Staying at the Oldest Hotel in Zagreb, Croatia: Hotel Jagerhorn

When I was in Zagreb, Croatia last March I stayed at Hotel JÃ¤gerhorn, the oldest hotel of the capital city.

The hotel dates back to 1827 and used to carry the name of the Prince of Austria until the new owners renamed it to JÃ¤gerhorn, which is a German word meaning hunter’s horn. Slovenia was once a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and German back then was widely spoken in Central and Eastern Europe. The hotel has only 18 rooms.

The location could not have been more central enough. It is situated on the busy shopping street, Ilica which borders Kaptol and Gornji Grad (this is the Upper Town which forms the old centre) and Donji Grad (the Lower Town and the less ancient part).

Additionally, the main square of Zagreb, the Ban Jelacic Square is just a block away. Because the hotel literally bordered the Upper Town from the Lower Town it is nicely couched at the foot of the Upper Town’s hill. At the back of the hotel there is a footpath, and if you follow this uphill you will arrive at the the Tower of Lotrscak.

The hotel is also part of a boutique gallery which has an inner courtyard that acts as the passageway. In the middle of the courtyard-gallery is the cafe terrace of the hotel. This is a nice charming public area that exits to the backyard of the hotel going up to the pathway that climbs to the Upper Town. In the morning whilst having breakfast, I could see a few locals passing by. It is indeed a nice little backdoor short cut route, if you know the area very well of course.

There are two things that I did not like about this hotel though. Firstly, there is no lift, however, the bellboy helped me bring my suitcase up to my room. Secondly, I did not have a big window. I felt so penned in and engulfed by the 4 corners of the wall. Luckily I stayed mostly outside.

The positive elements such as good breakfast, very friendly personnel (who spoke superb English if I may add, ugh, the last thing you want is being lost in translation at the reception desk), cleanliness, the central location, free parking (2 blocks away, the code was emailed to me in advance) and historical being the oldest hotel in Zagreb, made the minus points really small.

A link to my Zagreb stories here: Zagreb, Croatia

This is the main shopping street, Ilica where the hotel is located. It is a pedestrian only as well as a tramway street that separates the Upper and Lower Towns.

The cafe terrace of the hotel located in the courtyard of the boutique shopping gallery.

My room was quite nice but it only has 1 small window.

A sitting area on my floor. I did not get to take pictures of the rest of the public areas of hotel.

The view from the little window down to the boutique gallery passageway.

My breakfast.

These steps from the boutique shopping gallery which I would like to call it, the hotel’s courtyard, leads to the back open terrace of the hotel, which is open during warm weather, and to the footpath going uphill to the Upper Town. This is a public area, thus in principle the hotel shares this pathway not only with the shopping boutiques, but with everyone.