Varaždin

Stari Grad fortress, the Sermage Palace and the hedged cemetery

Varaždin is an easy walking day from Zagreb, arriving by mid-morning bus. Start on the main square with coffee and a klipič bread stick, walk the Baroque palaces and church fronts, cross the grassy ramparts into the Stari Grad fortress and City Museum, see the Sermage Palace gallery, and end in the hedged town cemetery.

Walk the short streets around the square to take in the Baroque palaces and church fronts, then head for Stari Grad. Cross the grassy ramparts into the fortress courtyard and give the City Museum's period rooms, furniture and weapons an hour or so. Remember that it is closed on Mondays.

For lunch, Zlatne ruke is a good bet, or Angelus, across from the city park, for pizza and pasta.

In the afternoon, look in at the Sermage Palace, a rococo house from 1759, for its Dutch paintings and Croatian moderns. Then walk west to the cemetery, where clipped hedges and tree-lined avenues make it feel more like a formal park. Back in the centre, the cafe terraces fill in the early evening, and a late bus gets you to Zagreb the same night. If you stay over, use the second morning for Trakošćan Castle or a soak at Varaždinske Toplice.

Klipič bread sticks, štrukli and turkey with mlinci

Varaždin eats like northern Croatia, closer to Austria and Hungary than to the coast, with meat, dough and rich sauces. Buy the town's own Varaždinski klipič, a crusty rolled bread stick, from the bakeries, and order štrukli cheese parcels and turkey with mlinci flatbread from the Zagorje region.

The town's own speciality is the Varaždinski klipič, a rolled bread stick with a crisp crust, sold in bakeries around the centre. From the surrounding Zagorje region come štrukli, dough parcels filled with fresh cheese and either boiled or baked with cream, and roast turkey with mlinci, thin baked pasta sheets soaked in the roasting juices.

In town, Zlatne ruke is a sound lunch stop, and Angelus, across the street from the city park, is where locals go for pizza and pasta. Zvonimir also turns out good pizza. Out of town, Rebus in Kučan, about 10 km away, draws people for its pizza, and Češljaš sits on the Varaždinbreg hillside above the city.

During Špancirfest, food stalls take over the squares and most people simply graze between performances.

Špancirfest in late August, Advent and cold continental winters

Visit Varaždin in late August for Špancirfest, the street festival, or in December for Advent stalls and lights. The climate is continental: January averages a high of 3C and a low of -4C, so bring a proper coat, while April reaches about 16C and May 21C.

Varaždin has a continental climate, nothing like the coast. January averages a high of 3C and a low of -4C, and December and February are barely warmer, so bring a proper coat. Advent puts stalls and lights in the centre through December, which brightens the short days.

Spring warms quickly: April reaches about 16C and May 21C. June is the wettest month, at around 97 mm, mostly in short summer storms, and July and August average 26C by day with comfortable nights near 14C.

The big date is Špancirfest, about ten days in late August, when street theatre, music and food stalls fill the squares and every room in town is taken. From late September the Varaždin Baroque Evenings move early music into the churches and concert halls, running on into October. September is a fine compromise, with highs near 22C, the festival season still going and the summer storms over.