Esplanade Zagreb Hotel

Across the gardens from Zagreb's main railway station stands a palace of 1925, built so that passengers of the Orient Express could step from the train into a hotel worthy of Paris or Vienna. Esplanade Zagreb Hotel is the grand hotel of the city, and a hundred years on it is still the first address of the Croatian capital.

History

The hotel opened on 22 April 1925, financed to serve the growing traffic of the Orient Express on its route between Paris and Istanbul, which stopped at Zagreb. The architect was Dionis Sunko, and the house was conceived from the outset as a grand hotel, with a ballroom, a winter garden and the first lifts and telephones of their kind in the city. Zagreb was then a provincial capital of the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and the hotel gave it a building of international standard; its opening was a civic event. Between the wars it was the centre of Zagreb's social life, and in the decades that followed it received a long list of performers and statesmen: Josephine Baker, Charles Lindbergh, Orson Welles, Louis Armstrong, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton among them.

The hotel was renovated and reopened in 2004 and operated for several years as The Regent Esplanade, before returning to its own name as Esplanade Zagreb Hotel. It celebrated its centenary in 2025.

Architecture and design

Sunko's building is a symmetrical block with a central portico, its facade in a restrained classical manner, while the interiors are Art Deco: marble floors, brass, lacquered wood and the glass-roofed Oleander terrace. The Emerald Ballroom, the Smaragdna dvorana, is the principal room, with a high coffered ceiling and tall windows. The main entrance leads through the lobby to the Oleander terrace and the ballroom beyond, an axis kept from the 1925 plan. The 2004 renovation restored the public rooms to this period character while rebuilding the guest floors.

Rooms and suites

The hotel has 208 rooms and suites, laid out over the upper floors with views either towards the station gardens and the Art Pavilion or over the quieter side streets. The suites on the top floor are the largest.

Dining

Three venues serve the house. Zinfandel's is the main restaurant, Le Bistro is known across Zagreb for its štrukli, the Croatian cheese pastry, and the Esplanade 1925 bar occupies the lounge. In summer the Oleander terrace opens for dinner.

Wellness

A health club with a spa, treatment rooms and a gym is on the lower floor.

Weddings and events

The Emerald Ballroom is the venue for large weddings, galas and conferences, and a series of smaller salons on the same floor serves meetings, seminars and private dinners. For a wedding in Zagreb it is the established choice, with the cathedral and the churches of the upper town a few minutes off by car.

Location

The hotel is at Mihanovićeva 1, facing the gardens of Lenuci's horseshoe between the main railway station, Zagreb Glavni kolodvor, and the Art Pavilion. The Lenuci horseshoe, the chain of squares and parks laid out in the nineteenth century, begins at the station gardens outside the door. Ban Jelačić Square, the centre of the city, lies ten minutes away on foot; the drive out to Zagreb Airport takes about 25 minutes. As a luxury hotel in Zagreb, it has held that position since 1925.