Car hire in Zadar

Car hire in Zadar: cars and prices

For 5 October to 19 October 2026, 48 cars were listed for car hire in Zadar, 48 of them based at Zadar Airport. 22 had an automatic gearbox and 8 had seven seats or more. Checked 2 October 2026.

Prices differ between airports for the same model and dates. From the Split pick-up at Split Airport, Zadar's old town is 1 hour 45 minutes north without traffic, so on a coast trip search both before you book.

Should I rent the car at Zadar Airport or in town?

At the airport, in nearly every case: most Zadar cars are based there, and a few at another pick-up point. Where a car offers delivery, the charge, if there is one, is shown before you pay.

Car rental companies operate at Zadar Airport, and the car is collected there: some companies work from the rental area in front of arrivals, others meet you in the arrivals hall and walk you to the car. Your voucher says exactly where. From the airport to Narodni trg in the old town is 20 minutes and 13 km without traffic.

Can I drive into Zadar old town?

No. The historic core of the peninsula, Poluotok, is a legally defined pedestrian zone, and no vehicle may drive in without a special City permit. Permits are issued for listed purposes, such as deliveries between 06:00 and 07:30 or reaching a legal garage inside the zone, and visitor driving is not one of them. Park outside the zone.

The pedestrian zone does not cover the whole peninsula. Obala i lučice, the city parking company, runs paid parking on parts of Poluotok, including a residents' zone where anyone else may park for up to 1 hour.

Where is the best parking for the old town?

The nearest are the public car parks on the peninsula and on Branimirova obala across the harbour, run by Obala i lučice under a City concession; the Branimirova obala lot has 53 spaces and the Ljepotica lot 115. For a longer stay, Garage Center at 112. brigade ZNG 1 has 630 spaces, opens round the clock and is a 10-minute walk from the old town.

Street parking is split into zones: Zone 0 for peninsula residents, Zones 1 to 4, plus Petrčane and the bus and railway station car park. Zone 1 has a 3-hour limit from 15 June to 31 August; other zones have no stated limit apart from the 1-hour limit for non-residents in Zone 0. Each zone has its own SMS number, shown on the signs; you can also pay at a meter or through the e-Parking app or portal.

• Winter tariff, 1 October to 30 April: charged weekdays 08:00 to 16:00 and Saturdays 08:00 to 14:00; free on Sundays and holidays
• Summer tariff, 1 May to 30 September: charged weekdays and Saturdays 08:00 to 22:00; free on Sundays and holidays except from 15 June to 31 August

The rental conditions behind a Zadar pick-up

Parking, tolls, fuel and fines are the renter's to pay, and the fuel level goes back as it came. Standard insurance leaves out four parts of the car, and what the cover leaves out is the same at every pick-up: the wheels, the undercarriage, the windscreen and the interior.

Taking the car to Ugljan and the Zadar islands

Ugljan is the island nearest to Zadar, and Jadrolinija's car ferry, line 431, runs to Preko from Zadar's Gaženica ferry port, calling at Ošljak, in 25 minutes. The passenger boat, line 409, leaves from the central port for Preko in the same time but carries no cars.

On lines without reservations, Zadar to Preko among them, boarding goes by order of arrival at the port and Jadrolinija recommends arriving 1 to 2 hours before the sailing. Jadrolinija offers reservations on four lines from Gaženica: to Molat and Ist, to Mali Lošinj via Ist, Olib, Silba and Premuda, to Brbinj on Dugi otok, and to Bršanj and Rava. For a hire car, the rental conditions require any ferry crossing between the mainland and the islands to be arranged with customer support before the booking is completed.

Drives from Zadar: Plitvice, Šibenik and the coast

From Zadar Airport the drive to Plitvice Lakes is 2 hours 15 minutes and 145 km to Entrance 2 without traffic. Šibenik is 1 hour south, and Split 1 hour 50 minutes. The bora, a gusty wind off the land, blows hard around the Velebit Channel near Zadar and has closed the A1 between Sveti Rok and Posedarje and the Pag bridge; HAK publishes the closures.

Hiring in Zadar and returning elsewhere

A Zadar pick-up can end at the other pick-up airports as well as back in Zadar. For 5 October to 19 October 2026, 48 cars could go one-way to Split, 48 to Dubrovnik and 39 to Zagreb, with the drop-off charge inside the price shown; the typical charge to Split was €90.

The models in the table above are popular hire cars in Croatia, and each was listed at all five airports for hire in late October and late November 2026. The deposit, card rule and gearbox still come with each car, not with the model.

Search cars in Zadar for your dates