During the 2019 winter break, I travelled from Vienna for Christmas to Krakow for New Year’s Eve. In between these cities, we spent a single day in Bratislava. The city is only an hour from Vienna by train, and cost 32.40 euros total for the three of us.
Bratislava was small, but beautiful. The people were very kind, and the streets felt quite safe, even late at night. We spent the evening out with a tour from our hostel and did a free walking tour the next day to see as much as possible within our limited time here.
Arriving in Bratislava
We arrived in the capital of Slovakia in the evening of December 26. We walked from the bus station to our hostel to check in. Then, we went out in search of food. We stayed at Hostel Blues, which was located conveniently near the city centre, making the main sights accessible on foot.
We ate a quick dinner at the end of the street because we signed up for an activity with the hostel that evening. I got falafel from Kuskus Fast Food, which was quite good! My non-vegetarian friends got McDonald’s.
We hurried back to the hostel to meet the group event we’d signed up for. There was an organized pub crawl we joined, thinking it would help us sleep on the overnight bus we were taking the following evening (spoiler, it didn’t. I’d personally never recommend an overnight bus as they are never restful).
An Evening Tour of Bratislava
Our guides led us through the streets of Bratislava, starting at a small pub and continuing to a string of interesting types of establishments. While I don’t remember the names of the bars we stopped at, we remembered the tourist advice our guides gave us to see the next day, including some great food options!
We met hostel guests from all over the world (Australia, France, Chile, and more). In Vienna, we stayed at a much larger hostel and didn’t really meet anyone during our stay, so this was a fun experience.
Walking Tour of Bratislava
The next day, we awoke fairly early because we had to check out of our hostel room. We packed up and stored our bags with the front desk, then went to explore the city in daylight. We walked through the main streets on our own, passing St. Martin’s Cathedral and the fascinating paintings that replaced the windows of the adjacent building.
We continued our walk to reach the Bratislava Castle which sits atop the hill overlooking the Danube river. A super fun fact about Bratislava is that it is the only capital city that borders two sovereign states (Austria and Hungary).
We left the castle in search of lunch. We decided on Regal Burger, a hamburger restaurant that had been recommended the night before by our guides and was super delicious. The restaurant was near the Slovak National Theater building, so we took a look from the outside before joining up with an English walking tour.
On our walking tour we learned about the history of the city and Slovakia more broadly. We also visited the Blue Church which is an Instagram famous sight in Bratislava.
A Traditional Slovak Meal
Following our tour, we walked around near the Danube and walked over the Old Bridge to see the city from across the water. After this stroll, our legs were getting tired from walking all day and my friend needed to replace one of the two pairs of jeans she had brought on the trip, so we stopped in the Eurovea Shopping Mall to buy some pants and rest our legs.
After our stop at the mall, we headed to the Slovak Pub, another recommendation from our tour guides the night before. The pub served traditional Slovak food. I tried the bryndzové halušky—the national dish of Slovakia, which is made with sheep cheese served on top of potato dumplings. I thought it was delicious, but I also think it’s hard to go wrong with potatoes and cheese!
We boarded our bus for Krakow late that evening (around 11pm), and continued on our European adventure.
