Why this ride
Repeated coastal bends, headlands and frequent viewpoint stops. It also links naturally to Velebit and Zadar cultural landscape.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Zadar Islands and Velebit View
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 119 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 27
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Access context
Check bora wind, seasonal traffic and ferry schedules. Specific flag: bora wind; summer traffic.
Seasonal context
Apr-Jun; Sep-Oct
Scenic road chapters
Adriatic Highway, Jadranska Magistrala
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 14 km this is Adriatic Highway, Jadranska Magistrala, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 14 km
- Named road
- Adriatic Highway, Jadranska Magistrala
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Zadar
Alfred Hitchcock is supposed to have said that Zadar has the most beautiful sunset in the world, and the people of the town have taken him at his word. The city sits on a narrow peninsula on the Dalmatian coast, with the sea on three sides and the island of Ugljan across the channel, and the sun drops into the water in a long fire of orange and pink. The best place to watch is the waterfront promenade at the end of the old town, where a pair of modern works of art, the Sea Organ and the Greeting to the Sun, turn the shoreline into an instrument and a light show.
Read the complete Zadar write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Zadar sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Nin.
2. Nin
Nin is small in every sense but one: its age. This low town sits on a tiny island joined to the shore by a pair of stone bridges, in shallow lagoons north-west of Zadar, and it was once a seat of Croatian rulers and a bishopric. A walk around the old centre takes a quarter of an hour, yet it is crowded with churches, including the little pre-Romanesque church of the Holy Cross, which is often described as the smallest cathedral in the world. A statue of Bishop Grgur of Nin, the medieval champion of the Croatian language in church services, stands outside the walls, and rubbing the toe is said to bring luck.
Read the complete Nin write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Nin comes up 21 km in. Next is Starigrad.
3. Starigrad
Starigrad lies on the Adriatic shore beneath the grey wall of the Velebit mountains, a long strip of pebble beach, pine trees and low stone houses squeezed between the sea and the rock. Locals know it as Starigrad-Paklenica, after the national park that begins at its back door, where two gorges, Velika and Mala Paklenica, cut deep into the limestone. Sheer cliffs rising hundreds of metres make it a magnet for climbers, and the sound of ropes and carabiners at the foot of the walls is part of the village soundtrack in spring.
Read the complete Starigrad write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
41 km in you reach Starigrad. Next is Zadar.
4. Zadar
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Zadar write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Zadar, late in the day.