Zadar Airport to Vodice
About 65 km south-east; buses run via Šibenik for €8–14, and a taxi or transfer is €70–95.
A long seafront town between Šibenik and Murter, with a marina, a wide pebble beach and more restaurants per metre of promenade than anywhere else on this stretch of coast.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Vodice, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €70). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from €8) 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 | €8 | €70 | Bus |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €16 | €70 | Bus |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €32 | €70 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority is… | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From €8, 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 in total and a little over an hour and a half with the change. Services thin sharply outside July and August, so check the timetable before relying on it in May or October.
Where to catch it: Liburnija shuttle to Zadar's main bus station (€5), then a southbound coach along the coast; most Split services call at Vodice.
Best for solo & budget travellersPrivate transfer
The usual choice for families, since the bus change at Zadar station with cases and children is the part people regret. Book the return at the same time.
Where to catch it: Straight down the A1 motorway and out to the coast. Most Vodice apartments are on ordinary streets a car can reach.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsTaxi
Rarely cheaper than a pre-booked transfer over this distance, and without the flight tracking. Book ahead if you can.
Where to catch it: Agree the figure before departure — this is a long run and Zadar has no fixed tariff to fall back on.
Best for small groups in a hurryCar rental
Vodice works well as a base with a car — Krka's waterfalls are half an hour inland, Šibenik twenty minutes, and the Murter bridge twenty-five.
Where to catch it: Fifty-five minutes by motorway and coast road, with paid parking behind the seafront.
Best for travellers who want to exploreVodice & 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 Vodice
Vodice is a seafront town rather than an old town. There is no walled core, no Venetian gate, no ruin to queue for — there is a two-kilometre promenade, a marina, a wide pebble beach and a density of restaurants and bars that people either come for or deliberately avoid. Knowing which of those you are is most of the decision about staying here.
Getting there
Sixty-five kilometres south-east of Zadar Airport. The Liburnija shuttle to Zadar's main bus station costs €5, then a southbound coastal coach — most Split services call at Vodice — for another seven or so. About an hour and forty in total, around twelve euros.
The seasonal timetable problem
Those coaches run roughly hourly in July and August and considerably less often in May and October. Croatia's coastal bus network expands and contracts with the season more sharply than most, and a route that looks frequent online may be showing you the summer schedule. Check the date on the timetable.
When a transfer earns its €70
When the change at Zadar bus station with cases and children is the part you would rather skip. A direct transfer takes fifty-five minutes against a hundred, costs six times as much, and delivers you to the apartment door. For a family it is often the right call; for two people with rucksacks it is not.
Šibenik, twenty minutes away
The reason a lot of people base themselves in Vodice. Šibenik has a cathedral built entirely of interlocking stone without mortar, four fortresses above it, and a considerably better old town than anything in Vodice itself. It is a short bus ride or a fifteen-minute drive.
Krka, half an hour inland
The waterfalls at Skradinski Buk are the other reason. Krka is less famous than Plitvice, closer to the coast, and until recently you could swim below the falls — that stopped in 2021, which is worth knowing before you pack for it. Boats run in from Skradin.
The Kornati boats
Day trips to the archipelago leave from Vodice's harbour through the season. The Kornati are eighty-nine mostly uninhabited islands of bare karst, and the standard trip is a long day with lunch aboard. Prices vary widely and so does the size of the boat — worth asking how many passengers before booking.
Where to stay, roughly
The seafront is loud in season and that is not an accident: the bars along it are the town's main business after the beach. Streets a couple of blocks inland are markedly quieter for a small fraction less money. The marina end is calmer than the middle.
The beach
Pebble, with concrete platforms in places, shelving quickly. There are sandier stretches towards Srima at the western end. Water shoes are not an affectation on this coast — the stones are large and the sea urchins are real.
Eating
The promenade restaurants are priced accordingly and there are many of them. Away from the water the konobas serve the same fish for noticeably less. Dalmatian cooking here means grilled fish sold by the kilo, peka lamb cooked under a bell, and a lot of olive oil.
With a car
Vodice works well as a driving base — Šibenik twenty minutes, Krka thirty, the Murter bridge twenty-five, Trogir and Split under an hour. Parking behind the seafront is paid and fills in August. Without a car you are on the coastal buses, which cover the towns and not much else.
Booking the way back
If your return flight is early, the coach connection through Zadar needs checking the night before rather than the morning of. The first departures from Vodice are not as early as you might hope, and the shuttle at the far end runs to the flight rather than to you.
The name, and the wells
Vodice means "little waters", after the wells that made the site worth settling on a coast where fresh water is the scarce thing rather than the sea. One survives in the old part of the town behind the church, and the town's coat of arms carries it.
