ZAGREB – SAMOBOR TOUR

Samobor city tour from Zagreb

Just 30 min away from the city is this little town with a long and rich history. It was given the status of a free royal trading city from Bela the IVth, the ruler that gave royal freedom to Zagreb too. The main square is surrounded with buildings in late baroque, classicist and secession style. The most famous spot on the main square is the famous well with clean water. The first official record of the well is from the 18th century and it’s still a famous welcoming point to all the visitors of Samobor.

If you are up for it, this is a unique opportunity for some hiking from the city center. You can climb up to the Old city fortress. The walk is from 1 – 2 h.

To finish it up, when in Samobor you have to do 2 things:

1. Taste the kremšnita cream cake – the queen of all cakes
2. 2. Drink from the fountain on the main square because the legend says then you will come back to this peaceful oasis.

The guide will get you back to your Zagreb accommodation.

Fully private day tour from Zagreb to Samobor prices

 * babies and children: Free

Tour from Zagreb to Samobor places

Samobor

A famous Croatian writer Antun Gustav Matoš said that Samobor was the most Croatian of all Croatian towns. This charming town has officially becaome a town in 1242 when the King Béla IV awarded it with the status of a free royal market town.

Added: A walk through Samobor, as rarely anywhere else, offers such abundance of history on such a small area – the old town center around the King Tomislav Square which acquired most of its present appearance after the disastrous fire in 1797, the ruins of the Old Town built in 1260 still overlooking the town, 8 bridges over the Gradna stream resembling those of Venice, wooden churches and chapels in and around Samobor, numerous noblemen’s manor houses, the outdoor swimming pool Vugrinščak built in the 19th century only a few steps from the town center, the Livadić castle, which today hosts a museum, but was a meeting place of the Illyrian movement leaders and where the most famous Croatian patriotic song (“Još Hrvatska nij’ propala!” – Croatia has not yet fallen) was written in 1833, the grave of Julijana Cantilly by the parish church, best known as Ljubica, poet Stanko Vraz’s inspiration for the cycle of love poems, Đulabije, then the first elementary school from 1601 just below the parish church, Franciscan monastery with a Lauretan chapel from the era of King Béla IV, etc.

Taking a step further outside Samobor, you can visit the village of Rude which guards its hundred-year-old tradition of excavating copper and iron in the renovated mine of Saint Barbara. Rude can also be reached following the mountain tracks made for their first climb ever by the members of the Croatian Mountaineering Association in 1875, or you can head towards Budinjak to see recently discovered 3,000 years old noblemen’s burial mounds, or revel in natural beauties of the Grgos cave in Otruševec, just to name a few.

A special spirit and atmosphere nurtured in Samobor to his day is largely the result of the efforts made by a number of local people and settlers who felt at home in Samobor – and who in the period from the middle to the end of the 19th century transformed their town into a modern cultural, crafts and tourist centre in Croatia. They left the foundations for the following generations to build on and make Samobor as we know it today – the town of wide-open hearts, cheerful and hard-working people ready for Carnival follies under masks, the town where the plates are always full of home-made specialities and where the wine is, according to the well-known song, drunk from the pots. The town built to suit people, the town with rich history, valuable heritage and people ready to preserve it and offer it to everyone to see.

Samobor Creamcake

Samobor is also known as Queen of cakes. So many stories and songs where written about Samobor cream-cakes. For sure, it is the symbols and the first association of Samobor in Croatia. The cream-cake is a reason why many people come to Samobor and it is almost incredible someone would visit Samobor and not try light yellowish cream between delicate puff pastry. Even if you had to stand in line for it. Even if it is already cold when you take it home as a souvenir. There are a few recipes for this cake, but Samobor’s cream cake is unique because of its preparation and the local atmosphere.

Tour map: Zagreb – Samobor Day Tour