Slovakia: A city break in Bratislava

Bratislava is not the biggest capital city, which is why lots of people choose to do a day trip there from Vienna. I get that. However, since we started our summer European adventure in Hungary, we decided to stay over to explore before we headed to Vienna. Here's what we got up to in Slovakia's capital:

How to get there and how to get around:
We came in on the train from Budapest, which took 2.5 hours and cost a mere £15. If you're coming from Vienna, it takes about an hour to get from central Bratislava to central Vienna by car - it'll be a bit quicker if you're heading to Bratislava from Vienna airport. (Bratislava does have an airport; flights go from Luton, Stansted and Manchester.) Since it's small, it's very walkable, so that's what we did!

What to do: 
The main thing to do is explore the Old Town (Stare Mesto) which has lots of quaint buildings to look at, but also plenty of statues dotted around. That's the one thing that stuck out for me about Bratislava - look out for Napoleon (to commemorate his army entering the city twice), Beautiful Ignaz (a local eccentric, now immortalised in bronze) and the Cumil statue (a fun bronze statue peeking out of a manhole). You also want to head to Modry Kostol, also known as the "Blue Church" which, indeed, is very blue. And very pretty. 

    

    

Have a walk around the gardens of the Presidential Palace. Right by there you have Namestie Slobody (Freedom Square, which is named after the end of Communism in what was then Czechoslovakia) and also Slovenský Rozhlas. This has the bold claim of being one of the ugliest buildings in the world... we definitely saw uglier buildings in Bratislava than Slovenský Rozhlas! Finally, walk up to Bratislava Castle, where you'll also spot what looks like a UFO hovering over the Danube. We didn't go up, but what a cool observation deck! Definitely my favourite building in Bratislava.

Where to eat and drink: 
We had a yum meaty dinner at Brixton House, and a more traditional Slovakian dinner at Koliba Kamzik - both in the Old Town. (With an obligatory shot of local plum brandy at the latter, which was awful.) We had lunch at Kinka Ramen (decent ramen!), and also headed to Sky Bar for fancy cocktails and a great view of the city.

Anything else?
I'd recommend doing a day trip from Vienna, though it is worth staying over if you come from Budapest, like we did - we stayed at LOFT, which also has its own brewery if you're into your beers. Though we found it to be a pricier city than Budapest, likely because Slovakia uses the Euro rather than their own currency like Hungary does.

Have you been to Bratislava? x