SesveteFrom Sesvetski Kraljevec and Jelkovec to Kašina, Moravče and the Medvednica slopes

Sesvete at a glance

• Residents (2021 Census)³⁹70,800
• Households renting⁴⁰7.5%
• Area⁴³165.2 km²
• Neighbourhoods in our guide2
• Local committees⁴⁴46

Rents are asking prices from active listings on NajamStanova; residents and renting come from the 2021 Census. Households renting are those paying a market rent.

Where Sesvete is

Sesvete district covers the north-east of the City of Zagreb and lies entirely outside the settlement of Zagreb.³ It borders Gornja and Donja Dubrava to the west, Peščenica – Žitnjak to the south, Zagreb County to the east and Krapina-Zagorje County to the north. The City calls it its easternmost district.^3,4,5 Its neighbours include the municipality of Marija Bistrica to the north, the town of Sveti Ivan Zelina to the north-east and the town of Dugo Selo, whose settlement of Dugo Selo borders the settlements of Sesvete, Cerje and Drenčec.^6,8,9,7

The southern boundary runs along the north side of Slavonska avenija from Ulica Ljudevita Posavskog eastwards, then along the north side of the Zagreb–Lipovac motorway, which is also the City boundary. In the east it crosses the Črnec channel, the Zagreb–Dugo Selo railway, the Kopčevac channel and the Zagreb–Dugo Selo road, then follows the Kašina, Moravče and Nespeš streams. The district boundary also passes through the northernmost point of the City of Zagreb.^1,2 Towards Dubrava the line follows cadastral boundaries, the Novoselec, Rijeka, Sopnica and Trnava streams, Dubečka ulica, Ulica Dubrava and Ulica Ljudevita Posavskog. The district takes in 35 whole settlements, from Adamovec, Belovar and Blaguša to Vugrovec, Vurnovec and Žerjavinec, most of the settlements of Sesvete and Goranec, and a small part of the settlement of Zagreb.^1,2

Neighbourhoods in Sesvete

• SesveteOld centre round Trg Dragutina Domjanića, with the All Saints church, the 1784 chapter manor (Prigorje Museum) and a station on the 1870 railway.Sesvete neighbourhood guide
• JelkovecOld village by the Roman road and Novi Jelkovec, built 2006–2009 on the former Sljeme pig farm, with streets named after musicians.Jelkovec neighbourhood guide

District council and local committees

Sesvete is one of the 17 city districts set up by the City Statute of 14 December 1999.¹⁰ The City Assembly fixed the districts' boundaries and seats in a decision of 26 February 2009, amended in 2017 and 2020; the description of Sesvete stayed the same.^1,2 The local committees (mjesni odbori) were founded in February 2009, and Sesvete has more of them than any other district.^16,15 The district's seat is at Trg Dragutina Domjanića 4. Its council has 19 members and was constituted on 21 August 2025.^1,13,11,12

After the Second World War the area of today's district was split between the Zagreb and Sveti Ivan Zelina districts (kotari); the north-east, with Adamovec, Belovar, Glavnica, Jesenovec, Lužan and Moravče, belonged to Zelina. In 1952 most villages were grouped into the municipalities of Kašina, Sesvete and Šašinovec, and the Zelina villages into the municipality of Belovar – Moravče. The municipality of Sesvete, founded in 1955, covered the whole of today's district plus Dubec, which is now in Gornja Dubrava.¹⁶ The former municipality's boundaries still define the area of the 9th police station.⁹

46 local committees (mjesni odbori) in Sesvete: Adamovec, Belovar, Blaguša, Budenec, Centar, Cerje - Sesvete, Dobrodol, Drenčec, Dumovec, Đurđekovec, Gajec, Gajišće, Glavnica Donja, Glavnica Gornja, Glavničica, Goranec, Jelkovec, Jesenovec, Kašina, Kašinska Sopnica, Kobiljak, Kraljevečki Novaki, Kučilovina, Luka, Lužan, Moravče, Novi Jelkovec, Novo Brestje, Paruževina, Planina Donja, Planina Gornja, Popovec, Prekvršje, Prepuštovec, Sesvetska Sela, Sesvetska Selnica, Sesvetska Sopnica, Sesvetski Kraljevec, Soblinec, Staro Brestje, Šašinovec, Šimunčevec, Vugrovec, Vugrovec Gornji, Vurnovec, Žerjavinec.⁴⁴

People in Sesvete

At the 2021 Census, 70,800 people lived in Sesvete in 22,347 households. 1,675 households, or 7.5%, paid a market rent (Zagreb: 7.7%). The average household had 3.2 members.^39,40

The district covers 165.2 km², about 428 people per square kilometre (Zagreb average: 1,196).⁴³

Its parts: what is where in Sesvete

In the south of the district a fertile plain runs down towards the Sava, while the larger northern part lies on the gentle southern slopes of Medvednica, cut by the valleys of the Vuger, Kašina, Blaguša, Moravče, Črnec and other streams. According to the City, most of the area lived a rural life until a few decades ago, and traces of it are still visible in most villages.^3,4 Half of the land is still farmland or undeveloped, more than in any other district.^4,5

From the mid-1960s industry and migration quickly urbanised Sesvete and the villages along the road to Dugo Selo: Brestje, Sesvetska Sela, Kraljevečki Novaki, Kobiljak and Sesvetski Kraljevec. Ten previously separate settlements, Brestje, Jelkovec and Sesvetski Kraljevec among them, were joined to the settlement of Sesvete at the start of 1991, and three quarters of the district's residents now live in that urban settlement.^3,4,19 In the 1960s and 1970s came the business zones south of the railway, family-house estates such as Brestje and Inino naselje, and blocks of flats in Luka and Selčina. The railway and the main road still split Sesvete into a northern and a southern half.¹⁹

Outside the urban part density is much lower and family houses dominate.³ According to the City's 2019 analysis, over the previous fifteen years the same process had spread along the roads to Sveti Ivan Zelina and Kašina.^3,4 The City's spatial plan asks for the historic settings of Sesvete, Sesvetski Kraljevec, Kraljevečki Novaki and Brestje to be preserved. Low family housing is to stay the main type, with blocks of flats mostly in central Sesvete.¹⁸

The green areas include part of Medvednica Nature Park, the valleys of the Vuger, Glavničica and Blaguša, and the Gajišće – Selčina and Pod Magdalenom woods.³ Medvednica's forest stretches from Podsused to Kašina, and Kašina, Planina Donja and Planina Gornja lie in the park's access zone.²⁰ Between the villages the spatial plan sets out large zones of farmland and forest, a large zone for Markovo Polje cemetery and building land along the main roads.³

Sesvetski Kraljevec

Kraljevec appears in 15th- and 16th-century documents, and only gained the prefix Sesvetski in the late 19th century.¹⁶ In the 1960s and 1970s, while still a separate settlement, it and Sesvete had the largest population growth in Croatia; Inino naselje was built then, and the 2015 GUP also lists a newly planned estate at the site called Farma Sesvetski Kraljevec – Iver.^19,3 Its station is 15 km from Glavni kolodvor, and the surgeries are at Dugoselska 43 and Ulica Mladena Halape 2 in Iver.^23,28,29

Brestje

Staro and Novo Brestje were separate settlements until they were joined to Sesvete in 1991.¹⁹ The City counts Novo Brestje among the parts built to detailed urban plans, and the spatial plan asks for the historic setting of Brestje to be kept.^19,18 Bus 283 runs from Dubec through Brestje to Sesvete.^24,26

Kašina and Planina

Kašina is the oldest recorded settlement in the area, mentioned in 1217 in a charter of King Andrew.¹⁶ The old military road from Sesvete over Kašina to Laz, on the Zagorje side of Medvednica, was rebuilt in 1878/79 under ban Ivan Mažuranić.^16,19 Kašina, Planina Donja and Planina Gornja lie in the access zone of Medvednica Nature Park. The surgery is at Ulica Ivana Mažuranića 47, and bus 263 runs from Dubec through Sesvete and Kašina to Planina Gornja.^20,28,29,27

Vugrovec

The earliest known written record of a settlement in the Sesvetsko prigorje is King Emeric's charter of 1201, which names Vugrovec as an estate of the Bishop of Zagreb.¹⁶ A Roman statue of Icarus from the 2nd century was found at Vugrovec.⁹ The health centre runs its Vugrovec surgery at Ulica Augusta Šenoe 30.^28,29

Glavnica Donja and Kuzelin

Kuzelin, near Glavnica Donja, is a multi-layered archaeological site with prehistoric, Roman and Migration-period finds and the remains of a fort on a 511-metre hilltop.^16,9 After the war Glavnica belonged to the Zelina district.¹⁶ Bus 271 runs from Dubec through Sesvete to Glavnica Donja.²⁶

Moravče, Belovar and Adamovec

From the early Middle Ages the Sesvetsko prigorje probably belonged to the župa of Moravče, which became a county of its own in 1242.^16,9 Adamovec, Belovar and Moravče appear in 15th- and 16th-century documents; after the war they were in the Zelina district, and from 1952 in the municipality of Belovar – Moravče.¹⁶ There are surgeries at Ulica kneza Adama 7 in Adamovec and Varaždinska 47 in Belovar, and bus 272 runs from Dubec to Moravče.^28,29,26

Markovo Polje

The valley of Markovo polje, with the Markov potok stream, opens Sesvete towards the foot of Medvednica, and a green strip follows the Vuger valley from Markovo polje to central Sesvete.¹⁹ The spatial plan reserves a large zone here for Markovo Polje cemetery.³ Bus 267 runs from Dubec to Markovo Polje.²⁶

Dumovec

The City of Zagreb's animal shelter has worked in Dumovec, at Franjčevićeva 43, since 2001.^34,35 Bus 284 runs from the Sesvete terminal through Ivanja Reka to Dumovec.²⁴

Where the name Sesvete comes from

The district shares its name with the settlement of Sesvete, where its seat is, and the settlement is named after its church of All Saints (Svih svetih).^1,2,17 Geographically, the area it covers is called the Sesvetsko prigorje.^3,9

Roads, rail and lines in Sesvete

The main street line through Sesvete is Zagrebačka, Bjelovarska, Kobiljačka and Dugoselska ulica, the road to Dugo Selo. Ulica Ljudevita Posavskog, Bistrička and Varaždinska join it in the centre, and main roads also lead to Varaždin, Kašina and the business zone.¹⁹ The Zagreb–Dugo Selo road was surfaced in concrete just before the Second World War and the Sesvete – Sveti Ivan Zelina road in the early 1940s; later the Zagreb–Lipovac motorway and the Zagreb bypass were built across the area.¹⁶ The north side of the motorway is the district's southern boundary.^1,2

On line M102, Zagreb Glavni kolodvor – Dugo Selo, the district has three passenger stops: Sesvetska Sopnica, 9 km from Glavni kolodvor (the main station), Sesvete station at 11 km and Sesvetski Kraljevec at 15 km.^23,21 Line M401, Sesvete – Sava rasputnica, also branches off at Sesvete.²² Next to Sesvete station is ZET's bus terminal, served by 212 to Dubec, 225 to Kozari Bok, 275 to Sesvetska Sopnica, 277 to Sesvetska Selnica, 278 to Sesvetska Sela and Kraljevečki Novaki, 282 to Novi Jelkovec, 283 to Brestje and Dubec, and 284 to Ivanja Reka and Dumovec.^19,24

From the Novi Jelkovec terminal, 279 runs to Dubec, 281 to Glavni kolodvor and 282 to Sesvete.²⁵ The northern villages are served from the Dubec terminal in Gornja Dubrava by lines that run through Sesvete: 261 to Goranec, 262 to Planina Donja, 263 via Kašina to Planina Gornja, 264 to Jesenovec, 270 to Blaguša, 271 to Glavnica Donja, 272 to Moravče, 273 to Lužan and 280 to Šimunčevec. Line 267 runs from Dubec to Markovo Polje.^26,27

Office, health, police and libraries in Sesvete

Being built in Sesvete

• On 11 June 2026 the City began building the third section of the Branimirova extension, almost a kilometre from Ulica Ivana Ančića to Varaždinska cesta: a four-lane road with footpaths and cycle paths, drainage, water mains and lighting, with six months to build. The first section is finished, and the middle one, the hardest, is still to come. According to the announcement of June 2026, the whole 4 km bypass should be done within two years.^36,37
• In its 2026 network statement HŽ Infrastruktura lists the construction of a new halt, Sesvetska Sela, on line M102, with work from November 2024 and line closures planned until June 2026. HŽPP's timetable valid until 12 December 2026 does not yet list the halt.^21,23
• Changes to the Sesvete general urban plan (GUP), the first comprehensive ones in over ten years, went to a repeat public consultation from 29 June to 13 July 2026, with adoption expected in the autumn. The proposals include the Jelkovec underpass, new streets across the railway, a larger park along the Vuger and a strip of parkland from the centre through the former Sljeme site to Novi Jelkovec.³⁷
• On 21 May 2025 the City opened procurement for the design of the conversion of Kockica, a building in the former Sljeme complex, into a new home for the Zlatko Grgošević music school. According to that announcement, it will have about 5,000 m² of gross floor space and 65 classrooms for about 600 pupils who now study at four locations, at an estimated cost of about €18 million.³⁸

Did you know?

• 1Sesvete has more local committees than any other district of Zagreb.¹⁵
• 2The northernmost point of the City of Zagreb lies on the Sesvete boundary.^1,2

Renting in Sesvete

Nearby districts

• Donja DubravaDistrict guide
• Gornja DubravaDistrict guide
• Peščenica – ŽitnjakDistrict guide

• Compare districts: Sesvete and Donja Dubrava
• Compare districts: Sesvete and Gornja Dubrava
• Compare districts: Sesvete and Peščenica – Žitnjak
• All Zagreb neighbourhood guides

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