Zagreb Franjo Tuđman Airport to Zagreb Main Station
About 16 km from ZAG; the Pleso shuttle stops at the nearby bus station for €9, and bus 290 plus a tram costs a couple of euros.
Glavni kolodvor, the Habsburg-era terminus at the foot of the green horseshoe of parks, with trains to Ljubljana, Vienna, Budapest and down the coast to Split.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Zagreb Main Station, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €30). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from €9) but slower, with a change in the city.
What it costs for your group
The bus is charged per person, while a taxi or private transfer is one price for the whole car — so the more of you there are, the better door-to-door value looks.
| Group | Bus (per person) | Private transfer | Best value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo · 1 traveller | €9 | €30 | Bus |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €18 | €30 | Bus |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €36 | €30 | Private transfer |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority is… | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From €2, though slower with a change in the city. |
| Speed & comfort | Private transfer | Door-to-door, fixed price, a driver waiting for you. |
| A group of 3–4 | Transfer or taxi | One flat fare splits cheaper than several bus tickets. |
| A late-night arrival | Transfer or taxi | Both run 24/7 when buses and the tram have stopped. |
By transport mode
Shuttle
This catches people out regularly. Zagreb's bus and train stations are separate buildings in different parts of the centre, and the shuttle serves the bus one.
Where to catch it: The shuttle terminates at the main bus station (Autobusni kolodvor), which is not the railway station — they are about 1.5 km apart, three tram stops on line 6.
Best for budget travellersBus / shuttle
The 60-minute ticket generally covers both legs. If your onward train leaves within the hour, the app taxi is the safer choice — the connection is tight when either leg runs late.
Where to catch it: Bus 290 to Kvaternikov trg, then a tram west to Glavni kolodvor.
Best for solo & budget travellersTaxi
The sensible option with a booked train. Croatian rail is slower than the coach network on most domestic routes — the Zagreb-Split train takes six hours against five by bus — so check which you actually want.
Where to catch it: Straight to the station forecourt, which is open to vehicles.
Best for small groups in a hurryPrivate transfer
The international departures leave from the same platforms; allow the usual margin, since Croatian trains do not hold for delayed flights.
Where to catch it: Flight tracked, which matters for an international connection to Ljubljana or Budapest.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsZagreb Main Station & Zagreb in photos
Buying tickets in Zagreb
Two buses cover the same 17 km and the price difference is tenfold. The signposted Pleso Prijevoz shuttle costs €9, runs every 30 minutes until about 22:30, and reaches the main bus station in 35–45 minutes; children under seven travel free. The unsignposted alternative is ZET city bus 290, an ordinary public bus costing about €0.95 for a 60-minute ticket bought at a kiosk, taking 45–50 minutes to Kvaternikov trg on the eastern edge of the centre, running 04:20 to 00:15 roughly every 35 minutes. Buy at a kiosk before boarding — on-board fares cost more. The 290 also runs far earlier and later than the shuttle, which is its real advantage on a dawn departure. One thing to get straight: the shuttle terminates at the bus station, which is a separate building about 1.5 km from the railway station — three stops on tram 6. People miss trains over this.
Taxi scams & safety in Zagreb
Zagreb inverts the usual advice about apps. A metered ride from the rank runs €30–45 (around €33 by day, €40 at night), while the same journey through Bolt, Uber, Cammeo or Eko-Taxi comes to €20–30. All four operate legally with designated pickup points outside the terminal, so here the app is both cheaper and simpler — the opposite of most airports in this guide. Order after you land rather than before, and expect surge pricing when several flights arrive together. Beyond that, Zagreb is a low-friction capital: fares are metered, the buses are municipal, and there is no meaningful touting. The one thing worth knowing is that Gornji Grad, the upper town, has restricted vehicle access and steep cobbled streets — if your accommodation is up there, give the exact address, because the difference between being set down at Ban Jelačić square and at your door is a real climb and the funicular is not built for suitcases.
Getting from ZAG to Zagreb Main Station
The single most useful thing to know here: the airport shuttle does not go to the railway station. Pleso Prijevoz terminates at Autobusni kolodvor, the main bus station, which is a separate building about 1.5 kilometres from Glavni kolodvor, the railway station. Three stops on tram 6. People miss trains over this every week.
Getting to the right building
Shuttle to the bus station (€9), then tram 6 west — about ten minutes. Or ZET bus 290 to Kvaternikov trg (€0.95) and a tram from there. Or an app taxi straight to the station forecourt for €20–30, which is what to do if your train leaves within the hour.
The station itself
A Habsburg terminus of 1892 at the foot of the green horseshoe of parks, with a statue of King Tomislav in front of it and the Art Pavilion beyond. It was a stop on the Orient Express route, and the building has the scale that implies even though the traffic through it now does not.
Where the trains go
Ljubljana in about two and a quarter hours, Vienna and Budapest in six, Belgrade in six. Domestically the network reaches Split, Rijeka, Osijek and Varaždin. International services have thinned considerably over the past two decades and some run seasonally.
Train or bus for the coast?
Croatia is one of the countries where the coach beats the train on most domestic routes. Zagreb to Split takes about six hours by rail against five by bus, with the bus running far more frequently and often costing less. For Rijeka and the north the train is competitive; for Dalmatia it generally is not.
Validating and buying
Tickets are sold at counters and machines in the hall, and reservations are compulsory on some international services. Croatian Railways is not an expensive network by European standards, and advance fares on the longer domestic routes are worth checking.
The park chain outside
Lenuci's horseshoe is a sequence of eight squares laid out as parks in the nineteenth century, running from the station up towards the centre and back down. Walking the western arm from the station to Ban Jelačić square takes fifteen minutes through gardens rather than traffic, which is a better arrival than any tram.
Left luggage
Available at the station, which makes it the practical place to leave bags on a long connection. The centre is walkable from here and the upper town is twenty minutes on foot.
Getting the airport bus back
The Pleso shuttle departs from the bus station, not the railway station — the same 1.5 kilometres in reverse, and worth allowing for. Departures run every thirty minutes until the evening, and the last one is around half past ten.
Late arrivals and early departures
If your flight lands after the last shuttle, ZET bus 290 runs until just after midnight and starts again at 04:20 — earlier than anything else. For a dawn flight that is the only public option, and it is worth knowing before booking an expensive taxi.
The area around the station
Hotels cluster here, including the Esplanade, built in 1925 for Orient Express passengers and still the grandest place to stay in the city. The immediate streets are unremarkable; the centre begins two blocks north.
One practical caution
Croatian trains do not wait for delayed flights and there is no through-ticketing between the airport and the rail network. If your connection is tight, take the app taxi and skip the bus entirely — €25 against a missed international service is not a difficult calculation.
The 2020 earthquake, still visible
A magnitude 5.5 quake struck Zagreb in March 2020 and damaged a great many buildings in the centre, including the cathedral and a substantial number of the nineteenth-century blocks around the park chain. Scaffolding and closed facades are still part of the streetscape years later, and some museums have moved or reduced their displays as a result. It is worth checking that a specific building is open rather than assuming.
