The Zagorje Railway — Zagreb to Varaždin

There are two railways from Zagreb to Varaždin, and the one the town fought for is the shorter. It runs north over the hills of Hrvatsko zagorje, 104 kilometres by way of Zabok. The other goes east to Koprivnica and back up the valley of the Drava, about 128. On a weekday afternoon the 15:32 that goes the long way round reaches Varaždin at 17:45 — twenty-one minutes before the 15:36 direct over the hills, which left four minutes after it.

The story behind that starts with a bypass. Varaždin was the seat of Croatia's government from 1767 until the fire of 1776, and when the first railway in Croatia opened on 24 April 1860 it ran through Čakovec, on the far side of the Drava. In 1870 the Budapest–Zagreb main line went through Koprivnica. Varaždin's citizens campaigned from 1861 for a line of their own over the Zagorje hills to Zagreb, and it took a quarter of a century: the line opened on 4 September 1886, built cheaply as a "railway of local interest" under Hungary's law on local lines.

It is still the way most trains go, and the ride is the reason to take it: up the small valley of the Krapina past country stations and a fifteenth-century fort, over into the Drava basin at Novi Marof, and down onto the plain to a Baroque town. The rebuild now under way, about €189 million and due to finish in summer 2028, is on the other route.

Trains leave from Zagreb Glavni kolodvor and run west along the main line towards Slovenia, through Zagreb Zapadni and the western suburbs, to Zaprešić, fifteen kilometres out, where the Krapina joins the Sava. Here the Zagorje line turns north.

The first stretch, to Zabok, is new in all but its route. Between 2018 and 2021 it was rebuilt with European Union money: electrified, relaid for 120 km/h, six kilometres of track moved onto easier curves, and the stations at Novi Dvori, Luka, Veliko Trgovišće and Zabok rebuilt with new platforms. A stopping train used to take 39 to 44 minutes for it; it now takes 28.

Change at Zabok

Zabok is the junction of the Zagorje, where branches leave for Krapina and for Gornja Stubica, and it is where the electric half of the line ends. Most journeys to Varaždin change here, from the Zagreb train to the diesel for Varaždin; on the better connections the change takes seven to thirteen minutes. Only a handful of trains a day run straight through from Zagreb.

Up the Krapina

Beyond Zabok the railway is the one of 1886: single track, unelectrified, with small stations at the edge of villages. It follows the Krapina upstream through Bedekovčina, Zlatar Bistrica and Konjščina, a valley of maize fields and low wooded hills, with churches on the crests. At Konjščina a square fort of 1477 stands in the fields by the river. After Hrašćina-Trgovišće, near the village where a meteorite fell in 1751, the line crosses the Krapina and leaves it.

Down to the Drava

Through Budinščina and Mađarevo the line comes on to Novi Marof, where it meets the Bednja, which flows to the Drava. From Turčin it runs out onto the flat land of the Drava plain, and from the slope above Turčin the town's towers are already in sight across the fields. The journey from Zagreb takes about two and a half hours.

What runs on it

HŽPP does not publish which train works which service. For years the through trains were class 2044 diesels hauling coaches, as photographs taken on the line in 2009, 2013 and 2015 show. Since November 2025 HŽPP has also put one of its new class 7023 units — three-car, low-floor diesels with 167 seats — on Varaždin services, including morning trains to Zagreb. In 2023 the short local from Varaždin to Čakovec was a second-hand Swedish 7122 railcar.

The other way

The rival route goes east from Zagreb on the Budapest main line to Koprivnica and then back north-west up the Drava valley through Ludbreg to Varaždin. It is the longer way by more than twenty kilometres, but on weekdays the 15:32 from Zagreb uses it and is the fastest train of the day to Varaždin, at 2 hours 13 minutes. HŽ Infrastruktura has contracted Swietelsky to rebuild Kloštar–Koprivnica–Varaždin and Varaždin–Čakovec, for about €189 million over forty months, due to finish in summer 2028. Going one way and coming back the other makes a loop of the north-west.

Times below are read from HŽPP's own published GTFS feed, downloaded on 3 November 2026, and apply until the timetable change on 13 December 2026. Most journeys change at Zabok; one weekday train each way goes round by Koprivnica instead.

Zagreb to Varaždin

Varaždin to Zagreb

On Saturdays the 05:20 from Varaždin connects at Zabok into the 07:04 instead, reaching Zagreb at 07:48.

Weekends and holidays

There are no direct daytime trains at the weekend, and several connections go round by Koprivnica (K below) rather than Zabok:

Public holidays run the Sunday pattern — Wednesday 18 November 2026, Remembrance Day, is one.

What that means in practice

Every journey is around two and a half hours. On a weekday the 11:37 and 15:36 run straight through, and the 15:32 by Koprivnica is the quickest of the day; on any day the 14:32 with its change at Zabok is the one that always runs. The first trains of the morning, before 07:00, are commuter connections with long waits.

The live timetable and ticket sales are at prodaja.hzpp.hr (opens in a new tab), and HŽPP's downloadable timetables are linked from hzpp.hr (opens in a new tab).

Every train on this journey is run by HŽ Putnički prijevoz, and one ticket covers the whole trip, change at Zabok or Koprivnica included. HŽPP sells online, in its app and at the station counters, and its own terms make the online ticket 10% cheaper than the counter price, while a ticket bought on the train is 10% dearer — so buy before you board, even if only on your phone on the platform.

The pass that covers this line is the Interrail Croatia Pass, a flexi pass giving a set number of travel days within one month. Prices read from Interrail's own site on 3 November 2026, adult second class:

Youth passes, for travellers aged 12 to 27, start at €50 for three days. A travel day runs until 23:59 local time.

Whether it is worth buying

For this journey, no. It is a short regional trip on a single domestic ticket, and a pass will not pay for it on its own. A pass only earns its keep if Zagreb–Varaždin is one day among several long ones — Zagreb to Split, Rijeka or Osijek.

Two conditions matter more than the price. Reservation fees are not included on the trains that need one, and the Croatia Pass does not cross a border, so a trip that carries on into Hungary or Slovenia needs a Global Pass instead. Passes cannot be bought for your country of residence.

Almost everything worth seeing is at the far end. Varaždin is a compact Baroque town, and the station is a short walk east of the old centre, so nothing on this list needs a bus.

The Old Town fortress, a moated castle of white towers that now holds the City Museum, stands at the north-west edge of the centre. King Tomislav Square, with the town hall, is its middle, and the streets around it are lined with the palaces of the nine years when Varaždin governed Croatia. A little west of the old town, the cemetery is worth the walk for its own sake: a park of clipped evergreen walls laid out from 1905.

This is an easy day trip from Zagreb, but Varaždin repays a night, and at the weekend the trains back are few.

Hotel Varaždin is right by the station, which suits a late arrival on the 22:43. In the historic centre, the Park Boutique Hotel stands in Vatroslav Jagić park, and Hotel Turist, the town's longest-running hotel, has its own spa.

In late September, when the Baroque Evenings festival is on, rooms in the centre go early.

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