The obvious arrivals from Italy are the northern ones, Pula and Zadar, and neither has a published monthly passenger figure in the DZS series. The 2026 ferry register is the only national dataset that describes what each of them actually reaches.
What the statistics do and do not cover
The Croatian Bureau of Statistics publishes airport traffic by partner country as well as by airport. For March 2025 the three largest partner countries were Germany at roughly 98,000 passengers, the United Kingdom at roughly 32,000 and the Netherlands at roughly 27,000. These are totals for Croatian airports in aggregate, not for any one airport — the release does not break them down by arrival airport.
And Italy is not among them. That does not mean Italian traffic is small; it means the release used here names three countries and Italy is not one of the three, so there is no figure to quote. The same applies to the arrival airports themselves: Pula, Zadar and Rijeka are all in the nine-airport monthly series and none of them has a published figure in it. The three that do are Zagreb (337,851), Split (62,250) and Dubrovnik (49,275), all for November 2025.
So use the register instead
Where the northern arrivals are fully documented is the coastal line register, and it is unusually informative about what a short hop from Italy actually buys.
| Arrival | Routes in the register | State lines | What it reaches by sea |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pula | 1 | 1 | Line 9141 only: Silba, Mali Lošinj, Unije, Susak and Ilovik |
| Rijeka | 2 | 2 | Kvarner lines: Mali Lošinj, Unije, Susak, Ilovik, Cres, Rab and Pag |
| Zadar | 16 | 14 | 16 islands of the northern archipelago |
| Split | 23 | 10 | Brač, Šolta, Hvar, Vis, Korčula and Lastovo |
Zadar is the strongest arrival on this list by a wide margin: fourteen of its sixteen registered routes are state lines under a public service obligation, which is more state lines than leave any other arrival city, Split included. Pula, by contrast, appears exactly once in the whole register.
Landing in the north to reach the south
Pula’s single route, line 9141, runs to Zadar by way of the Kvarner islands. Nothing in the register connects it to Dalmatia, and Zadar’s own sixteen islands share no name at all with Split’s six or Dubrovnik’s six.
So a northern arrival is the right one for Istria, Kvarner and the Zadar archipelago, and the wrong one for Hvar, Korčula, Mljet or the Elafiti. The distance on a map is misleading; the ferry register is not.
If the trip is Dalmatian, fly to Split or Dubrovnik even from Italy, and treat the northern airports as belonging to a different holiday.
What a northern arrival is genuinely good at
Zadar’s archipelago is the densest island network in the country and almost none of it is on the standard Croatian itinerary. Fourteen state lines reach sixteen islands from one city, among them Ugljan, Dugi otok, Iž, Molat, Silba and Mali Lošinj, and the proportion under a public service obligation means the network barely changes shape between June and February.
That is a different proposition from Dalmatia and a better one for a short trip out of Italy. You are not competing for a summer catamaran seat; you are using scheduled state lines that exist because people live at the other end of them. The islands are quieter for the same reason, and the register — rather than a route map — is what tells you which of them you can actually reach in the week you have.
Istria works differently again. Pula’s one route means the peninsula is a driving region with a coastline attached, and its season is long: Rovinj records 15.0 days at or above 25 °C in September against 17.6 in June. DHMZ publishes no sea temperature for Rovinj, Rijeka or Zadar in the 1971–2000 normals, only for Split, Hvar and Dubrovnik, so any Istrian sea figure you are shown has come from somewhere else.
What to decide before you book
- Istria and Kvarner, or Dalmatia? The northern and southern networks share no islands.
- Do you need a traffic figure? None is published for Pula, Zadar or Rijeka.
- Would a crossing suit better? The domestic register covers coastal lines only; international sailings are a separate question.
- How many state lines does your island sit on? Fourteen of Zadar’s sixteen routes carry a public service obligation.
Find flights and hotels
What do you need to work out next?
Arrival narrowed. These finish it.
Where to stay
Is Zadar a base or a doorway?
Fourteen of its sixteen registered routes are state lines.
Getting around
Should I take the crossing instead?
The 2026 domestic register covers coastal lines only.
When to go
Is May too early for the northern islands?
The ferry season tariff does not start until 29 May.
Planning
What does an Istria-only trip look like?
Pula appears once in the entire 68-route register.
Passenger figures: Državni zavod za statistiku (DZS), monthly airport traffic releases. Ferry data: Agencija za obalni linijski pomorski promet (ZOLPP), 2026 state coastal line register and per-line timetables.