Austria begins a few minutes west of the tram network and Hungary a few minutes south, which makes this the only national capital that touches two foreign countries, and the Czech frontier is under an hour away as well, leaving Slovakia's capital hemmed in by three borders. From the castle's oldest tower on a clear day you can pick out the flat land of both neighbours. Vienna sits closer to Bratislava than any other pair of capitals in Europe, Rome and the Vatican aside, at roughly sixty kilometres. An electric railway linked the two until the end of the Second World War, after which the border shut for decades and the line was never rebuilt.
The airport here is small and served mainly by budget carriers, so many arrive instead on the bus from Vienna's much bigger one, a little over an hour away. Trains between the two centres run all day and take about an hour, and in the warm half of the year a fast catamaran, the Twin City Liner, covers the same route down the Danube in around seventy-five minutes, up to three times daily; it stops for the winter apart from a short pre-Christmas run. Slovakia is inside the Schengen area and uses the euro, and borders now record fingerprints and a facial image rather than a stamp, with an online authorisation for visa-exempt visitors coming, so check what applies to your passport. Prices stay among the gentler in the European Union, though the old town is catching up. It pays to compare flights and hotels for Bratislava and to weigh a night here against the day trip everyone else does.
The old town is compact, almost entirely pedestrian and stranger than it first looks. Michael's Gate is the last of the medieval gates left standing. St Martin's Cathedral crowned Hungarian kings and queens for two and a half centuries, back when this city was the capital of that kingdom and Vienna's rival rather than its suburb. A short walk east, the Blue Church, properly the Church of St Elizabeth, is Art Nouveau rendered in pale blue and unlike anything else in central Europe. Bronze figures lurk at pavement level, the best known a workman called Čumil grinning out of a manhole.
Above everything sits Bratislava Castle, white and square with a tower at each corner, rebuilt after a century and a half as a burnt-out shell. Across the river the bridge known as Most SNP carries a flying-saucer observation deck and restaurant on its single pylon, a striking piece of engineering built at the cost of most of the old Jewish quarter beneath it, synagogue included. Behind it stretches Petržalka, an enormous estate of panel blocks that is either an eyesore or the most honest thing in the city, depending who you ask.
Where you stay is a question of noise and price. In the old town, boutique hotels sit on the lanes around Hlavné námestie, as central as it gets and loud at weekends. Below the castle in Podhradie, design hotels and apartment rentals climb the hill towards the ramparts. Around the main railway station, mid-range hotels come cheaper and stay within walking distance of Michael's Gate. Across the water in Petržalka, apartment rentals cost noticeably less than anywhere else, with a quick tram or bus back over the Danube.
No car is needed or wanted on a city break this size. The centre walks in an afternoon and trams and buses are cheap, so what repays arranging is transfers, a guided walk and the day trips, which here go by water or rail rather than road. The obvious one is Devín, the cliff-top ruin where the Morava meets the Danube and where the Iron Curtain's barbed wire once ran, reached by bus or by boat in season. North of the city a short train serves the Small Carpathian wine villages of Svätý Jur, Pezinok and Modra. Vienna and Budapest are both comfortable days out. It costs nothing to check boat trip and wine tour prices, and treat this as the base rather than the stopover.
Season matters more than the size of the place suggests. Summer is warm and busy with groups off the Danube cruise ships, and the terraces on the main square fill from lunchtime. Spring and autumn are the pleasant stretches, with harvest festivals in the wine villages north of the city. Winter is cold and grey, redeemed by a Christmas market smaller and far less frantic than the one an hour upriver in Vienna. Whenever you come, eat bryndzové halušky, the potato dumplings with sheep cheese and bacon that count as the national dish, heavy and salty and nothing like anything Austria serves. Personally, I would stay the night rather than day-trip in, because the place changes character completely once the last coach leaves for Vienna.
Q: Is Bratislava worth visiting from Vienna?
A: Yes. Trains take about an hour, buses much the same, and a seasonal catamaran covers the Danube in around seventy-five minutes. An overnight shows a far calmer city once the day groups have gone.
Q: Are Vienna and Bratislava the closest capitals in the world?
A: No, but they are the closest in Europe if you set Rome and the Vatican aside, roughly sixty kilometres apart. Kinshasa and Brazzaville sit considerably closer to each other.
Q: How long do you need in Bratislava?
A: A day covers the old town and Bratislava Castle comfortably. Two days allow the wine villages, the castle ruin at Devín, or a proper look at the modern city across the river.
Q: Do you need a car in Bratislava?
A: No. The old town is pedestrian, trams and buses are cheap, and boats, buses and trains reach the best excursions.
Q: What should you eat in Bratislava?
A: Bryndzové halušky, potato dumplings with sheep cheese and bacon, is the national dish of Slovakia. Cabbage soup and the white wines of the Small Carpathians are the other things worth ordering.
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