QUICK START

BOOK HOTEL


TESTIMONIALS

"It was our pleasure to book the hotel through your website. The service was fast and very good," Maja from Serbia wrote on April 29, 2008. She spent a night at the Hotel Zvarac.

>> More testimonials

WHAT TO DO?

>> More...

DID YOU KNOW?

Bratislava is within an hour of three different countries - Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

>> More...

NEWS

>> More...

Original Bratislava Tips from Our Visitors

June 2007
Alison, Ireland
"Very cheap to eat in good restaurants, too quiet on sunday nights, no mid priced retail outlets all expensive designer clothes. Thai massages outstanding value and excellent. We were over charged for taxis from airport to apartment. Lovely cocktails!

Great to catch a Slovakian/Irish cultural festival in the square. Couldn't find any day boat trips just along river (we had forgot to bring our passports & missed out on Vienna by boat.)
Overall: Great for a short stay, excellent value.

Chris and Sima, Denmark
The people are very friendly and helpful, and there is a great underground alternative club under the castle (Subclub). It was really a visit worth if you are into the alternative club scene


February 2006
Florence, England
"Bratislava was amazing!!! Everyone should go there, wether you are in your 20s, a family or retired! People are the most friendly there, everyone speaks English (I was actually disappointed as I wanted to pick up a couple of words!) my golden advice is do not stay in your corner with your mates, but go to people and chat to them, they are so passionate about their country, they will explain to you where to go, what to do so that you have the greatest time! I am going back as soon as possible. oh and one last thing, although it's minus 10 degrees, it is NOT AS COLD AS ENGLAND!"

December 2005
Russell, England
"Although many parts of Bratislava outside the historical centre look run down (our hotel Zvarac's neighbourhood is certainly no exception), we had no trouble walking there at night. Naturally this is at the individual visitor's personal discretion."

November 2005
Meta, Helsinki, Finland
"The taxi driver cheated us on the way from the bus station to the hotel. I read in the guide later that there are two types of taxis and unfortunately we picked the wrong one.
Restaurants and cafés are brilliant in the old city. Opera and ballet brilliant too, and cheap!"

Edward, Ireland
"The train station in Bratislava contains no maps & the Tourist Information Office closes at 17.00. We arrived at 18.00 & found it quite difficult to get to our apartment. In the end we got a taxi because there was no information in English on what public transport to take. Otherwise I would highly recommend the city as a destination for other travellers. The city is clean friendly, inexpensive & very picturesque. We only stayed for two nights, the city is quite small so it is perfect for weekend trips or as a base for travelling to Vienna which is only one hour away by train. Myself & my fellow travellers enjoyed our selves immensly."

October 2005
Hazel and Stephen, Glasgow, Scotland
"We stayed for over 9 days and found that even though the city was small we had plenty to keep us occupied with visits to Vienna and tours around the nearby countryside. The parks were a pleasure to visit and the trips to Devine Castle and Slavin were very enjoyable. Our only disappointment was the main square was being renovated whilst we were there.
The last few years we have had a few city breaks and personally felt that Bratislava was a safe place to be and was impressed with the service which we received at the many establishments."

Mark, Vienna, Austria
"The city is great for going out to bars and clubs. The observation tower on the bridge was a highlight, great bar with very strong cocktails!! The Slovakian food was not very vegetarian friendly but I got by."

September 2005
James, Washington, DC, USA
"City was fun and exciting! The nightlife was very hip and took the entire group by surprise. I would recommend Bratislava for anyone traveling to that part of the world!"

August 2005
Matleena, Jyväskylä, Finland
"Tesco's seems to be today's market place of the city (??) - if you go there, you need time and a bit of a patience since the groceries are not very practically arranged and people are rushing from every direction no one knowing where they are going. Be aware that credit card is not accepted in all cashiers."

Norberto, Italy
"I've liked Bratislava, its atmosphere... Perhaps some districts (Palisady, art noveau area, with incredibly beautiful St. Elizabeth church) should be valued more and suggested to tourists!"

July 2005
Bob, Bristol, UK
"We enjoyed our visit to Bratislava, had some excellent meals served by friendly people, and experienced few problems. We particularly enjoyed our visits to Castle Devin and to the Primate's Palace. One problem we had with transport was that the ticket machines only take coins, and we did not have enough of these. One thing we noticed is that offices were often only staffed by one person, and they therefore closed for 30 minutes from time to time for the staff to have a break. This was true of the left-luggage office at the main train station, and the office, also at the train station, where we bought our 48-hour transport tickets. This is inconvenient for tourists who wish to do a lot of things in a short time."

Richard, Barnwood, UK
"Make sure you wear dark sunglasses so you can look at all the beautiful ladies without getting caught out. Also beware of whiplash as their are too many of them. I recommend finding the Havana Bar (Michalska) as a good location for looking at the local talent, as it is a good bottleneck where everyone has to walk past. The Coyote Bar on Roznavska is worth the taxi ride out of town on a Friday or Saturday night for a good night out away from the tourists. I could go on as we found loads of excellent places."

Susanna, Finland
"We found an interesting museum accidentally: Slovenske tehnicke muzeum kosice. It was very interesting with all its old cars and stuff. We found Bratislava very safe and nice - even beggers or homeless people did not tease us much. The only bad thing that happened to me was that I was served raw chicken in a "good" restaurant (Traja Musketieri) and got ill of it, stomach flu with cambylobacter. No hard feelings, I will no doubt recover but people should pay attention to their food - especially chicken at any restaurant - being well done before eating it."

June 2005
Kevin, UK
"I think the city should be proud of its recent past ie; 1950s to 1970s. The SNP bridge is a case in point. This is a fantastic structure, and more should be made of its attraction. It is a pity that work was still going on, and we could not get up to the top. In years to come, I believe the bridge will become as important as the churches or castle in being a landmark of Bratislava that tourists will like to visit. The graffiti on the walkway adds to its look, and is almost a 'noticeboard' for events and ideologies. The Park (Sad Janka) is beautiful too, and only steps away from the bridge. Slavin memorial was in a lovely spot overlooking the town. Well done the Soviets in this respect. The best yet though was the Kamzik TV tower. We took a taxi up there one afternoon, and finished off with a spectacular feast in the revolving restaurant. This tower deserves more publicity. The staff were very pleasant, the food was fantastic (we had caviar to start) the views over the city and hills totally worth a price themselves, and the cost was extremely reasonable. Well done to the chefs and service. My tip for success when staying would be to take the trouble as a tourist to learn a few key words of Slovakian. It is only polite to do so, and I think the citizens appreciate this effort. It can also save you money in a taxi! Finally I would like to mention a band that we saw playing in Hlavne Namestie, as part of the Cow Parade on Wednesday night. They were from Bratislava I think, and called 'Satisfactory', and played a brilliant set of some of my favourite 1960s songs including those by the Stones, the Who, the Yardbirds and the Kinks. Good luck to those guys, they made my holiday."

Andrew, California, USA
"My tips for prospective tourists: I enjoyed my stay in Bratislava very much. For all those Americans who view the capitalistic system with such negativity and disdain be sure and take a tour of the Panel city, constructed by the communists in the 1970's, located across the river. It will give you a new appreciation of how fortunate you are to have been born in the U.S. The few Slovaks that I was fortunate enough to be able to carry on a conversation with were very friendly. If at all possible avoid the grocery store part of the Tesco that is near the center center. Or at least do your food shopping very soon after the store opens and before the crowd arrives. I was rammed with a shopping cart by more than one elderly lady when I did not move fast enough. For a fun time, pretty waitresses, and good food visit the Dubliner Irish pub in the city center. That is, if you don't mind hordes of rampaging Brits who are in town for weekend stag parties. I personally did not mind and I had quite a few drinks with the Brits, who though loud, are overall some pretty great lads. Personally, I plan on returning to Bratislava in the future."

Lisa, Finland
"It was also my first time in Bratislava and I enjoyed staying in the city very much. The city centre is beautiful and there are nice details like colourful cows and statues like Man at work in the city."

Ray, Ireland
"Definitely go to Sparx nightclub. My god what a great place. Just ask a taxi driver to take you there. They all know where it is. Get there early though as queues build up outside. The Slovak bar is also good but it's the only decent bar really in the city, the Irish pub is ok too. There are not really all that many places to go out in, in the city centre. Shopping is not as cheap as I thought it would be either. My advise would be to fly into Budapest and stay there for a few nights, get a boat ride up to Bratislava on the Danube. Two nights is definitely long enough to stay in Bratislava city unless you are travelling outside for a look. Then get the boat again up to Vienna on the Danube. Both boat trips take about 1.5 to 2 hours each and are a great way to see the countryside. Prague is also about 4 hours away by train from Bratislava. But definitely stay in the old part of Bratislava city North of the river (i.e. the side of the river with the castle on it). The southern side may offer cheaper accommodation but you would not want to stay there. Not a lot people can speak that much English either. Most of the menus are in Slovakian as well but its all part of exploring another culture."