Great things to do in Zagreb in June

Born out of the ubiquity of concrete and a love for functional shapes, the architecture of Brutalism is frequently misunderstood. The very term seems to attract us for all the wrong reasons, inviting us to admire buildings for their roughness, or their obstinate refusal to be pretty. Recent years have seen the word Brutalism fall victim to a warped social media aesthetic in which it is exoticized as something east European, communist, falling to bits – an object of nostalgia or pity that is shorn of its social context. Touring the modernist neighbourhoods of Zagreb is something of an antidote to this – Croatian Brutalism is restrained and sympathetic to its surroundings in a way rather different to the application of the same style in, say, Sheffield or South London. Not all of it is pretty – Brutalism was above all a functional style designed to provide social planners with cheap solutions to big problems. However, there is plenty here of compelling interest – enough to justify Zagreb’s growing reputation as an unsung treasure-trove of Central-European modernism.

Zagreb is quickly gaining the big-city vibe of Vienna and Budapest, its Habsburg-era counterparts, while managing to hold on to its distinctive charm. Set below Mount Medvednica, where the last Alpine foothills meet the Pannonian plain, the city still feels like a big village. You can walk to most places you'd want to visit and the majority of tram routes pass through Trg bana Josipa Jelačića, the main square, making the city easy to navigate. Everything has an order common to German-speaking Europe, but with a Balkan sense of fun and after dark hedonism. Read our daytripper's guide to experiencing the best of Zagreb in one day. RECOMMENDED: more great things to do in Zagreb.

Compact and easy to navigate, Zagreb contains plenty of historic sights and fascinating galleries, complemented by destination restaurants, clusters of busy bars and numerous live-music venues. The main square divides the hilly Upper Town – museums, institutions of national importance, panoramic views – from the flat, grid-patterned streets of the Lower Town, with its gastronomic landmarks, designer boutiques and art galleries. Spread out east and west are areas of bucolic greenery while south over the Sava river stretches the post-war residential blocks of Novi Zagreb. Done something on this list and loved it? Share it with the hashtag #TimeOutDoList and tag @TimeOutEverywhere. You can also find out more about how Time Out selects the very best things to do all over the world, or take a look at our list of the 50 best things to do in the world right now.

Whether you're having a night off the booze or have called time on drinking altogether, there are plenty of ways to socialise in Zagreb and still have fun. Board and tabletop game nights provide a sober, sociable alternative and are a great place to mingle with new people. Zagreb is no exception to the popularity of tabletop game culture and you can find both playrooms dedicated to tabletop games and venues which hold regular events. Here are five of the friendliest where you'll be welcomed for your gaming enthusiasm and not for your Croatian skills. RECOMMENDED: the 71 best things to do in Zagreb.

This attractive, Habsburg-era city is a grand place for a winter break in Croatia. The month-long Advent festival transforms the city into a lively celebration of Christmas, with several major locations dressed up with wooden chalets and glittering canopies of fairy lights. On crisp winter days, the snow-tipped Sljeme mountain range is an enjoyably bracing hike - and an unbeatable location for a beer once you've reached it's summit. Cutting-edge modern art, wonderful boutique shopping and sightseeing opportunities aplenty complete the winning mix. RECOMMENDED: more great things to do in Zagreb.

Overlooking the main square, and in the shadow of the Cathedral is Zagreb’s most precious resource: the Dolac. This is more than just a place of trade. In this fractured capital of Upper and Lower towns, the Dolac is a constant, a hub of classless social interaction, a weathervane of the local economy and Zagreb’s connection with the surrounding villages, even with distant Dalmatia. Traders voices are either distinctly urban (Kaj), provincial, or come from the deepest south. Around the square are little bars and eateries offering gableci, cheap late-morning lunches. Daily from 7am, the Dolac is abuzz until the early afternoon.  After considering several locations, the city fathers had a main market built between Kaptol and Tkalčićeva, Zagreb’s most atmospheric thoroughfare. Opened in 1930, it comprised a raised open square lined with stalls of fruit, vegetables and eggs. At street level was an indoor market for meat and dairy traders, then in 1933, a fish market – based on the one in Trieste – was set up alongside. This layout remains in place today, with the addition of a mezzanine in the indoor section and the bright reconstruction of the Ribarnica (the fish market). Florists now occupy the top level, where the Dolac meets Opatinova. Entering from the street, you walk through the main hall of bakers and butchers. Pekara Dinara from Sesvete is so renowned there are queues outside its two downtown outlets. Of the butchers, Pečun-Pečun is a quality purveyor of sausages...

Halloween or All Hallow's Eve is derived from Pagan-era harvest festivals, particularly the Gaelic festival Samhain, and still to this day holds a connection with such ancient events as we create scary-faced lanterns from seasonal and recently harvested pumpkins. The date has taken on many more modern traditions since and is now an opportunity for young people all over the western world to dress up as scary creatures for an evening of frightful fun, attending parties, clubbing or trick-or-treating. Though not as popular in Croatia as it is in some countries, the capital offers several spooky possibilities for this year's date.

Autumn comes as a shock in Zagreb. Temperatures swing wildly high and low, nights fall suddenly - and after months of long, bright days, summer starts to spiral out of reach.  But under September’s sun, the Croatian capital stays al-fresco. Drinkers still flock to bar-lined Tkalčićeva Street (a stretch of boozing haunts just off the main square) which clamours into the early hours. And you’ll still see locals gesticulating outside corner cafés – the most stoic stay there into chilly October, smoking cigarettes and shotting hot espressos. But when it really is time to head indoors (temperatures fall to five degrees come November) a string of cosy bars await. Drinking in bar Kolaž, whose modest street door belies a smoky and secretive interior, will make you feel like you’ve stumbled into that Inglorious Basterds tavern scene (minus the apocalyptic shoot-out). Vinyl, meanwhile, is sleek and moody – lounge in its dimly-lit upstairs quarters before heading to the cellar for live music. Those wanting to continue the party have come at the right time; nightlife takes off in autumn. While there’s always a buzz around mainstream central clubs such as Peper, few tourists find their way to the real heart of Zagreb’s partying scene. That’s because the best clubs lurk in warehouses on the industrial urban fringes, and most go dormant over summer while their regulars leave for the coast. But with partygoers returning to their natural habitats, season opener nights at Medika, Masters,...

Like Budapest, Zagreb is two cities divided by a river. Novi Zagreb lies to the south of Zagreb, across the river Sava, and was developed to house the growing population. Its skyline is dominated by the socialist realist monoliths, that I, on a grey January morning, set out to explore on foot.  As an important hub within Tito’s Socialist Yugoslavia up until the ‘90s, when the country broke apart in the bloodiest wars of Europe’s recent history, Zagreb at one point vied with Belgrade for leadership of the country. During this period Croatia got more than its fair share of socialist realist architecture, made from identical concrete panels that were rolled out on vast production lines. The city now boasts some of the largest examples of this architecture in Central Europe, much of which can be found south of the river.  Visitors staying in the pastel coloured Old Town may be put off by nicknames such as ‘Commie blocks’, but should remember that at the core of the housing blocks is a utopian vision of how the cities of the future might look. Forget the oxidised copper roofs of the Austro-Hungarian centre, the boxy housing estates are where you’ll find the interesting stuff. I don’t walk far from the centre before I hit Béton brut (raw concrete, from which we get the word ‘Brutalism’). Down Savska cesta just before the river are the Rakete, three rocket shaped towers that were modified after the 1963 Skopje earthquake to withstand further tremors. The nickname comes from the...

My name is Damir Cuculić. I was born in Zagreb. In the '80s I was a DJ, I have been in love with music since I was ten years old. Disco music was my first big love and after that hip hop. I first encountered electronic dance music at the end of the '80s. I had a connection in London and he told me about what was happening there, the first rave parties. At this time there was no Youtube, no Facebook, nothing. The only way you could find out was by travelling there or, like me, in a phone call from a friend. The first rave-style party I did was in 1992 in KSET. It was small. The first big one I did was here, in Grič Tunnel. This was the time of war in Croatia. Yugoslavia was falling apart. A dangerous time. Why did we decide this was a good time to start having raves? I don't know. Today, I cannot explain it. We were young and crazy. Rave at the Grič tunnel in the 90's /© Under City Rave Two of my friends were artists and they built installations. The idea was to have a multimedia event, an art exhibition combined with a rave party. Back then, I didn't know anything about Grič Tunnel, only that it existed. Only later I found out its interesting history. It was built as a bomb shelter in the times of war and it goes all the way to the other side of the city centre.   When we held the party, everyone complained. The police, the neighbours, everyone. Nobody had any experience of setting up something like this, or how to deal with it. We thought there would be 500-700 people...