Šibenik

Šibenik is a city (pop. ~37,000) in Šibenik-Knin County, in northern Dalmatia, Croatia.

Understand
Šibenik is most famous for Saint James Cathedral, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage list, as are the city walls from the Venetian era. A trademark of the city is the traditional Šibenik hat, coloured orange and black, also the city's colours. 16th-century polymath and bishop Faust Vrančić, known as one of the inventors of parachute and perhaps the first man who used it, was born here and lived here. Famous basketball player Dražen Petrović, and Maksim Mrvica, a piano player, were born here.

Šibenik was mentioned for the first time under its present name in 1066 in a Charter of the Croatian King Petar Krešimir IV. For a period of time, it was a seat of the Croatian King. For that reason, Šibenik is also called "Krešimirov grad" (Krešimir's city). It is the oldest native Croatian town on the eastern shores of the Adriatic sea. You can see the statue of King Petar Krešimir IV between the park and the beginning of the promenade along the sea. Šibenik was for almost 300 years under Venetian rule, and then in Austro-Hungary, Yugoslavia and finally, Croatia. It was a very important town in Venetian-Turkish wars and it was a frontier of the western civilization and Christianity.

By plane
Airports of Split and Zadar are quite close to the city (approx. 1 hr by bus).

For Split airport it would be more reasonable to get to Trogir straight from the airport (instead of Split proper), then take a bus from there.

By boat


For long distance destination, like Rijeka, Dubrovnik or Ancona and Bari, check ports of Split and Zadar.

By car
Take A1 highway Zagreb-Split and turn off at Šibenik junction.

On foot
Everywhere in the city is within walking distance. From bus station to the old city centre it takes only five minutes to walk. You can get to all sights on foot, and the furthest are within half an hour walk.

By bus
If you want to go to the outskirts of the city (for instance to the Dalmare shopping centre), you can take a public bus. Bus transport in Šibenik is operated by Autotransport Šibenik and 3 smaller private companies.

By car
If you come by car, there's a large parking place on the very central square Poljana, as well as there is one with 700 spots when you enter the town northbound.

See
Venetian rule left Šibenik with four beautiful fortresses: St. Michael, St. John, Šubićaevac and St. Nicholas. Old part of the town, full of churches, old noblemen palaces and typical Dalmatian stone houses centuries old is very interesting. Town walls are also well preserved. One of the most interesting sights is medieval monastery garden.



Do

 * Take a swim! Beaches around Šibenik (Solaris, Žaborić, Grebaštica, Brodarica, Jadrija, Srima...) are extremely clean and fun (although sea in Šibenik bay itself isn't very clean). You must try the beach game of picigin, an invention of nearby city of Split's youth. All you need is shallow, sandy or not so stony beach, small ball and company. The aim is to hold a ball as much as you can up in the air, and you're allowed to use all body parts.
 * Take a trip to Vodice (Hacienda) or Primošten (Aurora) night clubs. It takes around 15 minutes to Vodice and half an hour to Primošten by car.
 * Take a trip to Vodice (Hacienda) or Primošten (Aurora) night clubs. It takes around 15 minutes to Vodice and half an hour to Primošten by car.

Events

 * The annual Šibenik International Children's Festival (Međunarodni Dječji Festival), founded in 1958, takes place every summer in the theater or the stage between the Cathedral and City hall, as well as on the streets and squares. It's a great fun, tickets are bargain, and there are a lot of events for adults as well.
 * In late summer traditional Dalmatian Chanson Evenings are held. It's worth the visit, but tickets are expensive and there are few of them.

Buy

 * Take a walk along the Kalelarga (officially King Tomislav's street) and visit its shops, squares and cafes.
 * Buy a CD with traditional Dalmatian klapa singing on it. Klapa is a choir which uses mostly just voice and a few instruments, and they are typical for Šibenik.
 * Nearby islands Krapanj and Zlarin are famous for their sponge industry (Krapanj) and coral diving and coral cottage industry (Zlarin), which goes back to 17th century. Coral jewelery and sponge souvenirs are affordable and original.
 * Traditional Šibenik's orange and black cap is town's most famous and most recognizable brand, but it can get expensive (more than ), so just buy a mini replica.
 * Olive oil and dry figs are also very qualitative and you can bring them home.
 * There are also antiquities fairs around the town, so look for them. If you visit Šibenik in late September, you'll get inside Medieval festival, where you can buy almost everything linked to medieval.
 * You can also visit the Dalmare shopping mall. It is located in the southern outskirts of Šibenik, along the road to Split. It includes many clothes shops of major European chains, a large Konzum supermarket and a 24-hour McDonald's restaurant.

Eat
Kike Pizzeria in the ancient part of the city is worth a visit.

Sleep
Surprisingly, private accommodation in Sibenik is not as popular as it is in the other cities of Croatia. Few are willing to open their houses to the travellers and no or only a few sobe (room) signs can be seen at the doors.


 * A hostel Indigo is in the old part of the city.

Connect
As of Sept 2021, Šibenik and the coastal highway have 4G from A1 and Tele2, and 5G from T-Mobile.

Go next

 * Krka National Park is perhaps somewhat lowlier than the famous Plitvice Lakes National Park, but still is well worth a visit. The park is full of breathtaking scenery of waterfalls, flora, fauna as well as historical and archaeological remains.
 * Kornati National Park is famous for its numerous islands and its undersea.
 * Telašćica Nature Park just next to Kornati
 * Zadar
 * Split