10 unusual things to do in Croatia

Croatia’s bucket list includes Plitvice Lakes, Dubrovnik and at least one summer music festival. But what about more unusual things to do in Croatia. Plan a few detours into your trip for these offbeat Croatian attractions. The information in this article is taken from The Rough Guide to Croatia, your essential guide for visiting Croatia.

Zagreb Museum of Broken Relationships

This travelling art installation became a permanent museum in 2010. And the collection is built on donated mementoes. It’s a unique gathering of memory and raw emotion. Exhibits range from garden gnomes to prosthetic limbs. And each has a text explaining its significance to the donor. Some are touching, some kinky, and some belong in a David Lynch film.

Celebrate Croatian Modernism at Hotel Lone

The amoeba shaped design is by Zagreb architects 3LHD. The interior’s furnished by Croatia’s leading creatives. And it’s a rare example of an hotel which is also an artwork.

Don't want to stay over? Then just peek inside to see Ivana Franke’s Room for Running Ghosts. Don’t miss textile wall-hangings by Zagreb fashion designers I-GLE. And spare a glance at the circular lobby.

If you like the idea of a tailor made trip, get in touch and we can connect you with a local expert to plan and book your ideal holiday.

Meet the ancestors at Krapina Neanderthal Museum

An ambitious, ultra-modern building houses the museum. And visitors ascend a spiral pathway round the earth’s development. It’s a tour de force in Evolutionary Theory. But the most entertaining aspects are devoted to Neanderthals themselves. A film shows actors re-creating a day in the life of a Neanderthal tribe. And the display ends with a diorama featuring Neanderthal figures.

Meet more ancestors at Varaždin Cemetery

Haller believed cemeteries should be life-enhancing public parks. To this end he planted rows of conifers. He then sculpted them into stately green pillars. Ultimately they towered over the graves. To create, in Haller’s words, “quiet and harmonious hiding places” for the dead.

The cemetery is also something of an exterior art gallery. Look out for fine funerary sculpture in the greenery.

Medieval art meets modern Croatian design at Novigrad Lapidarium

The collection features stone carvings taken from Novigrad’s medieval churches. And gryphons, peacocks and cypresses show the lust for beauty in early Croatian art. For more early Novigrad stonework, consider a stay at San Canzian Village in Buje.

The Sea Organ and Greeting to the Sun in Zadar

Its architect, Nikola Bašić, also designed the nearby Greeting to the Sun. A huge disk paved with light-sensitive tiles, it stores solar power during the day. Then at night it radiates a seemingly random sequence of coloured lights. The effect is hypnotic. And it’s enormously popular with tourists.

Orson Welles makes an unusual Split icon

Orson Welles in Amsterdam © Harry Pot/Anefo/WIkimedia Commons

The Rijeka Torpedo is a world first in Split

But to view the surviving example, you have to go to Split. There in an anonymous corner of the Maritime Museum it sits. One of Croatia's greatest feats of engineering, looking like something out of a Jules Verne novel

An Adriatic rock garden in Dubrovnik’s Orsula Park

Each summer the park’s amphitheatre-style bank of seating is used during the Mali Glazbeni Festival. A season of concerts which attracts big local names in rock, rap and world music.

For more inspiring ideas for your holiday in Dubrovnik, read our guide to the best things to do in Dubrovnik.

Ready for a trip to Croatia? Check out the snapshot Rough Guide to Croatia. Read more about the best time to go to Croatia, the best places to visit and best things to do in Croatia. For inspiration use the Croatia Itineraries from The Rough Guide to Croatia and our local travel experts. A bit more hands on, learn about getting there, getting around the country and where to stay once you are there.

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