German, Italian, French and Spanish, and also Portuguese, Dutch and even Hebrew.

They travel around the city in pairs, moving along four predefined routes in the wider city core and always carry the appropriate promotional materials. Zagreb is also, for the eighth year running, offering its guests a one-day and three-day Zagreb Card. Purchasing the card provides privileges and savings for various services from 10 do even as high as 50 percent. Besides free use of the municipal public transport, the discounts are also good at almost all of the museums, theatres, concert halls, hotels, restaurants, shops and various services in the city. Also on the list are those offering sports, medicine, vehicle repair services and car rentals. The card, available at over 40 locations in the city and in on-line sales, also provides discounts when paying for various events in the city and may also be used in the wider Zagreb metropolitan area. In order to provide guests and business partners as much information as possible on its points of interest the City of Zagreb Tourist Board recently – as the first to do so in Croatia – printed a practical Zagreb City Break edition.

Source: Croatian Tourist Board