Earlier this year (wow, I can’t believe it hasn’t even been a full year yet – 2025 is frickin’ long) my husband and I (I’M MARRIED YA’LL) spent a week traveling between Germany, Austria and Slovakia. I have been to Germany many times and it always is an enjoyable time but I had never visited Slovakia before, and I cannot emphasize how MUCH I love this city. If you have not visited, go, if you’re thinking about going, go if you’re not thinking about going let me convince you, GO. When I expressed interest in visiting Bratislava my husband responded in the way that won my heart, “I’m down, whatever you want,” and off we went. We purchased a train ticket which was more or less 100 euro and rode five hours across Austria, having to transfer to another train in Salzburg. We had time to kill so we stopped in a small cafe/pub to have a coffee and pass the time while we waited for our connecting train. This place was straight up like CHEERS – not that I have ever seen a single episode but let’s pretend I have – this pub was full of regulars enjoying a pint or five, at ten AM on a Tuesday. When Dustin and I stopped in to grab a coffee we were approached by several regulars just wanting to get to know us, where we were from and where we were going. When it came time to pay we handed the waitress 50 Euro since they did not accept card. She did not have change and quickly referred to the 10-15 regulars who proceeded to dig in their pockets to help her make change. It was very entertaining.
We arrived in Bratislava after what felt like an eternity then had to take a bus to our hotel, Arcadia Hotel in the Old Town, which was absolutely fantastic and I highly recommend it. The hotel was in a great location, with an amazing atmosphere, room, everything- it looked super historic but we also were able to watch Derry Girls on the tv in the room so definitely a win/win. However, back to the journey to our hotel… we did bring Tumi 4-wheel suitcases which meant we had to roll them over cobblestone once we got off the bus we had to go back and forth between fearing our wheels were going to pop off while simultaneously causing everyone within a ten foot radius to hate our guts to then try to carry the suitcases before deciding sometimes being hated is far more worth the alternative.
When we reached our hotel we checked in with the friendly and welcoming staff, dropped our bags before heading out to explore the city.
What to see/do:
Primates Square
The Blue Church
Man at Work Statue
Old Town Square/ St. Michaels Gate
Bratislava Castle
What to eat/drink:
Bratislava Flagship Restaurant: This place was so delicious, getting seating was kind of inconvenient but the food 10000% made up for it and honestly I dream about what I ate here quite often. I would absolutely go back when I revisit Bratislava one day.
Slovak Pub: had lunch here, it was very good, had the garlic soup and of course some more dumplings/perogis.
Konditorei Kormuth: This is the number one most gorgeous coffee shop/cafe I have ever visited in my entire life.
Michalska Cocktail Room: A super cool speakeasy that Dustin and I had one too many cocktails at, highly recommend.
Cajovna Zamocka: An underground tea room located in an underground bunker, very cool and unique spot.
Runaway Blond 