Zadar

Zadar is a Dalmatian city of Roman streets and Venetian walls, and its cruise traffic has grown fast.

MedCruise counts about 220 calls and roughly 248,000 passengers in 2024, up from about 131 calls in 2019.

Zadar built a purpose-made port for it — well outside the center, not in the old harbor.

The pier: Gaženica, south of town.

Most cruise ships tie up at Gaženica, on a main pier of about 1,170 meters (3,840 ft). A two-story passenger terminal opened there in April 2019, and Global Ports Holding runs it under a concession that lasts to 2038.

MedCruise puts the old city port about 3 km from Gaženica; a local transfer company says about 4 km. Either way, it’s a ride, not a stroll — the transfer company calls it too far to walk pleasantly.

The old town is compact once you’re there.

The peninsula holds the Roman Forum, the round 9th-century Church of St. Donatus, the Land Gate of 1543 and the Five Wells Square.

Its Venetian walls joined UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2017 — a listing for the fortifications, not the whole town.

At the western tip, the Sea Organ plays on wave power through steps cut into the promenade. Its neighbor, the Greeting to the Sun, is a disc of 300 glass plates that lights up after sunset.

Both are by the architect Nikola Bašić. The Sea Organ is free at any hour.

The famous day trips are far.

Krka National Park takes about an hour to 75 minutes each way by coach, per Shore Excursions Group and Holland America. Plitvice Lakes is about 134 km off, roughly two hours and ten minutes each way by a transfer company’s count.

Those are the days where a tour earns its place — the drive, not the sights, is what you’re paying to have handled.

Which of them suits your call is the job of our Zadar shore excursion guide. Read it before you book anything on board.

Everything on that list up to the rowers is inside the old town, a short walk apart.

Nin turns up on local tours that pair it with a Zadar city walk in about four and a half hours. Krka and Plitvice are national parks inland — full days, not add-ons.

We couldn’t confirm current opening hours or ticket prices for St. Donatus or the Gold and Silver exhibition from their own sites — so ask at the tourist office before you plan around them.

This page covers the pier, the ride in and the old town. Tours, and which ones to skip, sit in their own guide.

If you’re booking a tour yourself, our Shore Excursions Group vs. Viator comparison covers which suits which kind of port day — and when the ship’s own coach is the safer bet for a long drive inland.