Zelingrad medieval old town has for a long time been one of the most important stone fortresses around Zagreb.
The city is located 49 km from Zagreb city and in 51 km from Varazdin, and in 58 km from Samobor.
The first mention of Zelingrad dates back to 1295, it is believed that the was found after the invasion of the Tatars in 1242.
Zelingrad consisted of a central residential part of the city with an inner garden and an outer defensive wall with three semicircular towers. Sometimes Zelingrad is mentioned as Zelyn, Zelna, Zelnawar.
Throughout the history multiple noble famalies such as Zrinski, Mikulić, Adamović-Čepinski, Hellenbach, Mikšić were the owners of the Zelingrad old town.
The history of the city is typical of the Middle Ages. Long time Zelingrad had an active a defencife fortification for its citizens.
It has survived multiple major fires and renovations, but unfortunately after the last major fire in 17th century Zelingrad started to fall apart.
Since 1635 it is mentioned in multiple sources as “the ruins”.
Zelingrad old town on map of Croatia
Get to Zelingrad
You can only get to the old Zelingrad by car.
➝ read more about 1-day trip around Zagreb countrysides
After enjoying cultural education, we may move on to the cuisine.
Just 8,5 km away from Zelingrad there is one of the best restaurants in the region – “Ljubekov Gaj”.
Ljubekov Gaj is restaurant traditional cuisine of Zagorje
A small home-style restaurant serving traditional cuisine of Croatian region Zagorje.
The restaurant menu includes various types of grilled meat with garnish of baked homemade potatoes and of course homemade wine)