Things to do in Zadar

Zadar gets overlooked, and it is the better for it. The old town sits on a small peninsula with Roman foundations under it. Hitchcock called the sunset here the world's finest.

Two installations and a forum

The waterfront holds a pair of art pieces that turned into the city's signature. Both are free and both work best at dusk.

• The Sea Organ. Steps cut with pipes, played by the waves. It never repeats itself.
• The Greeting to the Sun. A solar disc set into the pavement beside it, lit after dark.
• The Roman forum. The largest on this coast, with the round church of St Donatus standing on its stones.

Where the boats go

Zadar faces an archipelago. Half-day trips run to the nearer islands; the Kornati, a bare scatter of rock and water, is the longer version.

Inland the days go the other way. Mostar is across the Bosnian border, and the Krka falls are an hour and a half south.

What the town is for

Zadar is a place to walk rather than to tick off. The peninsula takes an hour end to end. Most of what is worth seeing is free, and the rest is a church or a small museum.

Practical

• Sunset. Both installations are built for it, and so is the crowd. Arrive half an hour early in summer.
• Season. Boat trips run May to October. The town itself works year-round, unlike much of the coast.
• Getting there. Motorway from Zagreb takes under three hours; the coastal road takes twice that.
• Ferries. The passenger port is central; the car ferries leave from Gaženica, four kilometres south.
• Maraschino. The cherry liqueur is a local product, distilled here since the eighteenth century, and sold everywhere in the old town.
• Swimming. The town beaches are pebble and shallow. Kolovare is the closest to the peninsula, ten minutes on foot.