Zadar
A city that turned the waves into an instrument and the sunset into an event
- When to go
- September 21° · 8 rainy days
- Per day
- €€€price 3 of 5
- How many days
- 1–2days
- For you
- 6 questions →
- Nearest airport
- 10 km Zadar
- Right now
Zadar has two things no other Adriatic city has: an organ played by the sea through pipes built into the quay, and a circle of solar panels that gives back at night what it collected by day. Both are by the architect Nikola Bašić and both are free, which is unusual for a city's main attraction.
The old town sits on a flat peninsula, which after Dubrovnik and Šibenik feels like a rest. In the middle is the Roman forum and, on it, the ninth-century church of St Donatus — round, bare inside, with acoustics good enough that concerts are still recorded in it. All of that is half a day.
What keeps you a second day is what surrounds it: Kornati is a national park of more than eighty uninhabited islands, and Paklenica is a Velebit canyon an hour away. Zadar is more often a base than a destination — which is why you look for a room off the peninsula, where parking exists.
Guides for Zadar
Shorter, practical pages for one concrete question each — how many days, how much money, where to sleep, where to escape the city.
Zadar in 2 days
→Day one covers half the town on foot; day two goes out to sea, to a park reachable no other way.
Day trips from Zadar
→The Kornati by boat, Paklenica on foot, Nin in twenty minutes — Zadar is a base more often than a destination.
Where to stay in Zadar
→In Zadar you choose between an evening on the peninsula and parking off it — and that is the whole decision.
What Zadar costs
→Croatia is in the eurozone — the single biggest line item in Zadar isn't the bed or the meal, it's the Kornati trip.
Zadar beyond the organ and the forum
→A UNESCO-listed gate, a museum of Roman glass, and two spots every walk through the old town already passes, just…
What to eat in Zadar
→Zadar-style scampi is the local twist on a Dalmatian scampi sauce, served with polenta instead of pasta — and the…
The best time to visit Zadar
→Zadar month by month in figures — temperature, sun, rain and hot days — and only then which month for what.
Getting around Zadar
→Zadar splits into two zones of movement: the old town, entirely on foot, and everything else, where a car or an…
Mistakes everyone makes in Zadar
→Almost every mistake in Zadar comes from assuming something runs when it actually doesn't — a boat, a parking space or…
What to see in Zadar
The sea organ
Steps on the quay through which waves push air into pipes. The sound depends on the sea, so it is never the same — and it is best when the water is a little rough.
free
The Greeting to the Sun
A circle of solar panels beside the organ that lights up after dark. Children use it as a dance floor, which is part of the point.
free
The church of St Donatus
A round ninth-century church on the Roman forum, empty inside. The acoustics are why music is still recorded in it.
€5 (combined with the Archaeological Museum €10) · closed November–March
The Roman forum
First-century remains, including the pillar of shame used for exactly that for centuries. All outdoors, no ticket.
free
Kornati
More than eighty uninhabited islands, a park reachable only by boat. Day trips leave from Zadar and Murter.
€7/day (park entrance) · a full day · booking: organised tour (no scheduled boat)
Paklenica
A Velebit canyon an hour away, with walking paths and climbing walls. Velika and Mala Paklenica are two different days.
€9.50 (summer May–Sep), €7.60 (spring/autumn), €4.75 (winter) · a full day (Velika Paklenica)
Two things you probably did not know
The Sea Organ is a set of steps with thirty-five pipes of different lengths under the stone. Waves push air through them and they play; the sea and the wind write the music. It never repeats.
Zadar is the only Croatian city bombed by both the Allies and the Axis in the Second World War. Around eighty per cent of it was destroyed, so much of the old core was rebuilt after the war.
Ready for Zadar?
Within reach from here
Places sorted by straight-line distance from Zadar — day trips or weekends.
Croatia
→A thousand islands and one road that looks down on all of them
Montenegro
→The Bay, the riviera or Ulcinj for the sea, Durmitor for July — choose the coast by its beaches and the north by the month
Italy
→The cities on the high-speed line are an hour or two apart; the coast, Matera and the Tuscan hills lie off it
All 277 places we write about sit on one page — narrow them down by continent, country, price or what you are travelling for.
Within reach from here: Šibenik, Plitvice Lakes and Split
See how much of that actually suits you — or pin Zadar if you have been.
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