about us
Over the years The Swanky Mint Hostel has become the most awarded hostel in Croatia. Located in the capital of the country - Zagreb, this renovated dry cleaning and textile-dye factory from 19th century combines industrial machinery from that time with innovative technology.
We believe that Swanky Mint's unique design and our experienced and helpful staff have created a comfortable eco-friendly atmosphere that makes it a very special place to visit. Our hostel features a variety of accommodation types - 10 private rooms, 2 studio apartments and 8 funky dorm rooms. All the usuals for a comfortable stay are included - WiFi, linens, towels, lockers…
In the mornings you can get your breakfast at our restaurant that will fuel you up for the day, the warmth of our kitchen & common room will make you feel at home and just sitting by our swimming pool located on the terrace during the summer will make you feel like you own the place.
Our bar is very popular among locals, tourists and expats in Zagreb which makes it a very cool place to hang out. Swanky Monkey Garden features an industrial cocktail bar and multiple terraces overlooking the beautiful forrest and is packed with live music events during the year. And when you get hungry, hop down to the Soi Fusion restaurant and try some of the most amazing asian fusion dishes in Zagreb. With everything you need in one place, you barely need to leave Swanky.
To make our guests stay full of excitement and new experiences, Swanky Travel agency offers walking tours across the city, museums, excursions to Plitvice Lakes National Park as well as to off road and abandoned sites.
For the active ones, we have rent-a-bike station with bikes and e-bikes and for a group of leisure-oriented ones, we can organise a short cocktail workshop in collaboration with our partners Art of Bar.
Sustainability
At the Swanky Mint we want our staff to develop responsibility towards nature. With global warming statistics becoming more alarming every year, fostering environmental awareness has now become more important than ever before!
This is where we are at the moment
- We save paper wherever we can by providing online check-in form or sending an invoice via e-mail instead of printing. Of course, there is always paper waste, but we try to reuse and recycle as much as we can.
- We save energy by using solar panels for heating water and by having eco-friendly heating boilers.
- We are saving energy and water by encouraging our guests to only swap towels and bed sheets when needed, as well asto take shorter showers.
- We try to sort properly all of the rubbish in our bars and common areas. This requires our guests cooperation. Using the correct bin is already helping!
- All of our straws are biodegradable, but we still aim to reduce our straw consumption considerably. Our bartenders try to have as much strawless drinks, but that also depends on our guests. So, next time we ask for a straw, we should ask do we really need it.
- We aim to either donate or recycle all of the textile and other things we don’t need in our hostel.
This is where we aim to be soon
- We will raise awareness regarding energy consumption and recycling amongst the Swanky staff.
- We will be replacing most light bulbs with LED's to reduce our energy consumption.
- We will rethink our practices and modernize our systems so that we can reduce our energy, gas and water consumption to a minimum.
- We aim at setting a sustainability standard that will motivate not only the whole hospitality industry but other businesses as well as our guests.
history
In the second half of the 19th century the three Ondrušek brothers left their hometown of Veliki Luk nearby Olomouc in the east of today's Czech Republic.
They were like many skilled craftsmen of the time, moving for work and adventure bringing with them their expertise and newly emerging technologies.
All three brothers embarked for Croatia - Robert settled in an agricultural region called Jazvenik near Sisak, Albert in Osijek and Vilim in Zagreb.
Vilim Ondrušek (1854-1913) opened a dry cleaners in Zagreb where he put to use his experience in chemistry. At the time, Ana Brejch had also opened a dry cleaners in Zagreb. The couple later married and in 1885, purchased a house and land at Ilica 50, now the home of the wonderful hostel Swanky Mint.
In 1887 their dry cleaners opened for business expanding into steam operated dying of clothes and textiles.
Due to unfortunate political situation and World War II emerging, the business closed. After the war the building was nationalised by the Republic of Yugoslavia.
The building was later on returned to Ondrušek family but never regained it’s previous purpose and after a while the property deteriorated.
However, the opening of The Swanky Mint hostel which embraced the history and current state of the site and added an innovative and friendly vibe helped revitalise this part of Zagreb and the property itself.
instructions
arrive by bus
Take tram number 6 from outside the station towards Črnomerec, our tram stop is Frankopanska and it is one stop after the main square. The tram stops right outside our courtyard door at number 50 Ilica.
arrive by train
Take tram number 6 from outside the station towards Črnomerec, our tram stop is Frankopanska and it is one stop after the main square. The tram stops right outside our courtyard door at number 50 Ilica.
arrive by plane
Airport shuttle buses run regularly to the main bus station (30 min journey costing roughly 5 euro). From there follow the directions from the bus station. An alternative option is always the taxi.
