Go now before Bratislava becomes too touristy (Bratislava)

Member Name: lm09

Product:	Bratislava
Date:	03/04/09 (243 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Compact Old town with great links to Vienna and Budapest

Disadvantages: Not too much to hold your attention for more than a couple of days

I visited Bratislava in March 2009 having given myself a week to see both Bratislava and Vienna. I flew into Bratislava airport (a much cheaper option than Vienna - and I would point this out even for anyone solely interested in Vienna, it has easy buses or trains to central Vienna).

Again I flew Ryanair and again the flight was uneventful and on time. Arriving at the airport at night I found it easy to navigate and well organised unlike so many UK airports. Buses to the main station and the centre of town run from right outside the terminal. The number 61 takes you right to the main station for any Vienna transfers and only costs 1 Euro.

All the prices given will be in Euros. Slovakia adopted the currency on New Years Day 2009 and has rapidly got to grips with it.

One thing though, you need to try and change your money down to the smallest notes and always try and have a good supply of coins. There seems to be a shortage of coins which can cause problems when making small purchases with large notes.

My hostel for 3 nights in Bratislava was the Possonium Hostel, which is 100 meters from the main train station and the drop for the number 61 bus. Having had an amazing stay in a hostel in Krakow (with a private room) I wanted to really try hostelling and took a bed in a shared 8 man dorm. I knew I had a hotel in Vienna waiting so only really needed somewhere to sleep....which on the first night was an issue... Arriving at 9 at night after a days travel I wanted to sleep to be fresh for the morning. Being first into the dorm I expected noise from people coming and getting settled. What I didn't expect was the nightclub atmosphere of loud music coming from the bar in the basement. This lasted until about 3am. At times in my attempts to sleep I did find myself rocking along and thinking "this is a tune" - so it wasn't all bad. Being a newbie to hostelling circles I sincerely hope it wasn't some kind of welcome party for me with the line "He'll be down in a minute, he'll love it". And to be fair only on my first night was the noise a problem.

I got up early after very little sleep but with a new city to explore the sleep loss couldn't be allowed to be an issue. The first sight I saw on turning left out of the hostel was the Slavin monument. Built on a hill to the West of the city the Slavin monument can be seen from pretty much anywhere in the city. The walk up to the monument is a fairly steep one through a relatively well to do area of Bratislava.

The Slavin monument built in 1960, in memory of the Russian soldiers who died in the battle for Bratislava, has all the markings of the Soviet Communist style. The style is almost identical to the monument on Zizcov hill in Prague or the Freedom monument in Riga. At sunrise this area was deserted and the views to the east over the city with the soft first morning light were fantastic.

From the Slavin monument my next step was to be the President's Palace. The walk from main station to the centre of town takes about 15 minutes, however trams and buses do it much quicker. I love to walk though to see everything. The first building of real note you come to is the Grassalkovich Palace (President's Palace). Built in 1781 the palace is a stunning Neoclassical building adorned with the brilliant colours of the Slovak flag. When the president is in residence colourful guards stand on duty and changing of the guard ceremeonies take place.

From here it the Old Town with all its sights is just across the Staromestska Road. The Old Town, whilst having some amazing individual buildings of note is, as a whole, a beautiful area to walk and every building and church is worthy of a photograph. As a capital city it has a really quiet relaxed atmosphere and on an early spring morning, under soft sun, it was so nice to just get lost in. However, at only around a mile square it is impossible to get too lost and for your first wander through I would recommend leaving your map in your bag.

The major sights on the Old Town then, well firstly one you will have seen in your planning is Michael's Tower and gateway to the old town. This is (along with the castle) the image that every brouchure on Bratislava will show. The town itself contains a small armoury museaum (closed at the time of my visit along with many other sights) and it is possible to climb the tower for views over the roof tops of the Old Town.

A short walk from here and you arrive in the Old Town square and you will see another of the iconic Bratislava sights. The city has 3 quirky statues dotted around the old town - the Frenchman, the Peeper and the Photographer. The first two are easy to find but the photographer is not, literally peering around the corner taking your photo before you get his. In the Old Town square you will see the very obvious Frenchman leaning on the back of a bench. Ideal for photographs. The Frenchman is a Napoleonic soldier who stands on the sight that Napoloan helped destroy.

Across the square is a former guardsman statue who stands on guard on the spot of the Old Town hall destroyed by fire in 1762. The new brick built town house stands 10 meters to the north. The New Town House (again closed for refurbishment) houses both the Municiple museaum but also a museum of Medievil Feudal Justice. The Feudal Justice museaum is said to be very good showing all manner of torture impliments and I would have loved to see this. Making up the Southside of the square is the stunning Cafe Roland which is possibly the prettiest building in Bratislava. From outside the cafe you will see the Peeper statue looking out from the drain to the east of the square.

Slightly further out past the Opera house and along Groslingova you come to my favourite building in Bratislava, St Elizabeth's church or the Blue Church. Dating back only to 1913 the church was built in memory of St Elizabeth who was born in Bratislava. Made of concrete broken with blue tiles and painted a soft blue colour it looks amazing. Inside, the small church is perfect on the eye. If you are in Bratislava make sure you take the 200 meter detour to see the Blue Church.

The Cathedral, St Martin's, is very plain in comparison to the Blue Church and to be honest other than it being big, it is of very little interest. Kapitulska Ulica, though, leading away from the Cathedral has to be the prettiest street and view of Bratislava with narrow coloured building and cobbles sloping gently uphill and away from the Cathedral. On the other side of the Cathedral is the remains of the Old Synagogue which was torn down to make way for the new bridge. All that remains is a twisted metal column marked with a star of David on top.

Next to this square is the New Bridge bus station (Novy Most). It is from here that the buses (numbers 28 and 29) leave the city to Devin Castle. Devin Castle, although ouside the city, is another must see. Standing above the town of Devin the ruined castle looks out over Slovakia, Austria and Hungary with the rivers Danube and Morava meeting just below.
The castle site dates back to Roman times but most of what remains today dates to the 16th century. The castle was largely ruined by Napoleon's troops in 1809 on their way to meet the Hapsberg forces. The views over two rivers and three countries from the top of the main tower are amazing and with a clear sky you can see well into the three countries. A very worthwhile and easy trip from the Old Town.

Back in the Old town and getting on the bus, the next obvious site for exploration is the massive UFO cafe. Built on the Southern side of the Danube the UFO Cafe (so called because it is in the shape of a flying saucer) gives amazing views overthe Old Town and the Danube. Costing 7 Euros, taking the lift to the viewing platform is well worth the money. To the south you get to see the scale and depressing ugliness of the Petrzalka disrict build in high rise Soviet styled concrete.

This is the most densely populated area of central Europe. Looking out to the East and West you get great views of the Danube. To the north you get the best view of the Old Town with the castle and Cathedral as the major stand out sights. The castle from this distance looks great. However, on getting up close the castle was undergoing a major makeover and like so much of the city's museums, it was closed at the time of my visit. The castle that is in situ today dates back only to 1953and to be honest, to me it looks a mess. The original castle dates back to 1430 but was largely destroyed 1811. The castle does again offer views back out to the east over the Old Town.

I spent most of my first day just wandering around the Old Town and stopping every now and then for either a cofe or a Slovak Beer. My beer of preference had to be the Zlaty Bazant and light pilsner that tasted perfect. Having later been to Vienna though the beers of Vienna are far superior!
Other sights of note around the Old town are the two palaces, Primates Palace and Mirabek Palace both former homes of the Bratislava aristocracy. Further to the east, two other sights of interest to me were the Central Bank of Slovakia and the home of the Slovakia National radio. The radio building itself is an amazing piece of architecture, built in the style of an upside down piramid. Well worth the walk to go and see.

All that is one day! I felt like I had done and seen it, albiet in a hurried and overly busy way. I would say that you would only need two days maximum in Bratislava and any more than this and you may struggle to fill your time. The city does have great transport opportunities through to Vienna and also Budapest, so is one that I will visit again as a gateway to Hungary.
In the summer, boats leave from Bratislava to cruise to Vienna and Budapest which must be a great way to arrive. I did look to see if it were possible to cruise to Vienna however the service doesn't start until May when the tourist numbers must increase.

On my second day the weather had turned to heavy rain, however the forecast looked slightly better to the East of Slovakia so thats where I headed. The first city I arrived at was Trnava. Trnava is an industrial city with a walled Old Town around 30 miles east of Bratislava. It has the nickname of 'The Rome of the East' due the large number of Churches it holds. I spent maybe about 45 minutes in the rain wandering around the pretty and almost deserted Old Two photographing its stunning churches.

The next major stop on the line was the city of Trencin, famous for its massive and imposing castle. Arriving by train the castle is visible even on a cloudy day from miles out of town. It is very reminiscent of Edinburgh castle built on a large mound overlooking the city. Entrance to the castle site costs 3 Euros and this includes a tour. The castle has been on this site since 1069 and is an imposing fortress. Again, like Bratislava castle it was destroyed by fire and is largely restored. The views out are amazing though, over the Old town and the Danube and the green coutryside towards the high mountains of the north.

My train ticket for the return cost 14 Euros and took me a hundred or so miles to the east. The Slovakian rail system is really good with the trains (as with anywhere outside the UK) running bang on time and seats available for all paying customers! Not like my expereince of getting to and from Birmingham airport. Similarly the train to Vienna only costs 9 Euros for the hour or so trip and again the trains run bang on time.

If you are planning a trip to Vienna from Bratislava you need, as an absolute minimum, to have an over night say in Vienna where doing things the other way you could do Bratislava justice on a day trip.

I really enoyed my time in Bratislava and Slovakia. Having seen Prague and Poland I really wanted to see Bratislava now before it really gets on the tourist routes. Whilst, on my visit, much of the city was having a makeover I am glad I visited now because its major drawcard and attraction over Prague for me is its quaintness and peacefulness. This may be lost when tourists begin to arrive in bigger numbers. It terms of sights and attractions it will never compete with Prague, which to me is visually in a different league, however its quaintness is great and it makes for a really relexed city break in my opinion.

Summary: A nuce relaxed Capital city perfect to explore on foot.