Zagreb Airport to City Centre: €9 Shuttle, Bus 290, Taxi

Most people landing at Zagreb Airport (ZAG) should take the Pleso Prijevoz shuttle: €9 one-way, 35-40 minutes, ending at the Main Bus Station, with children under 7 free. Two details change that default. Bus 290 doesn’t cost the €0.93 city fare you’ll see quoted, because the terminal sits in Velika Gorica, which is a different ZET fare zone. And the rank taxi comes with a ceiling, because ZAG publishes a maximum price list: €35 by car to the centre. For four adults the capped taxi already undercuts four shuttle tickets, and after 22:30 the shuttle waits only for Croatia Airlines landings.

Side by side: cost, time and where each ride ends

The airport is about 17 km from the centre, and the address on its own website puts it in Velika Gorica, not in the city of Zagreb itself. That one fact explains the bus fare below and the shape of the taxi list. There’s no train to the terminal either: the airport’s own list of ways in names car, bus, rental car, taxi, door-to-door transfer and car sharing, and rail isn’t on it.

The Pleso Prijevoz shuttle, read as a timetable

The shuttle links the terminal with the Main Bus Station (Autobusni kolodvor) on Avenija Marina Držića, so most hotels still need a tram or a short taxi hop at the other end. Buses leave the airport at 06:00, 06:30 and 07:30 (nothing leaves at 07:00), then every 30 minutes from 08:00 to 16:00. The late afternoon is thinner, with buses at 16:45 and 17:30, and from 18:00 it’s back to every 30 minutes until 22:30. From the airport, only the 18:30 is marked as running at weekends and on holidays alone, so on a weekday there’s an hour between the 18:00 and the 19:00.

After 22:30 the schedule changes character. Pleso’s note says buses leave the airport to match landings until 01:00, setting off 30 to 40 minutes after touchdown. The same note names Croatia Airlines landings, so if you’re arriving late on another carrier, don’t count on a bus waiting for you. Treat the taxi rank as plan A in that case, with bus 290 as the cheap fallback until about 00:30.

Going the other way, buses leave the bus station for the airport at 04:00, 05:00 and 05:30, then roughly half-hourly, with 21:00 as the final departure; the 08:00 runs only at weekends and on holidays, and between 15:30 and 17:00 weekday and weekend times differ, so check your date. A 07:00 flight from ZAG is comfortable on the 04:00 or 05:00 run. For a night flight you’ll need a taxi or bus 290 instead.

Pleso sells e-tickets online and e-mails a PDF with a QR code straight away, and that’s the route it promotes. Its online terms refund a cancelled ticket minus 20% if you cancel at least 24 hours ahead, and it isn’t obliged to refund you if you miss the bus because your flight was delayed. Keep that in mind before you pre-buy the arrival leg. Pleso’s pages don’t say whether the driver sells tickets, so have the e-ticket on your phone before you reach the stop: the shop sells the airport route for the same day as well.

Bus 290: cheaper, but not at €0.93

ZET line 290 runs from Kvaternik Square (Kvaternikov trg) to Velika Gorica and calls at the airport in both directions. On ZET’s current timetable (its open timetable data of 21 October 2026), buses toward Kvaternik Square leave the airport stop from about 04:47 (about 05:52 on Sundays and holidays), then roughly every 35 minutes, with the last at about 00:32 every day. The printed extract linked from the airport’s page still carries a 2017 date, so confirm the times in the Moj ZET app or on zet.hr before you count on a late bus.

The fare is where guides go wrong. ZET’s everyday tickets (€0.53 for 30 minutes, €0.93 for 60) cover travel within one zone. ZET’s zone map puts the zone I boundary on line 290 at Petruševec, before the airport, and its fares page puts Velika Gorica, the airport’s address, in zone II, so the ride into town crosses two zones. For that, ZET lists a single valid for 180 minutes at €2.65. That ticket sits among ZET’s pre-purchase fares, sold at ZET’s own sales points and at Tisak and iNovine kiosks; the tickets the driver sells (€0.80, €1.33 and a €1.99 one for 90 minutes) each cover a single zone. The newsagent on the airport’s shop list is Relay, not one of the two chains ZET names. The Moj ZET app sells single tickets on board, when you scan the QR sticker in the bus, but ZET’s pages don’t say whether the two-zone ticket is on its menu, so open the app’s ticket list before you fly. If you’ll ride 290 back to the airport, buy that two-zone ticket at a kiosk in town.

Against the shuttle, you save €6.35 a head, the ride is no longer (ZET’s timetable gives about 28 minutes from the airport stop to Kvaternik Square, against 35-40 for the shuttle), and you land at Kvaternik Square rather than the bus station, so you change to a tram either way. That suits a solo traveller with a backpack staying east of the old centre. With two suitcases and a tired child it’s a hard sell.

Taxi: the price list the airport publishes

The taxi pick-up area is next to the Arrivals Meet & Greet area on the ground floor of the terminal, and the contract provider is the Velika Gorica taxi association, Taxi Gorica. Cash works, and so do most cards and phone wallets; not every vehicle takes Diners or American Express, so ask before you get in.

The airport’s list (prices valid on 10 September 2026) sets maximum car rates of €2.95 to start and €1.95 per km. A van (more than four passengers, or luggage that won’t fit the car) goes at €3.30 and €2.60. For set routes there are maximums: €35 to the centre (16 km by the airport’s own measure), €30 to the Main Bus Station, €35 to the Main Railway Station and to Hotel Esplanade, €36 to the Westin and €34 to Hotel International. The sum 2.95 + 16 × 1.95 comes to €34.15, so the cap is essentially the meter rate over the published distance, rounded up. If a driver quotes a car fare above the list, you have good grounds to walk away. The airport takes complaints at feedback@zag.aero and asks for the receipt.

Do the sum for your party. On the shuttle, two people pay €18, three pay €27 and four pay €36, and everyone then needs a tram ticket from the bus station. A car holds four passengers under the airport’s rule (if the bags fit), so for four going to the centre the €35 car cap beats the shuttle’s €36 before anyone buys a tram ticket, and at three the taxi costs about €5-6 more once you add the trams. Five or more go in a van at the van rate above. Children under 7 ride the shuttle free, though, so two adults with two small children pay €18 and the shuttle wins again. For one or two travellers with light luggage, the shuttle still wins on price by a wide margin.

Uber and Bolt

Both apps work in Zagreb, and our Uber and Bolt in Croatia guide explains where they operate, how airport pickup works and the overcharging scams. Uber’s own page for ZAG suggests reserving a pickup to skip the taxi line, and says flight tracking tells your driver about delays. App prices are dynamic and you won’t see one until you request a ride, so hold the figure up against the €35 cap before you confirm. Both apps need mobile data the moment you reach arrivals, which is why sorting an eSIM before you fly (our Croatia eSIM guide compares the options) is the sensible order of things.

Pre-booked transfer

A booked car copes with a delayed flight better than a pre-bought shuttle seat. Pleso isn’t obliged to refund a ticket you miss because your flight was delayed, while Kiwitaxi’s airport pickups include 90 minutes of waiting after the scheduled landing, with 30 more if the flight is delayed. Its Zagreb route page lists private transfers from the airport to Zagreb from $50 (about €42) for the whole car on 24 October 2026; cancellation is free up to 24 hours before pickup, and it asks for bookings at least 16 hours ahead. That’s about €7 above the taxi cap, and the extra buys a driver who is already waiting at arrivals with your name on a sign. The airport also lists GoOpti, which runs shared or private door-to-door shuttles.

Late landings and Advent weekends

Put your landing time against the timetables above. Between 22:30 and 01:00 on Croatia Airlines, the shuttle is timed to you. On any other carrier, or later than 01:00, the rank, an app or a booked driver is the plan. Bus 290 is the cheap fallback until about half past midnight: on ZET’s current timetable the last bus toward Kvaternik Square calls at the airport stop at about 00:32, every day of the week. London to Zagreb flights shows which Ryanair and Croatia Airlines landings fall into the late window.

Flying in for Advent? If you land on a Friday-to-Sunday evening, check the tram change after the shuttle: our Advent guide covers the evening tram diversions between Ban Jelačić Square and the Main Station, which matter if your hotel sits south of the centre and you plan to ride home after the stalls close. A taxi straight from the airport rank skips the tram, but under the 2025/26 Advent traffic order taxis couldn’t enter the closed streets around Zrinjevac during the evening closures, so if your hotel is inside that block, check the 2026/27 traffic page on adventzagreb.hr.

Driving instead

A rental car makes sense only if Zagreb is the start of a longer loop, to Plitvice or down to the coast. Our guide to car rental at Zagreb Airport covers desks, deposits and what to compare, so this page doesn’t repeat it. If you’re staying in the city, skip the car: you’d pay for parking and use it on one afternoon.

Onward from the bus station

The shuttle drops you where the long-distance coaches start, which bus 290 doesn’t. If Plitvice is next, the buses to the park leave from the same Autobusni kolodvor, and how to get from Zagreb to Plitvice has the departures and fares. If you land late and leave early, the streets around the station are the practical place to sleep, and where to stay in Zagreb weighs that against Donji Grad. For the city itself, start with the Zagreb travel guide.