Camino Zadar: a 154 km pilgrim route on the Adriatic in 8 stages

Camino Zadar is a signposted pilgrim route on the north Dalmatian coast. It runs 154 kilometres in eight daily stages from Pirovac via Vrana, Zadar and Nin to Seline at Paklenica National Park. Zadar County and the Confraternity of St James in Croatia opened it on Saturday 5 April 2025, with eight tourist boards of the region on board (turistickeprice.hr). The route is part of the Camino Croatia network. It is aimed at pilgrims and at walkers who want to see the coast on foot in the quiet season. The stages are only suggestions, and everyone can plan their own days (Camino Croatia).

Eight stages, 154 kilometres

The confraternity splits the route into eight days. The shortest stage is 14.1 kilometres (Zadar to Nin), the longest 25.8 kilometres (Pirovac to Vrana), and the average is just over 19 kilometres a day. Added up, the stages come to 154 kilometres. There is no mountain stage: according to the stage data, the highest point of the whole route is 239 metres, on the last day before Seline. The path is signposted, and the confraternity also offers a GPS file for the Maps.me app.

About the 13 kilometres that are often quoted: that was the distance of the opening walk in April 2025, from Kožino to Nin, finishing with Mass in the Church of St Anselm (turistickeprice.hr). At 154 kilometres, the full route is almost twelve times as long.

Pilgrim passport and stamps

If you want the Compostela, the pilgrim certificate, at the end, you collect stamps in a pilgrim passport. The confraternity issues its own Croatian credential, certified for pilgrim use by the Pilgrim Office in Santiago de Compostela. It is sold in the confraternity's webshop and at Narodne novine branches, in Zadar at Branimirova obala 4A. On the Croatian routes, stamps are usually given at local tourist information centres, and the map of each route shows the exact places (Camino Croatia).

Zadar to Nin: the stage for a single day

For visitors staying in Zadar, the fifth stage is the obvious trial run. It starts at the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary in Diklo, reaches Kožino after 2.2 kilometres and turns inland from the coast just before it. Then come 11.9 kilometres through olive groves, fields and patches of forest below Ninski Stanovi. Just before Nin, a short detour to the left leads to the Church of St Nicholas, then the path crosses a stone footbridge and passes through a stone archway into the old town, ending at the Church of St Anselm. The highest point is 64 metres. There is accommodation in Zadar and Kožino, then none until Prorokovići and Nin (Camino Croatia). What else Nin has, from the smallest cathedral to the salt pans, is in our Nin guide.

What it means for visitors

• One day is enough for a first try: stage 5 from Zadar to Nin is 14.1 kilometres and never climbs above 64 metres.
• Plan eight days for the full route and book rooms in advance. Most stage towns have accommodation, but the confraternity says a reservation is required.
• Get the pilgrim passport before you start, for example at Narodne novine on Branimirova obala 4A in Zadar. Stamps are usually given at the tourist information centres.
• Load the confraternity's GPS file into Maps.me before you set off. If you stay in Zadar, the old town and waterfront are covered in our Zadar guide.
• The last day ends in Seline at Paklenica National Park, a good place for a rest day after you arrive.