We reported the complete chloroplast genome for Zelkova serrata, the first in the distinctive genus Zelkova to be sequenced in the family Ulmaceae. The plastome is totally 158,495 bp in length, containing a pair of inverted repeats (IRs), a large single-copy region (LSR) and a small single-copy region (SSR), which are 26,456 bp, 86,921 bp and 18,684 bp, respectively. A total of 103 unique genes were identified in Z. serrata chloroplast genome, of which 88 are single-copy genes, while15 are duplicated in IR regions. Further, maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analyses were conducted using eight complete plastomes of the Ulmaceae, which support close relationships between Z. serrata, Ulmus gaussenii, and U. chenmoui.