Bratislava Travel Answers

I can't comment on length of time in Bratislava or Vienna as i have not yet been to either place. Prague and Budapest certainly deserve all the time you have allowed for them. The easiest way to travel is to take the train. You can find train times and details for almost all European trains, in English, here: bahn.com/i/view/overseas/en/... Budapest>Bratislava is an easy journey of 2h 41m with the direct trains, a little longer if you choose trains with changes. Bratislava>Vienna takes just under an hour on direct trains, just over an hour on trains with one change. I have not been able to find fare information for these routes (I'd appreciate other Vt-ers input, as I intend to make at least one of these journeys myself in October), but you can be reassured that railway fares in both countries are very reasonable indeed. Vienna>Prague takes around 5 hours. You can find imes, details and fares in English on: http://www.oebb.at/en/ It might well be worth booking this ticket in advance online, as there are discount fares available for advance online booking (these fares are limited in availability). An alternate would be to take long-distance bus. Buses are usually cheaper than trains but take longer. From Budapest look at: http://www.orangeways.com/en For Prague look at http://www.studentagencybus.com/ (not just for students).

A full day in the old town of Bratislava is all we had and it was just about enough. We had 2.5 days in Vienna - would have liked more. We had a week in Prague and found that enough to see most things we wanted to see - apart from a concert we wanted to hear which was the week after we left!

Thank you guys. Ok, so if I reach Bratislava on the 6th afternoon, do you recommend staying a night, or heading out to Vienna direct? My flight out of Prague is early morning on the 13th

I still can't speak from personal experience; I can only give you my opinion. I see no point in going to Bratislava if you don't intend to spend at least a night there (with time to explore when you arrive and/or before you leave). So if you decide not to do that, I'd suggest you take the train or bus direct to Vienna because that route does not actually need to go through Bratislava.

Early afternoon would give you a flavour, not so much time to linger, browse, have refreshments in one of the many cafes. Would really depend on the time of your uetirn train if using the train.

I've to still make my train bookings. Ok, so I'm spending a day at both. Any local food / bars / things I must do recommendations?

You don't need to make any train bookings online in advance except that Vienna>Prague segment, where you will possibly get a better fare by doing so...and in the case of Budapest>Bratislava and Bratislava>Vienna you can't make any online bookings anyway. So just buy your onward tickets at the station when you arrive. You'll find lots of information about bars etc on the Bratislava VT pages here: Bratislava Travel Guide and for Vienna here: Vienna Travel Guide All information on VT pages is written by VT locals and visitors, not by staff.