Advent in Zagreb

26th November 2022 - 6th January 2023

Advent Zagreb Christmas Market 2022 takes you back to your childhood: Grab your favourite toy and travel to some other times! Warm lights give a feeling of welcome. We keep our hands warm on a cup of mulled wine or hot chocolate. Smiling faces spread a sense of love. Graceful Christmas carols from the balconies dance in the air together with snowflakes. It is the magic of Christmas that only Zagreb can offer during Advent.

In the past five years, Advent Zagreb has become a destination for visitors from Croatia and the world, due to the unsurpassed atmosphere, wide offer, various accompanying facilities and hospitality of locals who use this magical time of year to present their city in full glory. It is not surprising, therefore, that for three years in a row it has been awarded the prize for the best Christmas market in Europe.

This year, Advent takes us back to other times, in the most beautiful way possible, through a reunion with our dearest childhood friends - toys. There is no child, either big or small, who will not associate Christmas with the excitement of opening the presents and the feeling of immense happiness when seeing a new toy that they have been so eagerly awaiting. And many generations with unspeakable nostalgia remember the toys that were produced in the heart of Zagreb.

The only factory outside the US in the so-called ‘socialist bloc’ that had a license to produce Disney toys, the Biserka toy factory, is part of many happy memories of opening presents on a Christmas morning. We can accurately imagine the smiles on children’s faces when greeted by the hand-painted face of Mickey, Goofy, Smurfs or Bambi. Let’s add to that Vavra's handmade toys, a fluffy, stuffed bunny, a cat or a fox - that's exactly the charm of Christmas that this year's Advent will bring back.

At a dozen different locations throughout Zagreb, you will be greeted by these cute time machines, luring you into the past through AR, augmented reality. Expand your picture of Advent through your smartphone screen and tell the younger generations the most beautiful Christmas story.

And then stroll through the many squares and parks, locations for charming, romantic walks all year round. If you hear the lovely voices of church choirs, take a peek into nativity scenes of Zagreb's churches. Enjoy concerts of the most beautiful Christmas songs performed by local soloists, ensembles and orchestras. Take your little ones to shows that will occupy their imagination and make their faith in the magic of Christmas even stronger. Admire the decorations on the buildings of the Upper Town, with their windows looking magical, as if coming out from fiction. Try some of the classics of local gastronomy on the numerous terraces of Zagreb restaurants, as well as the catering stands, and see why love passes through the stomach. From carefully designed holiday menus with indigenous traditional food and local wines, to appropriately decorated facades and interiors, the Christmas story lives on in city hotels as well.

All this will create unprecedented Zagreb Advent postcards and breathe love into every corner of Zagreb, which is already decorated with Christmas trees, shiny balls, nuts, toys, holly, cones, garlands, gift boxes and lots and lots of light, just waiting for you.

Come to the city at the foot of Sljeme and warm your hearts with that special serenity - this City of a Million Hearts will tell you the warmest Christmas story.

Detailed information about Advent in Zagreb can be found online at www.adventzagreb.hr

More information and more events:        

www.infozagreb.hr

 www.lovezagreb.hr

  www.facebook.com/visitzagreb 

All the visitors of Advent Zagreb will have the opportunity to enjoy the somewhat-forgotten specialties of Zagreb, warm up with a cup of hot chocolate or mulled wine, or buy unique souvenirs and Christmas decorations for their loved ones.

Stroll through the many squares and parks, locations for charming, romantic walks all year round. If you hear the lovely voices of church choirs, take a peek into nativity scenes of Zagreb's churches. Enjoy concerts of the most beautiful Christmas songs performed by local soloists, ensembles and orchestras.

At a dozen different locations throughout Zagreb, you will be greeted by these cute time machines, luring you into the past through AR, augmented reality. Expand your picture of Advent through your smartphone screen and tell the younger generations the most beautiful Christmas story