Zadar County
Oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city, largest Roman forum on eastern Adriatic. Sold to Venice in 1409 for 100,000 ducats. Sea Organ and Sun Greeting installations made it 'Croatia's capital of cool.'
Croatia's oldest continuously inhabited city sits where a Roman forum once anchored the colonial town of Iadera. Today that forum—the largest on the Adriatic's eastern shore—remains visible, its 2,000-year-old paving stones worn by centuries of feet. Venice bought Zadar (along with all of Dalmatia) for 100,000 ducats in 1409, then fortified it into the republic's largest city-fortress. The defensive walls that resulted joined UNESCO's World Heritage list in 2017 as part of the Venetian Works of Defence.
The county serves as northern Dalmatia's gateway to the islands. Ferry connections reach Ugljan's olive groves, Dugi Otok's cliffs and Telašćica Nature Park, and the lunar limestone formations of Kornati National Park—89 islands representing the Mediterranean's densest archipelago. Zadar's airport, expanded significantly since the 2000s, channels low-cost carrier passengers directly to accommodations that range from old town apartments to island retreats.
Architect Nikola Bašić gave modern Zadar two installations that transformed its waterfront identity. The Sea Organ (2005) uses wave action to push air through underwater pipes, creating continuous musical tones from Adriatic swells. The Greeting to the Sun, a 22-meter solar-powered light installation, converts daytime energy into nighttime patterns. The Guardian called the result 'Croatia's new capital of cool.'
The county's interior tells a different story: the karst hinterland toward Lika-Senj depopulates while the coast develops. Ravni Kotari, the agricultural plain behind Zadar, produces wine and olive oil but loses the young people who might continue production. By 2026, Zadar County exemplifies the Dalmatian divergence: islands and coast thriving on tourism, interior villages emptying into statistical insignificance.