Ferries from Zadar

Zadar has two ferry ports and which one you use depends on whether you brought a car. Gaženica, 3 km southeast of the old town, opened for cruise ships in 2014 and for local ferries in 2015, and it took the vehicles and the main lines. The old peninsula quay kept the passenger-only boats.

The split

• Gaženica — car ferries and the main routes. Purpose-built, out of town, reached by bus or taxi.
• City Port on the Poluotok peninsula — passenger-only services on certain routes, right in the old town.

Getting this wrong costs you a taxi ride and possibly the sailing. The ticket names the berth; read it.

What sails in our timetable

• Sali on Dugi Otok — about 43 minutes, 6 sailings.
• Silba — about 105 minutes, 5 sailings.
• Premuda — about 80 minutes, 5 sailings.

16 active sailings, all worked by TP Line to the Zadar archipelago. Sestrunj and Iz are listed as routes but currently hold no departures in our data.

⚠ These are island-supply boats, not a tourist network

The Zadar archipelago services run to timetables built around residents — school, shopping, hospital appointments. Departures cluster early and late, with long gaps in the middle of the day.

A same-day return to Silba or Premuda often does not exist. Check both directions before committing to a day trip.

Why the port moved

The old peninsula quay sits inside a medieval town on a narrow spit, with no room to expand and every arriving lorry funnelled through streets built for nothing of the kind. Gaženica solved a traffic problem as much as a shipping one.

The result is a better port and a longer journey into town — a trade most historic European ports have made in the same decade.