Zadar Travel Guide

Zadar — Where Roman History Meets the Adriatic Avant-Garde

Zadar was the capital of Dalmatia for centuries — from the Roman period through Venetian rule and into the 20th century. The old city sits on a narrow limestone peninsula jutting into the sea channel, connected to the mainland by a single land access point. Inside, the street grid largely follows the original Roman orthogonal plan — the Forum (the largest in Croatia outside Split) is still visible at ground level, with Roman columns still standing among outdoor café tables.

What distinguishes Zadar from every other city on the Adriatic coast are two installations along the sea promenade. The Sea Organ (Morske Orgulje), designed by architect Nikola Bašić and completed in 2005, is a series of tubes built into the stone steps descending to the sea — the movement of waves through the tubes creates haunting, unpredictable musical tones that vary with wave height and sea conditions. Sit on the steps and listen for 20 minutes: no two sessions are identical. The Greeting to the Sun (Pozdrav Suncu), immediately adjacent, is a 22-metre glass circle embedded in the promenade that collects solar energy during the day and releases it as a coloured light pattern at night, triggered by the sunset. Alfred Hitchcock visited Zadar in 1964 and called its sunsets — the sun setting over the sea channel while light plays on the Roman old city — "the most beautiful in the world".

Zadar is also the best base for Kornati National Park — an archipelago of 89 bare limestone islands that George Bernard Shaw described as "the most beautiful archipelago on earth". Day trips from Zadar to Kornati by speedboat take about 45 minutes to reach the outermost islands.