Zagreb is a good base for the inland half of Croatia. The most-visited day trip is to Plitvice Lakes National Park, two hours south by car or bus, where wooden walkways weave between sixteen tiered lakes and a series of waterfalls — easily one of Europe's most spectacular natural sites, though heavily touristed in summer.
Samobor, a small Habsburg-era town twenty minutes west by bus, is the classic weekend escape for Zagrebans — known for its cream cakes (samoborska kremšnita), its small museum, and the wooded hills behind. The region of Zagorje, an hour north, holds the great Habsburg hilltop castles of Trakošćan and Veliki Tabor, plus the Krapina Neanderthal Museum on the site where Croatia's most famous prehistoric finds were made. Slovenia's Ljubljana is just over an hour away on a fast train.
