Zagreb is teeming with museums, galleries, theatres, cinemas and architectural curios, from the 16th-century Gornji Grad (old town/upper town) to a lower town replete with Austro-Hungarian art nouveau and equally beguiling socialist-style haunts.

Throw in a cafe (caffe)/salon (kavana) culture, an enchanting boho heritage and a rescinded smoking-ban (because too many people stopped going out), and you have a scene ideal for the arty traveller.

Coffee – or grappa – stop

Kino Klub Gric cinema, Zagreb, Croatia

Kino Klub Gric is a cosy old cinema with a 1960s/70s cafe design of bold stripes, and a lounge-loft of ruby-red easy chairs. Perfect for secret assignations, untroubled reading, or for spying on those below. Like most cafe-bars here, a range of rakijas (Croatian grappa) is available (10kn – £1.10), my favourite being the dark and syrupy Orahovice, made from green walnuts. Gric also offers one of the best bijela kava (white coffee/latte, £1.32) in town, or green tea with honey (£1.10). Weekend nights host a DJ in the basement and a laid-back crowd; Zagreb is a very friendly city with little or no drunken violence.

• Jurišićeva 6, +385 098 4003, facebook.com/klubkinogric

Flea markets

The Saturday/Sunday morning flea market on Britanski trg (British Square) is a five-minute walk from the centre. Here you can rummage through socialist stamps and coins, books and bibelots. It's as if Balkan history has been given a good shake and this is what fell out. Then put some fresh air in your lungs with a walk up the hill to Rokov Perivoj park behind the square. Zagreb's biggest flea market, though, is a bus ride away on the 295 to Hrelic/Jakusevac, where you'll be swamped by clothes, bikes, cars and curiosities, superintended by hardcore flea marketeers.

Vintage clothes shopping

Ulicni Ormar vintage shop

Ulicni Ormar is a friendly, courtyard shop with a glamorous-but-cheap ethos, and an extensive woman's collection (from £2.15) of dresses, knits, leathers, blouses, bags and shoes and a smaller men's section of winter coats (from (£21), a few pairs of brogues, the obligatory Wrangler jeans, and some fine shirts, knitted sweaters and leathers. You should also investigate Lega-Lega (award-winning designers from Osijek) (lega-lega.com) and Brokula&Z (brokulaz.com) – both these Croatian designers use eco-friendly materials for their snappy T-shirts, notebooks and bags.

• Ulicni Ormar, Nikole Jurisica, 16, +385 1 492 6500, facebook.com/UlicniOrmar

Literary happenings

A pun on books and "buksa" (Croatian slang for prison), Booksa, is a rare non-smoking cafe (a former independent bookshop). Run by three women writers, it's a busy meeting place for Zagreb's cultural activists. There are readings, debates, book signings, quiz nights, small concerts and exhibitions as well as creative writing workshops hosted by famous local writer, Zoran Feric. Booksa is also one of the venues for the wonderful Festival of the European Short Story (europeanshortstory.org/en).

• Marticeva 14d, +385 1 461 6124, booksa.hr

Late night haunts

Medika bar

At cult bar Krivi Put (Saska 14), the cheap prices, shabby décor, indie music and outdoor beer benches create a pre-club buzz, or try Limb Caffe Bar (Plitvica 14), with its 3D mural of buxom wenches, and heated conservatory (these drinking porches are very popular in Zagreb where a third of the population are from Dalmatia, so they like to be outside, even in winter). Limb is frequented by best-selling author, Robert Perisic, whose novel, Our Man in Iraq (Istros Books) is a must-read for your trip, as it brilliantly captures modern-day Zagreb. Once legless at Limb (sorry) on Bernard Czech beer or on Croatia's finest, Velebitsko beer, you should head to Medika (Pierottijeva 11), a government-approved squat in a former pharmaceutical factory – a promising mix! In three warehouse rooms, you'll dance from punk to funk to reggae to 1950s big ballads. They also stage art happenings and exhibitions. Local Ozujsko or Karlovacko beers are only £1.10 a bottle. Which explains why the toilets are permanently flooded.

• Krivi Put, Saska 14; Limb Caffe Bar, Plitvica 14, +385 1 617 1683, https://www.facebook.com/limb.caffebar; Medika, Pierottijeva 11, pierottijeva11.org

The coolest bar in town

Sedmica (Number 7) is probably the smokiest and coolest little bar of the lot. A leather-clad crowd chat over bottles of Slovenia's Lasko beer in the conservatory, or inside where a big old mirror hangs over the bar, reflecting dark, patterned tiles, a warm orange light through grilled windows, and a mezzanine area for clandestine discussions. Feels very 1950s. After that, walk 15 minutes to Kolaž (Amruševa 11, facebook.com/pages/Kolaž), a gay-friendly, underground club with dark'n'bouncy electronica. If it's jazz you're after, descend to the cavernous charm of Bacchus (Kralj Tomislav square 16, facebook.com/bacchusjazzbar) or VIP club on the main square (Trg Bana Josipa Jelacica 9, vip-club.hr), which is far more chilled than its name suggests.

• Sedmica, Kaciceva 7a, +385 1 486 6689

Arthouse cinema

This is perhaps the epicentre of Zagreb intellectual life (along with cultural centre, MaMa (mama.mi2.hr) around the corner, and the aforementioned Booksa.) An art-house cinema (often with English subtitles), Kino Europa is the venue for the Zagreb Film Festival, and nearly weekly film festivals thereafter. The next is the excellent Human Rights Film Festival – humanrightsfestival.org. There's a small cafe in the foyer, a slim shop of Kino Europa mechandise, and an Indie club-night where a famous local film director often DJs.

• Varšavska 3, +385 1 4872 888, kinoeuropa.hr

Restaurants

Stari Fijaker restaurant

Outside Kino Europa, there's a huge statue of behatted poet, Tin Ujevic (Zagreb honours its many writers with monuments). You should visit Tin's favourite (and now legendary) eaterie, Gostionica Tip-Top on Gunduliceva 18, where you'll enjoy photos of the poet, go goggle-eyed at the intimate, socialist design, including a dozen glass-bowl lamps overhead, and relish a Dalmatian cuisine of fresh fish (£40/kilo), octopus risotto (from £6), fine island wines, and the chocolate-and-walnut 'Marco Polo' desert. (The explorer was said to have been born on the island of Korcula, Dalmatia, where the owners of Tip-Top are from.) If you'd prefer Zagreb cuisine, you can't go wrong with another legendary venue, Stari Fijaker on Mesnicka street. And vegans, fear not, it's not far to Vegehop with its daily menu and Monday night 20% discounts.

• Gostionica Tip-Top, Gunduliceva 18, +385 1 48 30 349; Stari Fijaker, Mesnicka street, +385 1 48 33 829, starifijaker.hr; Vegehop, Vlaska 79, +385 1 464 9400, vegehop.hr/en

Parks and galleries

Maksimir park. Photograph: Two People/Alamy

Zagreb has plenty of green spaces and vantage points: the upper/old town (Gornji grad) is linked to the lower town by a funicular railway or the Zakmaridjeve Steps (stube) that take you to the chestnut-lined Stross promenade for panoramic views of the city. Then walk round the corner to the quirky Museum of Broken Relationships (brokenships.com), the Museum of Croatian Naïve Art (hmnu.org) or take tram 2, 6, 11 to People and Art House Lauba (lauba.hr), a place of offbeat happenings and exhibitions and only £1.10 if you've already visited Broken Relationships.

Drink a half-litre of Velebitsko in Zagreb's oldest inn, Pod starim krovovima ("under the old roofs"), Basaricekova 9, before taking a tram to Dolje followed by a cable-car up Mount Slijeme for the best views of the capital. Zagreb has about eight green squares and tree-lined avenues, including Marshall Tito Square and the lovely Botanical Gardens, that make up an area known as "the Green Horseshoe". There's also the large Maksimir park, the neo-Renaissance arcades of the majestic Mirogoj cemetery, not to mention Lake Jarun and the River Sava (just beyond the train station) – and you must visit the Museum of Contemporary Art (www.msu.hr), south of the river, not only for its retro space-station design but for its big name exhibitions, currently Karim Rashid's Ideology of Beauty.

Accommodation

Studio Kairos B&B

A funky and friendly B&B for creative types is Studio Kairos, just 10 minutes' walk from the centre. The four rooms are divided into a writers' room (with brief excerpts from local writers), a musicians' room with a musical score around the walls and a guitar in the corner, a craftmen's room with local artefacts, and granny's room with a design and photos honouring the old ladies selling fresh produce at the city's famous Dolac market. For those who prefer the extra space and privacy of an apartment, InZagreb Apartments (inzagreb.com) are without doubt the best in town. Eight different flats in ideal locations, including the old town, are beautifully maintained and the hosts provide you with all the information you need, plus a welcoming bottle of Dalmatian red wine.

• Studio Kairos, 92 Vlaska street, +385 1 46 40 680, studio-kairos.com

• British Airways start daily direct flights from Heathrow to Zagreb on 9 December

• James Hopkin's trilogy of short stories set in Dalmatia will be

re-broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 10, 17, 24 February, 2013