KEY AREASOld Town Former residents who haven’t been back to Bratislava for eight years or more are staggered by the changes to the downtown area. Once grey and lifeless under the history-hating Communists, Old Town has sprung back under Mayor Andrej Durkovsky to become a vibrant and exciting European capital. Start your tour with the Main Square (Hlavne Namestie), rebuilt in autumn 2005 and often the site of free concerts and cultural programmes. Obchodna ulica (Commerce Street) Following the 1989 Velvet Revolution, this bar and club strip, interrupted by the occasional locationally challenged retail store, was Bratislava’s idea of a business district. The arrival of international retail chains to more fashionable premises has exploded that conceit, but the pubs and clubs remain, with their Friday night energy.
The Docklands Neglected and overgrown for decades, Bratislava’s docklands are finally getting a facelift. Irish developer Ballymore is dropping about £400 million on its massive Eurovea multi-use development east of the Old Bridge, along the banks of the Danube River, while domestic developers HB Reavis and J&T are closing in from the landward side with office projects. On the other side of the Old Bridge, J&T has a full head of steam up on its own city-changing project, River Park, which includes a five-star hotel scheduled for 2007.
Koliba Anyone approaching Bratislava by road or rail will have seen the television tower that looms over the city. The hill that supports it is called Koliba, or Kamzik, and represents about a 300-metre climb from the city proper. Formerly a warren of vineyards and vegetable gardens, Koliba is now Bratislava’s premier real-estate address and offers splendid forest walks in a park stretching 50kms to the north-east. A cable car added in 2005 makes the ascent easier from the far side, but from the city you’ll enjoy taking the 203 bus from Presidential Square and hiking up to the rustic pubs that sprout from the summit.
Bratislava Castle Some say it looks like an upside-down table, but this venerable (9th century) site deserves better—and receives it from people who take the time to visit. A The Lord of the Rings style flight of stairs leads up from under the New Bridge. Once you’ve inspected the battlements you can either retreat to the superb Hradna Vinaren (castle wine cellar), which offers spectacular views of the Petrzalka suburb and its fearsome Communist tenements, or forge further towards the adjacent Slovak parliament and the classy Palisady residential district.
GETTING AROUND
Public transport here consists of buses, trams and trolleys. They are sedate but punctual and cheap, and the rolling stock is improving since privatisation a few years ago. Tickets can be purchased from the yellow dispensers at most transit stops, with the price varying according to the time for which the ticket is valid. Remember to validate the ticket in the red machine as soon as you get on the vehicle. Otherwise you risk being nabbed by one of that very disagreeable breed the revizori (ticket checkers). Bratislava dreams of an underground railway system, but it’s not likely to happen in our lifetimes.
Taxis are very cheap compared to Western prices, but the service varies enormously. Even the formerly reliable Euro Taxi (Tel: 16 022) and Yellow Cab (Tel: 4444 1111) have begun to employ (or retain) cowboys and to dismiss customer complaints without investigation. Visitors are advised to arrange taxis through their hotels.
SHOPPING
Bratislava wasn’t built with retail shopping in mind, and its downtown core has only about 30,000 square metres of retail space in total (provincial cities of the same size in Germany or the UK tend to have several larger department stores of 30,000 square metres each). The Slovak capital’s top shopping destinations thus remain its malls Polus and Au Park, with massive new retail developments such as Soravia Palace (120,000 square metres near the airport) and the Eurovea project of Irish developer Ballymore (55,000 square metres in the docklands) in the pipeline. Au Park is five minutes by bus from downtown on Einsteinova Street, on the Petrzalka (south) side of the Danube across the New Bridge, while Polus is about 20 minutes from downtown by tram on Vajnorska Street. Both sites offer wide selections of consumer electronics, sportswear and off-the-rack clothing stores such as Benetton, Alain Delon and Kenvelo.
While the Old Town can’t offer the same quantity of retailers as the malls, it’s definitely the more interesting place to shop. Try starting at the top of Michalska Street, from the SNP Square entrance, with the Alize fashion house, which carries clothing by Jean-Paul Gaultier, Chloé and Valentino. Head down past the trendy Medusa restaurant and under the arches to Accessorize (Michalska 13) for a selection of handbags, and the next-door Dior Institute for luxury perfumes. The fragrance of bath soaps and body oils advertises the wares of the L’Occitane en Provence shop at Michalska 7, under the same roof as the Coccinelle women’s fashion boutique. The St Michael’s Garden complex at Michalska 5 houses the casual dining Lebowski restaurant and a superb antiques shop, while the Cokolada café opposite (Michalska 6) tempts strollers with truffles and dozens of alcoholic and non-alcoholic chocolate beverages. Your last stop on Michalska should be the Stylo jewellery store at No 4, whose ring and earring designs are strikingly original.
At this point, you might duck down Sedlarska Street past the Dubliner Irish Pub to the Main Square, which is home to several top-notch art shops (SkloPorcelan for glass and pottery, Folk Art for, well, folk art and paintings) and luxury retailers such as the Sheron and Weidler jewellery and watch shops. From there it’s a few steps to the Eurobooks English-language bookstore on Jesenského and the Vinoteka Sv Urbana wine store on Klobucnicka.
The Trznica open-air market (Mileticova Street 17) offers tourists a classic offbeat shopping experience, with its teeming vegetable, clothing and fast-food stands. You’re unlikely to buy anything, but as a slice-of-life experience it can’t be beat.
GIFTS TO BUY
Slovakia prides itself on its crystal and its Modra pottery with the distinctive blue, white and yellow patterns. For samples try the ULUV (Centre of Folk Crafts) shops on Obchodna Street 64 and Namestie SNP 14, where you’ll also find traditional folk costumes and painted Easter eggs. The Ten Senses shop on Venturska 14 is a bit less traditional, offering more modern Slovak pottery and art.
THINGS TO DO
Start with one of the most recognised symbols of Bratislava: the New Bridge (Novy Most), which was completed in 1972 and is the seventh largest suspension bridge in the world. Take the elevator from the pedestrian walkway up to the revolving restaurant and observatory. Admission is £1 per person. Locals weren’t allowed access during Soviet rule, perhaps because the view of Austria from the 85-metre structure was too tempting, but modern-day tourists will be able to get a sense of the city’s layout before starting their tour.
Once you’ve got your bearings, start with Bratislava Castle, which is the city’s most visible landmark. The castle stairs lead up from under the New Bridge, and take you to a stirring view of the Petrzalka suburb on the other side of the river. The Slovak National Museum has a history exhibit on the 3rd floor of the fortress.
Continue through the castle gates past the country’s Parliament and head down to your right along Zamocka Street, which houses MPs’ offices and a trendy selection of cafés and shops. The street ends at the Chez David kosher restaurant and, if you continue over the overpass, you will come to Michalska Street and the clock tower at Michalska Brana (Michael’s Gate), which features an exhibition of weapons and another perilous climb to a view of the Old Town’s roofs.
Michalska and Venturska streets will bring you to Panska, where you hang a right for St Martin’s Cathedral, the coronation site of generations of Austro-Hungarian emperors. Cross over Bratislava’s largest square, Hviezdoslavovo, to the Slovak National Gallery (www.sng.sk) on Riecna Street along the river. A fine building blighted by a Communist architectural rethink, the SNG works up a sweat with its 19th and 20th century Slovak and European art collections, but it can’t compete with better endowed galleries in wealthier countries.
For modern art, pay a visit to the Danubiana Meulenstein (www.danubiana. sk) art museum in the nearby village of Cunovo (bus 91 from under the New Bridge, followed by a 3kms walk). It’s a beautiful site surrounded on three sides by water.
Opera and ballet in Bratislava would be a steal at twice the price. They’re both presented in the beautiful Slovak National Theatre (www.snd.sk) building on Hviezdoslavovo Square in the Old Town.
Although developers can be heard revving their chainsaws, Bratislava still has some gorgeous parks to offer, including the Sad Janka Krala on the south side of the river behind the New Bridge, the Medicka Zahrada off 29th August Street close to the Old Town, and Horsky Park near the Slavin monument above the Palisady district. The most impressive and exhausting to explore is the sprawling Bratislavske lesny park (Bratislava Forest Park) on the Koliba hill, which runs for 50kms into the Small Carpathian
EXCURSIONS
Many hotels offer tours or will at least help you in signing up for one. For help in planning a tour or trip, you could also visit the Bratislava Information Service on Klobucnicka ulica 2, on the outer edge of the Old Town (Tel: 5443 3715, www.bkis. bratislava.sk).
For river tours up and down the Danube to Vienna or Budapest, including dining and conferences, visit the LOD boat terminal (Tel: 5293 2224, www.lod.sk, Email: travel@lod.sk) on the south side of the Danube about 100 metres east of the Old Bridge. For schedules and booking options, consult the website.
For a choice of city tours, from a 30-minute spin around the Old Town in a vintage car to a painstaking six-hour excursion by bus, try Satur Travel (Tel: 5542 2828, Email: info@acr.satur.sk).
For a day out of the city, try the ruins of the Devin Castle, about 12kms to the west of Bratislava. The castle lies at the confluence of the Danube and Morava rivers and dates from the 13th century. The site is open for visits from May to October. Take bus No 29 from under the New Bridge (Novy Most) terminal in the centre of Bratislava.
TOURIST TRAPS
As beautiful as the old town core is, it’s vastly overpriced by Slovak standards, and if you venture even a few hundred metres outside the down town area you’ll find pubs, restaurants and hotels asking a fraction of the prices. Also, beware of cabbies and taxis—not only may you get taken for a ride, but the service can be downright unpleasant.
Don’t board a city transit vehicle without buying and stamping a ticket. And never expect cars to stop at pedestrian crossings—the law says they have to but even the police ignore it.
CONVENTION CENTRES
Bratislava’s hotel owners have been pushing for a convention centre in the city for years, but so far Vienna remains the place to go for groups larger than 300 people. For smaller meetings, try the Crowne Plaza, the Danube or the Tatra.