The Best Day Trips from Zadar: How to Choose

Why Zadar works so well as a day-trip base

Zadar sits at the middle of North Dalmatia, which is exactly what makes it useful for day trips rather than a place you only pass through. Two of Croatia’s best-known national parks, Plitvice Lakes and Krka National Park, are both within a few hours’ drive.

The boat-only wilderness of Kornati National Park departs from the city’s own harbour. The stone town of Šibenik and the small coastal town of Nin are both closer still. No other North Dalmatian base puts this much variety within single-day reach — which is also why choosing between them is the real question, not whether any one of them is worth doing.

This guide compares the five most common day trips from Zadar side by side: what each place actually offers, how far it sits from the city, what to know before you go, and — importantly — where swimming is banned, since two of the most popular options get this wrong in visitors’ expectations more than anything else.

The five day trips at a glance

Day trip	Distance from Zadar	Best for	Swimming
Plitvice Lakes	Roughly 120–130 km	Waterfalls, terraced lakes, walking trails	Not permitted, anywhere in the park
Krka National Park	Roughly 85–90 km	Skradinski buk waterfall, boat rides, Visovac monastery	Banned at Skradinski buk since 2021
Kornati National Park	Boat access only	Bare limestone islands, open sea, snorkelling stops	Allowed at sea, off the boat
Šibenik	Shorter drive south	Stone old town, cathedral, fortresses	Not applicable — a town day
Nin	About 15 km	Small church, salt pans, a beach	Allowed at the town beach

For exact travel times, park opening hours, or ticket windows, treat the figures above as orientation only and check the live listing for a specific tour or ticket before you commit a day to it — these details shift by season.

Plitvice Lakes National Park

Plitvice Lakes is the day trip most first-time visitors to Zadar ask about by name, and for good reason: 16 terraced lakes connected by waterfalls, walked on wooden boardwalks that thread directly along and above the water, inside a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. It sits roughly 120–130 km from Zadar, which in practice means most of a full day once you count the drive there, several hours inside the park, and the drive back.

The one rule every visitor needs to know before arriving: swimming has never been allowed anywhere in Plitvice Lakes National Park. The water looks inviting in photographs precisely because no one is allowed to disturb it — this is a working part of how the park protects its travertine formations, not an oversight. Bring hiking shoes and a camera, not swimwear.

Because Plitvice draws heavy crowds in summer, tickets are timed and often need booking in advance, especially for July and August visits. The park has two main entrances, and which one you start from affects your route. A guided option removes the guesswork around timing, entrance choice and pacing — see the guided walk through Plitvice’s lakes and waterfalls for a structured day that handles the logistics. If you’d rather combine Plitvice with the nearby watermill village, read the dedicated guide on Plitvice Lakes and Rastoke before deciding.

For a broader comparison of the trip logistics — driving yourself versus joining a tour, and how much of the day it actually takes — the Plitvice day trip from Zadar guide goes deeper than this overview can.

Krka National Park

Krka National Park sits closer to Zadar than Plitvice, at roughly 85–90 km, which is one reason it appeals to travelers with a tighter schedule. Its centrepiece is the Skradinski buk waterfall, usually reached by boat from the small town of Skradin, with Roški slap and the island monastery of Visovac as further stops for those with more time.

The detail that trips up more visitors here than almost anywhere else in this guide: Krka banned swimming at Skradinski buk from 2021 onward, and that ban still stands. Older photos and older articles showing people swimming at the waterfall predate the change — treat any source that shows otherwise as out of date. If swimming in a river is the goal, that’s a coastal or Zrmanja-canyon plan, not a Krka one.

Krka rewards a full-day approach if you also want to reach Šibenik, since the two sit close together — the full-day national park excursion from Zadar is built around exactly that kind of combined day. For a head-to-head on which of the two parks suits your trip better, the Krka versus Plitvice guide walks through the trade-offs in more detail, and the standalone Krka day trip guide covers what to expect once you’re inside the park.

Kornati National Park

Kornati National Park is the outlier on this list because it isn’t reachable by road at all. Established in 1980, the park protects roughly 89 islands, islets and reefs of the wider Kornati archipelago — bare limestone shaped by wind and sea, with almost no vegetation and no permanent settlements to speak of. There are no bridges and no car ferries here: every visit starts and ends on a boat, typically departing from Zadar itself, or from Biograd na Moru, Murter or Sali on Dugi Otok.

That makes Kornati the right choice for travelers who want open water, snorkelling stops and a landscape that looks genuinely unlike anywhere else on this coast, rather than a park you walk through. Most organized day trips pair a Kornati run with a stop at nearby Telašćica Nature Park on Dugi Otok, home to the salt lake Mir and sea cliffs rising roughly 160 m above the water — worth reading up on separately in the Kornati boat tour from Zadar guide or the Kornati and Telašćica combo guide before booking, since itineraries vary in how much of each park they cover.

Šibenik

Šibenik is a shorter, easier day than either national park, and a different kind of experience altogether: a compact old stone town rather than a natural landscape. Its Cathedral of St James, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000, was built entirely of stone by Juraj Dalmatinac and Nikola Firentinac and carries a frieze of 71 carved faces along its exterior — worth slowing down for rather than photographing in passing. The town also holds four fortresses (St Nicholas, St Michael, Barone and St John), and scenes from Game of Thrones were filmed here, with the town standing in for Braavos.

Because Šibenik sits close to Krka National Park, the two combine naturally into one day if you’d rather not choose — see the Šibenik fortress and island boat tour for a Šibenik-focused option, or the Krka and Šibenik combo guide for a day that covers both. The Šibenik day trip guide and the Šibenik cathedral guide go into more depth on the town itself, and the Game of Thrones filming locations guide is worth a look if that’s part of the draw.

Nin

Nin, about 15 km north of Zadar, is the shortest of the five trips here — closer to a half-day than a full one, which makes it a good option when a longer excursion doesn’t fit the schedule, or as an add-on to another plan. The town centres on the 9th-century Church of the Holy Cross, popularly nicknamed the “smallest cathedral in the world” (a nickname, not a formal title), alongside a bronze statue of Gregory of Nin — a copy of the original in Split by sculptor Ivan Meštrović. Nin also has its own sandy beach, a lagoon, healing mud that draws its own small following, and the working salt pans of Solana Nin.

Unlike Plitvice and Krka, there’s no swimming restriction at Nin — the beach here is a genuine coastal swim stop, which makes it a reasonable pairing if you want history and a swim in the same short day. The Nin day trip guide covers the town in more detail, and combining it with nearby Pag island is covered in the separate Pag island day trip guide if you have a full day rather than a half one.

How to choose between them

If this is your only day trip from Zadar and you want the single most famous North Dalmatian sight, Plitvice is the conventional answer — accept the longer drive and book ahead. If your schedule is tighter or you’d rather spend less of the day traveling, Krka gets you a comparable waterfall experience in less time, plus the option of folding in Šibenik. If you’ve already done a national park, or want something the coach-tour crowds haven’t reached, Kornati’s boat-only landscape is the least conventional and often the most memorable choice on this list. And if you want a lighter day — a few hours rather than a full one — Nin or Šibenik both deliver without eating your whole schedule.

Travelers who want to see more than one of these without cramming everything into a single rushed day should look past single day trips altogether: the three-day Zadar, Krka and Plitvice itinerary and the five-day national parks itinerary both spread these same destinations across a longer stay, at a pace that doesn’t turn every day into a full-day excursion.

For travelers who’d rather build their own island day instead of a park or town day, a private boat run to Ugljan is a different kind of alternative worth knowing about — the private boat trip to Ugljan island stays close to Zadar and skips the long drive entirely, while still getting you onto the water. Inland history fans have one more option worth knowing about too: the Tesla Memorial Center and Grabovača Cave day trip, which heads away from both the coast and the national parks for a different kind of excursion entirely.

Practical notes before you book

Distances given here (roughly 120–130 km for Plitvice, roughly 85–90 km for Krka) are straight-line reference points, not fixed driving times — actual journey length depends on traffic, season and whether you’re self-driving or on an organized tour with pickup stops. Neither park allows swimming: not at Plitvice, ever, and not at Krka’s Skradinski buk since the 2021 ban. If a swim is part of your plan, save it for Nin, the coast, or the open water around Kornati, not for either national park. And because ticket systems, entrance times and seasonal closures change, always confirm current details on the live tour or ticket listing rather than relying on a fixed figure from any single source, including this one.

Frequently asked questions about day trips from Zadar

Can I visit both Plitvice and Krka in one day from Zadar?

It’s physically possible but rushed, since both parks deserve several hours and sit in different directions from Zadar. Most visitors choose one per day, or take a dedicated multi-day itinerary that covers both.

Is swimming allowed at Plitvice Lakes or Krka National Park?

No. Swimming has never been permitted at Plitvice Lakes, and Krka National Park banned swimming at its main waterfall, Skradinski buk, from 2021 onward. Bring a swimsuit for the coast, not for either park.

How do you get to Kornati National Park from Zadar?

Kornati has no roads, bridges or car ferries connecting it to the mainland — it is reached only by boat, typically as an organized day trip departing from Zadar, Biograd, Murter or Sali.

Which is closer to Zadar, Plitvice or Krka?

Krka is closer, at roughly 85–90 km from Zadar, compared with roughly 120–130 km for Plitvice. Krka also tends to make for a shorter overall day.

Is Šibenik worth a day trip from Zadar?

Yes, for a different kind of day: an old stone town with a UNESCO-listed cathedral and several fortresses, one of which appeared in Game of Thrones as Braavos, plus easy access onward to Krka National Park if you want to combine the two.

Is Nin a good day trip if I only have a few hours?

Nin sits close to Zadar and works well as a half-day rather than a full day, combining a small historic church, salt pans and a beach — a good option if a longer excursion doesn’t fit your schedule.

Do I need to book tickets in advance for Plitvice or Krka?

Both parks sell timed or dated tickets, and Plitvice in particular can sell out on summer days, so booking ahead is the safer approach. Check the live listing for current ticket windows rather than assuming availability.