Zadar Airport to Starigrad-Paklenica
About 55 km north-east; a transfer runs €65–85, and coaches on the coastal road stop at Starigrad for around €10.
A coastal village at the mouth of two limestone gorges — Velika and Mala Paklenica — cutting into the Velebit range, with four hundred bolted climbing routes and paths up to the high karst plateau.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Starigrad-Paklenica, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €65). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from €9) but slower, with a change in the city.
What it costs for your group
The bus is charged per person, while a taxi or private transfer is one price for the whole car — so the more of you there are, the better door-to-door value looks.
| Group | Bus (per person) | Private transfer | Best value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo · 1 traveller | €9 | €65 | Bus |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €18 | €65 | Bus |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €36 | €65 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority is… | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From €9, though slower with a change in the city. |
| Speed & comfort | Private transfer | Door-to-door, fixed price, a driver waiting for you. |
| A group of 3–4 | Transfer or taxi | One flat fare splits cheaper than several bus tickets. |
| A late-night arrival | Transfer or taxi | Both run 24/7 when buses and the tram have stopped. |
By transport mode
Bus / shuttle
Around twelve euros. The bus sets down on the main road through the village; the national park entrance is a further two kilometres inland, walkable but uphill.
Where to catch it: Liburnija shuttle into Zadar, then any northbound coach on the Adriatic highway — Starigrad is a standard stop.
Best for solo & budget travellersPrivate transfer
Climbers arriving with rope bags and crash pads generally book this rather than fight the coach luggage hold. Say so when you book — it affects the vehicle sent.
Where to catch it: Fifty minutes up the coast beneath the Velebit wall. Drivers will usually go on to the park entrance if you ask when booking.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsCar rental
The obvious choice for walkers, since the trailheads are above the village and the high-mountain approaches at Mali Alan are another half hour on a rough road.
Where to catch it: Straightforward drive with a car park at the Velika Paklenica entrance, paid with the park ticket.
Best for travellers who want to exploreTaxi
Getting back is the harder half — there is no rank in Starigrad and no passing trade. Arrange the return before your driver leaves, or plan on the coastal coach.
Where to catch it: Fix the price before leaving; there is no meter standard at this airport.
Best for small groups in a hurryStarigrad-Paklenica & Zadar in photos
Buying tickets in Zadar
One service covers almost every arrival: the Liburnija shuttle, which meets scheduled flights, costs €5 with baggage included, and calls at the three places people actually need — Gaženica ferry port first, then the main bus station, then the edge of the Old Town. Pay the driver by cash or card. The detail most passengers miss is that the ticket stays valid for 90 minutes on Zadar's city buses afterwards, so an onward leg out to Borik or Puntamika costs nothing extra. Because departures are tied to flights rather than to a clock, a delayed arrival does not strand you — but equally, there is no shuttle when there is no flight, which matters on the thin winter schedule. For destinations beyond Zadar, everything starts at the main bus station: coastal coaches south to Biograd, Vodice and Šibenik, north to Starigrad and Rijeka, and over the bridge to Pag.
Taxi scams & safety in Zadar
Zadar is the one airport in this guide where there is no state-set taxi tariff at all — Croatia imposes neither a standard starting fare nor a standard per-kilometre rate here, so every operator runs its own meter and two cars at the same rank can legitimately quote different numbers. That is not overcharging, it is the absence of a rule, and it makes asking the price before you load your luggage normal practice rather than suspicion. The average into the Old Town is around €26. On longer runs — Pag, Starigrad, Vodice — agree the whole figure in advance or book a fixed-price transfer instead. Two further practical points: nothing drives into Zadar's walled peninsula, so a taxi stops at a gate and the rest is on foot over marble paving; and if you are heading to Starigrad, Nin or a marina, arrange the return before your driver leaves, because there is no rank and no passing trade in any of them.
Getting from ZAD to Starigrad-Paklenica
Two limestone gorges cut back into the Velebit range behind a strip of coastal village, and that is Paklenica: Velika and Mala, the big and the small, with four hundred bolted climbing routes on the walls of the first and a network of paths climbing through both to the high karst plateau above. Fifty-five kilometres north-east of Zadar Airport, fifty minutes by road, and the single best reason to fly into Zadar rather than Split if walking is the point of the trip.
Getting there
The Liburnija shuttle into Zadar bus station, then any northbound coach on the Adriatic highway — Starigrad is a standard stop on the Rijeka services. Around twelve euros in total and an hour and a half. A pre-booked transfer runs €65–85 and takes fifty minutes, and drivers will usually continue to the park entrance if you ask when booking.
The two kilometres nobody mentions
Buses set down on the main road through Starigrad village. The Velika Paklenica entrance is a further two kilometres inland and uphill. It is a perfectly reasonable walk unencumbered and a tedious one at the end of a travel day with a rucksack and a rope bag, which is why climbers tend to book the transfer.
What the climbing is like
Anića Kuk is the big one — a 350-metre face with multi-pitch routes, some of them classics of the region. The lower gorge walls carry hundreds of single-pitch sport routes at every grade, ten minutes from the car park. Spring and autumn are the seasons; midsummer in the gorge is airless and hot.
Walking, if you do not climb
The gorge path runs up the canyon floor past the mill and the old ethno house, gaining height gently, and continues to the Lugarnica forest hut and beyond to the Vaganski vrh ridge — at 1,757 metres the highest point of the Velebit. That full ascent is a serious day. The gorge walk alone is two or three hours return and suits anyone.
Mala Paklenica
Narrower, wilder, unbolted and far less visited. There is no car park at its mouth and the path is rougher. People who find Velika busy in August go here instead and see almost nobody.
The park ticket
Paid at the entrance and it covers the car park. There is a visitor centre with route information and the current state of the paths, which matters after heavy rain — the gorge floor floods in places and the upper trails can hold snow into May.
The bora
This stretch of coast is where the bora wind is strongest anywhere in the Adriatic, funnelled down off the Velebit through the Vratnik pass. It closes the Maslenica bridge to high vehicles, and in a serious blow it makes the exposed ridges genuinely dangerous. Locals will tell you when one is coming; so will the forecast.
Where a car earns its cost
The high-mountain approaches at Mali Alan are another half hour above the village on a rough road, and the Premužić trail along the Velebit ridge — one of the great walking routes in this part of Europe — is reached from trailheads that no bus serves. Without a car you are limited to the gorge, which is still worth the trip.
Getting back
There is no taxi rank in Starigrad and no passing trade. If a driver has brought you, arrange the return before they leave. Otherwise the coastal coach is flagged from the main road, and the timetable thins considerably outside summer.
Where to stay
Starigrad and the neighbouring Seline are strung along the coast road with apartments, a campsite and a few small hotels. It is a functional base rather than a scenic one — the view is the mountain wall behind, not the village itself.
Combining it with the coast
Paklenica sits between Zadar and the Plitvice road, so a common pattern is a couple of days walking here on the way inland, or a day trip from Zadar with an early start. Swimming is possible directly opposite the park entrance, which after a day in the gorge is the point.
