17 Best Sights in Zadar, Northern Dalmatia

Founded in 1832, Zadar's Archaeological Museum is one of the oldest museums in this part of Europe. It occupies a plain but pleasant modern building beside the convent complex of Crkva svete Marije (St. Mary's Church). It is home to numerous artifacts from Zadar's past, from prehistoric times to the first Croatian settlements. The third floor focuses on ceramics, weaponry, and other items the seafaring Liburnians brought home from Greece and Italy, whereas the second floor covers the classical period, including a model of the Forum square as it would have looked back then. A smaller exhibit addresses the development of Christianity in Northern Dalmatia and contains rare artifacts from the invasion of the Goths. On the first floor, you'll find an exhibit focused on the early Middle Ages, taking you to the 12th century.

Zadar's star attraction, this massive cylindrical structure is the most monumental early Byzantine church in Croatia. Initially called the Church of the Holy Trinity, it was probably inspired by plans outlined in a book by the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, De Administrando Imperio (On Ruling the Empire). Centuries later, it was rededicated to St. Donatus, the bishop here from 801 to 814. Legend has it that Donatus, an Irishman, was the one who had it built using stone from the adjacent Forum. The stark round interior features a circular center surrounded by an annular passageway; a sanctuary consisting of three apses attached to the lofty mantle of the church walls, set off from the center by two columns; and a gallery reached by a circular stairway. During the off-season (November to March), when the church is closed, someone at the Archaeological Museum next door may have a key to let you in.

The whimsically named The Greeting to the Sun is a 22-meter circle of multilayered glass plates set into the stone-paved waterfront. Under the glass, light-sensitive solar modules soak up the sun's energy during daylight hours, turning it into electrical energy. Just after sunset, it puts on an impressive light show, illuminating the waterfront in shades of blue, green, red, and yellow. It was installed in 2008 and was created by local architect Nikola Bašić, who also made the nearby sound art project, the Sea Organ.

A series of seven waterfalls are the main attraction here, the most spectacular being Skradinski buk, where 17 cascades of water fall 40 meters (131 feet) into an emerald-green pool. Moving upriver, a trail of wooden walkways and bridges crisscrosses its way through the woods and along the river to the Roški slap (waterfall), passing by the tiny island of Visovac, home to a Franciscan monastery that can be visited by boat. On the islet, there is also an old mill with a museum that demonstrates the different ways the mill was used centuries ago. From here, it's easier to understand how the power of these waters inspired Nikola Tesla, whose boyhood home is not far from the national park. In 1895 the first hydroelectric plant became operational here, only two days after Tesla’s hydroelectric plant on Niagara Falls. This made the residents of Skradin the first Eastern European citizens to have electricity.

More than 860 species of plant life have been identified throughout the park, and more than 200 bird species live there, making it one of Europe's most valuable ornithological areas. Something many visitors miss is a hawk training center, where you can observe birds of prey being trained by ornithological experts. For bird enthusiasts there is also the Guduća Nature Reserve, where various species are closely studied and can be observed from boats. The Krka National Park office is located in Šibenik. For more active travelers, there is a 8½-km (5-mile) hiking trail, going Sitnice–Roški slap–Oziđana Cave, that takes about 2½ hours and has educational panels along the way explaining plant and animal life, geological phenomena, and historic sites.

Of the five entrances into the park, the easiest and most impressive route of arrival is to drive from Šibenik to the town of Skradin, then take a 25-minute boat ride up the Krka River on a national park ferry (included in the price of entry). The ferry will bring you to the park entrance close to the Skradinski buk waterfall, and from there you can get off and take a walk along the wooden bridges and explore the park further. Note that swimming is not allowed in the park. There are several restaurants and snack bars, plus wooden tables and benches for picnics. For a full meal, your best bet is to return to Skradin, a town that dates back to Roman times and is well worth a look.

This 8,000-acre park is home to 16 beautiful emerald lakes connected by a series of cascading waterfalls, stretching 8 km (5 miles) through a valley flanked by high forested hills that are home to deer, bears, wolves, wild boar, and the Eurasian lynx. Thousands of years of sedimentation of calcium, magnesium carbonate, algae, and moss have yielded the natural barriers between the lakes. Since the process is ongoing, new barriers, curtains, stalactites, channels, and cascades are constantly forming and the existing ones are always changing. The deposited sedimentation, or tufa, also coats the beds and edges of the lakes, giving them their sparkling azure look.

Today a series of wooden bridges and waterside paths lead through the park. The only downside: because it's so lovely, the trails can get crowded from June through September. That said, there's no litter along the way—a testament to both respectful visitors and a conscientious park staff. There's also no camping, no bushwhacking, no picking plants, and absolutely no swimming. This is a place to look, to spend a day or two, but not to touch. It is, however, well worth the higher summer entrance fee and the lowered fees during the rest of the year. Plitvice Lakes is not just a summer but a year-round spectacle, with blooming flowers in the spring, sunset-color foliage in the fall, and magical-looking frozen waterfalls in the winter.

The park is right on the main highway (E71) from Zagreb to Split, and it's certainly worth the three-hour trip from the capital. There are three entrances just off the main road, about an hour's walk apart, creatively named Entrance 1, Entrance 2, and Auxiliary Entrance Flora. The park's pricey hotels are near Entrance 2, the first entrance you'll encounter if arriving by bus from the coast. However, Entrance 1—the first entrance if you arrive from Zagreb—is typically the start of most one-day excursions, if only because it's within a 20-minute walk of Veliki Slap, the 256-foot-high waterfall. Hiking the entire loop that winds its way around the lakes takes six to eight hours, but other hikes range from two to four hours. All involve a combination of hiking and being ferried across the larger of the park's lakes by national park service boats.

There are cafés near both entrances, but avoid them for anything but coffee, as the sandwiches and strudels don't offer the best value for your money. Instead, buy some of the huge heavenly strudels sold by locals at nearby stands, where great big blocks of homemade cheese, honey, and olive oil are also for sale. Within the lake grounds, there are more than 10 restaurants and bistros offering a mix of local and international cuisine.  At the boat landing near Entrance 2, you can rent gorgeous wooden rowboats for €13 per hour (capacity is four people) during the warm season.

Comprising 35 pipes under the quay stretching along a 230-foot stretch of Zadar's atmospheric Riva promenade, the Sea Organ yields a never-ending concert that delights one and all. Designed by architect Nikola Bašić with the help of other experts, the organ's sound resembles a whale song, but it is, in fact, the sea itself. It's hard not to be in awe as the sound of the sea undulates in rhythm and volume with the waves.

This winery, which operates a wine boutique in Zadar, produces wine both from native Dalmatian varieties, including Babić, Plavina, Lašina, and Debit, and nonnative grapes, including Grenache and Shiraz. The winery itself is located just outside of Skradin.

Legend has it that a local noblewoman founded a Benedictine convent on this site in 1066 and the adjoining St. Mary's Church in 1091. Rebuilt in the 16th century, the church was supposed to incorporate a new Renaissance look into the remnants of its earlier style: its rounded gables remained, continuing to express a particular Dalmatian touch. Early Romanesque frescoes are still evident amid the predominantly Baroque interior, and your eyes will discover 18th-century rococo above the original columns. Most noteworthy for modern-day visitors, however, is the adjoining convent complex, two wings of which house one of Zadar's most treasured museums. The Permanent Exhibition of Religious Art, whose highlight is commonly called "The Gold and Silver of Zadar," is a remarkable collection of work from centuries past by local gold- and silversmiths (including Italians and Venetians who lived here), from reliquaries for saints and crucifixes to vestments interwoven with gold and silver thread.

Built in the 5th century as a three-nave basilica, St Simeon's Church was later reconstructed in Gothic style and again in Baroque style—however, the terra-cotta and white exterior pales when compared to some of the city's other churches. St. Simeon's Church is best known for housing the gilded silver sarcophagus of Zadar's most famous patron saint. The chest, which depicts intricately detailed scenes from St. Simeon's life and the city's history, was commissioned in 1381 by Elizabeth, wife of Croat-Hungarian King Ludwig I, and made by Francesco di Antonio da Sesto of Milan, one of Zadar's best silversmiths. As for St. Simeon, legend has it that his body wound up here while being transported from the Holy Land to Venice by a merchant who got caught in a storm, took refuge here, fell ill, and died—but not before drawing attention to the saintliness of the body he'd brought with him. Palm trees outside the church lend the site a pleasant Mediterranean touch.

Established in the 1st century BC by the first emperor Augustus, the Roman Forum is, more than 2,000 years later, a vast empty space with some scattered ruins. However, since it was rediscovered in the 1930s and restored to its present condition in the 1960s, the Forum has been one of Zadar's most important public spaces. A raised area on the western flank indicates the site of a one-time temple dedicated to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. If you look closely, you will notice what remains of its altars that served as venues for blood sacrifices. The only surviving column was used in the Middle Ages as a "Pillar of Shame," to which wayward individuals were chained. Fragments of a second column were removed from the Forum in 1729 and put back together again near the Square of Five Wells, where the column still stands today.

Dalmatia's oldest Gothic church, consecrated in 1280, is a stellar example of a so-called Gothic monastic church, characterized by a single nave with a raised shrine. Although the church underwent extensive reconstruction in the 18th century, behind the main altar is a shrine dating to 1672; inside the shrine, you can see choir stalls in the floral Gothic style that date to 1394. In 1358 a peace treaty was signed in this very sacristy under which the Venetian Republic ended centuries of attack and handed Zadar over to the protection of the Croat-Hungarian kingdom. From mid-October through March or April, the church may keep irregular hours.

From an earlier church, Dalmatia's largest basilica was shaped into its magnificent Romanesque form in the 12th and 13th centuries. However, it was damaged severely during World War II and later reconstructed. The front portal is adorned with striking Gothic reliefs and a dedication to Archbishop Ivan from 1324. The interior includes not only a high spacious nave but also a Gothic stone ciborium from 1332 covering the 9th-century altar; intricately carved 15th-century choir stalls by the Venetian artist Matej Morozon; and, in the sacristy, an early Christian mosaic. St. Anastasia is buried in the altar's left apse; according to legend, she was the wife of a patrician in Rome but was eventually burned at the stake. Bishop Donatus of Zadar obtained the remains in 804 from Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros I. The late-19th-century belfry, separate from the main church building, offers a sweeping view to those who climb to the top for a fee, but even the 20 steps up to the ticket desk rewards you with a decent view of the square below.

A walk around the walls of Zadar's Old Town is a walk around what was once the largest city-fortress in the Venetian Republic. One of the finest Venetian-era monuments in Dalmatia, the Land Gate was built in 1543 by the small Foša harbor as the main entrance to the city. It takes the form of a triumphal arch, with a large central passage for vehicles and two side entrances for pedestrians. It is decorated with reliefs of St. Chrysogonus (Zadar's foremost patron saint) on his horse and a winged lion (the symbol of the Venetian Republic).

Many of Croatia's islands like to emphasize their serenity, but only one island gets the status of a true hermit heaven. Fewer than 200 people live on magnificent Molat, a verdant island covered in maquis and pine and a tranquil place that has fought for its survival over the centuries and lived to tell the tale. There isn't much to do on the island itself, but that is the point; this is an island for those searching for space and peace. One ferry heads this way daily from Zadar (sometimes two in summer, but there is no concrete schedule), with the journey taking an hour or so. Tickets are €3.50 in high season for foot passengers.

Occupying the 19th-century Cosmacendi Palace on the edge of the Old Town, this museum displays one of the world's finest collections of Roman glassware outside Italy, with a vast array of ancient pieces unearthed from archaeological sites across Dalmatia. Highlights include the delicate vessels used by Roman ladies to store their perfumes, skin creams, essential oils, and sacred goblets used to celebrate Mass.

One of the Old Town's two main public spaces, the ever-bustling Narodni trg is home to the Gradska straža (City Sentinel), which was designed by a Venetian architect in late-Renaissance style with a large central clock tower. The sentinel's stone barrier and railing, complete with holes for cannons, were added later. This impressive tower once housed the ethnographic section of the National Museum and is today a venue for various regular cultural exhibits.

The square is the site of a large cistern built by the Venetians in the 1570s to help Zadar endure sieges by the Turks. The cistern has five wells that still look serviceable, even though they have long been sealed shut. Much later, in 1829, Baron Franz Ludwig von Welden, a passionate botanist, established a park above an adjacent pentagonal bastion built to keep the Turks at bay.