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.

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.

An easy tram hop from the city centre, the beautiful tree-lined cemetery of Mirogoj is a rarely visited attraction. Founded in 1876 and designed by Hermann Bollé, few visitors reach Mirogoj, but those who do discover an expansive space filled with excellent sculptures and seemingly endless tiled arcades. Here are ten reasons why you should make the journey to Mirogoj Cemetery. 1) It's an architectural treasure Designed by Hermann Bollé, the architect responsible for Zagreb’s Cathedral, Mirogoj cemetery covers a vast area that stretches up towards the base of Medvednica. The green oxidised copper domes, with their intricate, pastel coloured inner designs, are magnificent. So too are the tiled arcades that appear to stretch on into infinity, past an endless succession of memorials and flowers. The arcades are especially striking in the summer time when they are clad in bright green ivy and the sun patterns the innumerable columns and arches. Bollé is buried here alongside plenty of notable local figures. 2) The Croatian poet Petar Preradović is buried here Mirogoj is an excellent place to indulge in a spot of taphophilia, or tombstone tourism as it is otherwise known. The cemetery is the final resting place of Petar Preradović, a seminal figure in Croatian Romantic poetry. Born in the north-eastern village of Grabrovnica, Preradović fought as a soldier in the Wars of Italian Unification and produced some of the country’s most celebrated verse....

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.

Sick of being bombarded with the fake smiles and ridiculous pouts captured in selfies on social media? Zagreb's Museum of Broken Relationships is the reality check you need. A collection of mementoes and texts which mark the end of love affairs, its intriguing artillery of objects will fascinate you and bring forth a variety of all-too-recognisable emotions. © Museum of Broken Relationships Created as a temporary exhibition in 2006 by former couple, artist Dražen Grubišić and festival producer Olinka Vištica, souvenirs of their own failed relationship helped make up the first exhibit. It proved such a hit that eventually a permanent home was found for their souvenirs of stunted love and the museum opened in Zagreb’s Upper Town in 2010. Since then, the museum has become one of Zagreb's most popular and unique attractions. It has toured the world, everywhere from Tokyo to London and Mexico City, and found a permanent second home in Los Angeles, picking up tokens of failed relationships everywhere it travels. Inundated by donations, the love letters, objects and photographs on show are just a fraction of the fascinating tragedies the museum now possesses. Accompanied by bittersweet explanatory texts, the exhibits depict the surreal but understandable narratives formed from fraught, post-breakup emotional states. © Museum of Broken Relationships If you’re recently heartbroken, you can cheer yourself up at its appetising new restaurant, which features playfully experimental...

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...

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.

Offering diverse and well thought-out movies, independent cinemas can be the place to catch up on some of the best films made around the world or the place to introduce a friend or date to one of your most cherished old classics. Luckily, Zagreb has a crop of art house cinemas showing the best of world and independent movies - with many screened in English. Here's where to find them. RECOMMENDED: The best film festivals in Croatia.

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.