About
About the project
Zagreb Up To You is a set of practical guides to living in Zagreb, plus hands-on help for people who would rather get it from a person than from an article.
Who is behind this
My name is Sasha. A philologist by training, a librarian by daily occupation, and the mother of two children who were born here in Croatia. My family has lived in Stara Peščenica, a Zagreb neighbourhood, for about ten years.
One day we noticed an abandoned unit next door, in a hundred-year-old house — once a greengrocer's, later a trade union office, then nothing at all. We wrote to the city authority, waited for the tender, won it and started renovating. It sounds quick; it was slow. That unit is now AzbookA, the first Russian-language children's library in Croatia: over a thousand books, classes and a summer camp.
For my children Croatia is home, and that is as it should be. But it mattered just as much to me that they keep their first language too. That is where the rest of it comes from: books and conversation in a familiar language are a small piece of steadiness — something of your own in a new place.
This site grew out of the same conversations that happen in the library every day: nurseries, paperwork, doctors, and where to take the children at the weekend. Answering the same question ten times in private messages is a poor way to help. Writing it down once, clearly, is a good one.
Principles
We publish only what can be checked
Where we are not certain of a figure or a deadline, we say so and point you at the official source. A confident tone about rules that change twice a year is not expertise, it is recklessness.
We do not write for volume
There are no pages here built around search queries. If there is nothing substantial to say on a topic, the page does not exist. Hence the modest number of sections — few, but each about something.
We say when you do not need us
A large share of questions can be solved alone in an evening. We say so plainly, even when we could have sold a consultation instead. It works out better for everyone: we keep a reputation, you keep your money.
We do not promise the impossible
Decisions on documents are made by the state. Nobody can guarantee their outcome, and any "guaranteed residence permit" is either incompetence or a lie.
How this is funded
The guides are free and open, with no registration and no subscriptions. The project lives on three things: city tours, relocation support, and consultations.
There is no advertising and there are no affiliate links, which would push us to recommend whatever pays rather than whatever is best. If that ever changes, we will say so on this page.
Get in touch
A question, a correction, a suggestion or a request for help — all of it goes here.