Zadar

A base, not just a stop

Zadar is often treated as somewhere you pass through between Split and Istria. It is a better base than that: cheaper than Split, with a genuine old town and more within an hour's drive than anywhere else on the coast.

Plitvice and Krka

Both waterfall parks are close. Krka is nearer and you can still swim at some points; Plitvice is larger, more famous and needs a timed ticket booked ahead in summer.

What to see

• The Sea Organ

  Marble steps into the water with pipes beneath them, so waves push air through and the harbour plays itself. It sounds like a gimmick and is genuinely one of the better public artworks anywhere.

• The Roman forum

  The largest on the eastern Adriatic, with the round 9th-century church of St Donatus built directly on top of it using the Roman stone.

• Kornati and Paklenica

  Zadar sits between two very different national parks: the Kornati archipelago — a hundred-odd bare islands, reachable only by boat — and Paklenica, a pair of limestone gorges cut into the Velebit mountains.

Getting around

The old town is a small peninsula and walkable end to end. Everything else here needs transport, and which kind depends entirely on where you go: the Kornati are boat-only, while Paklenica, Plitvice and Krka are all drives. Zadar is the clearest case in Croatia for wanting a stay, a boat day and a car in the same week.