We only stayed in Zadar for a very short stay. One night to be exact. It was on our way back to Zagreb, and we wanted to see more of Croatia in stead of going back to Zagreb and staying there for the night again. We were very happy with our choice. Zadar is a very nice little town to visit with a history of more than 3000 years. The city has been marked by many wars and fights and you can still see the bullet holes in the buildings of the last war that took place until 1993.
The city only has about 75.000 inhabitants but in summer it can get actually very busy by mostly tourists visiting the town. Zadar is known for it’s beautiful sunsets, even Alfred Hitchcock said Zadar has on of the most beautiful sunsets in the world.
Along the boulevard by the sea you’ll find 2 very special and importants monuments or works of arts as you may call them. The first is a sea organ, the waves of the sea “play” this wonderful and unique instrument of the under water organ making different sounds and melodies with every wave. The other work of art is the “Greeting to the Sun”. It is a circle of 22 meters made of 300 glass tiles under which sun panels have been places. When darkness falls this circle displays a fantastic colour play on the rhythm of the waves and sounds of the sea organ. It actually looks like a seventies disco floor but much more impressive. The kids love to play on it and follow the colours as they dance in the dark.
Here are some awesome things to do when visiting Zadar.
- Take a walk through the old city center.
- Visit the 2 beautiful monuments by the sea.
- Try to participate in the yearly Zadar ocean jump, a record setting jump from the boulevard into the ocean taking place every first Saturday in August.
- Watch the beautiful sunset in Zadar.
Fantastic room in Le Bastion Hotel
Le Bastion
Ul. Bedemi zadarskih pobuna 13, 23000, Zadar
Price range
$$$
Location
Near the ocean, across the street from the famous Garden lounge and a minutes walk to the old city center.
Accommodation
Beautiful rooms with great beds.
Dining
The hotel is supposed to have the best restaurant in town. But as we didn’t dine here it’s difficult to say if this indeed is the case.
Services and amenities for kids
For an overview of the services and amenities for kids at this hotel click here. Amenities provided by the hotel in green.
Extra info
We loved this hotel for the night, but would not stay here much longer than 1 night as the hotel has no pool facilities and the summers in Croatia are really hot.
With kids
Bruschetta
Experience: The food quality was excellent and service very friendly!
The Garden lounge
Without kids
the Garden lounge
The best time to go Zadar is from May to October. We visited in July and it was pretty hot. July and August are peak months so it’s pretty packed with tourists but still very doable.
Below is the current temperature and forecast for the next days in Zadar, decide for yourself if it’s tempting or not.