Ferries from Silba

Cars are banned on Silba. Not restricted, not discouraged — the island has been effectively car-free for decades, which is why the ferry from Zadar is a passenger boat and why the walk from the quay is the only way to arrive.

What sails

Silba to Olib takes about 20 minutes, with 5 sailings in our timetable, operated by TP Line. A route to Ilovik is listed but holds no active departures in our data.

11 active sailings across the port. The main link is to Zadar, about 105 minutes away.

⚠ These are island-supply timetables

The Zadar archipelago services are built around residents rather than visitors: departures cluster early and late with long midday gaps, and a same-day return often does not exist.

Check both directions before planning a day trip. Silba rewards a night rather than an afternoon anyway.

What the ban means in practice

Luggage moves by hand or by cart from the quay. Distances are short — the island is roughly five kilometres long and narrow enough to walk across in minutes — but arriving with wheeled suitcases in mind is a mistake.

Bicycles are also restricted in the summer months. Walking is the transport system.

The island

Silba narrows to a waist a few hundred metres wide where the village sits, with a harbour on each side — so whichever wind is blowing, one of them is sheltered. That geography is the reason a village of this size ever existed here.

The population falls to a couple of dozen in winter and multiplies many times over in August.

Neighbours

Olib, twenty minutes away, is quieter still. Premuda and Ilovik complete the chain. The whole group runs on the same rhythm: a boat a day or two, no cars to speak of, and a summer that lasts eight weeks.