The final day of our city break in Bratislava, and one on which we planned to slow the pace somewhat. Allowing ourselves a much deserved lie in, we enjoyed a leisurely, late breakfast before checking out of our hotel at 11.00 a.m. This huge, out of town hotel catering mostly for business travellers and conference delegates had been quiet during our stay and with the standard facilities expected of a Holiday Inn, had met our needs perfectly. Do bear in mind though that if you choose to stay here whilst in Bratislava that it is a little way out of town necessitating the use of trams followed by a ten minute walk to reach the hotel.
After three days of non stop sightseeing it was time for a little retail therapy with a trip to the Central Mall located just out of town. Here we found a good range of stores in this large, modern, shopping centre and better still as it was a Monday morning, we had the place almost to ourselves improving the shopping experience.
Leaving the mall with several purchases, we headed back to the old town in time for a lunchtime pot of tea and slice of cheesecake overlooking the Slovak National Theatre. We then resumed our sightseeing in temperatures of 26 degrees Celsius – having experienced wall to wall sunshine since we arrived on Friday morning!
Not far from the National Theatre lies the Blue Church which is an absolute delight. Spoilt only by a fashion shoot taking place on its steps.
Moving on, we headed to the Presidential Palace where we were just in time to watch the Changing of the Guards ceremony at 3.00 p.m. Surprisingly there were only a handful of other people present but it was so nice to see.
Having looked around, we found a sunny terrace to enjoy glasses of local beer before taking a final walk through the streets of this quaint old town and enjoying a meal before returning to the Holiday Inn to collect our bags and continuing to the airport for our late evening flight back to the UK.
I would highly recommend a weekend city break in Bratislava but as it’s such a small capital city (similar in size to Tallinn, Estonia) it would probably be difficult to find enough to fill four days. However, coupled with a full day in Vienna and a half day in Trnava we kept ourselves fully occupied and would have no hesitations about returning sometime in the future, as it’s a delightful little place where we felt safe and secure the entire time. Our Ryanair flights were cheap and coupled with hotel costs I doubt we spent more than an equivalent weekend to London travelling by train.
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Looks like a great break Marion. Lots of history and old world charm. I especially love the thought of sitting in a café along the river enjoying a cool one. Thanks for sharing. Have a great weekend. Allan
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Thanks for taking an interest in my post on Bratislava. We liked this small city so much that hopefully we’ll get a chance to return one day.
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Awesome! What are the sources you get your information from? Keep up the good work.
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Travel books like Lonely Planet from the library and general searching online. I’m so pleased you find my posts helpful.
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Love that roof top.
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Thank you! I liked it too!
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Beautiful! I should visit someday! Thank you for taking me there through your prose and photos ☺
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It’s my pleasure, thank you for your kind words.
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You’ve definitely whetted my appetite for Bratislava Marion, it looks beautiful. Another place for the list!!
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Thanks for your kind words Joy, I can definitely recommend it for a pleasant yet inexpensive weekend away!
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I missed the Blue Church… it was closed when we reached there. It’s beautiful
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Thanks Carine, hope you get to see it sometime.
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Yes!! Traveling is the most fun!!
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I definitely agree! Thank you for your nice comments.
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Thanks for opening my eyes to the charms of Solvakia as a destination.
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It’s my pleasure Anna, thank you for letting me know that you have enjoyed this series of posts.
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I consider myself a pretty well rounded traveler and never heard of this city — thanks!
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Bratislava is still quite a hidden gem but well worth a visit. Thanks for getting in touch.
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Isn’t that church just beautiful…
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The Blue Church was beautiful and I’m glad we managed to see it before returning home.
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The rivers of Europe are such a treasure. They host a great spectrum of cultures, even within linguistic communities there are differences as you travel the waterways and even unique changes in architecture. Once again you have exposed us to a fraction of those experiences and the pictures are great.
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Thanks Ian for your much appreciated comments. I’m delighted to read that you have enjoyed this series of posts on Bratislava.
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Super series on Bratislava – thanks for sharing these beautiful images and the useful infos. Saved for future reference (near future I hope😉). Marcus
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Thanks Marcus, I hope you soon get an opportunity to visit Bratislava with your family. Hope your week isn’t proving too hectic. Marion
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I loved that Blue Church!! Gorgeous!! Thanks for the tour 🙂
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I loved the Blue Church too! Thanks for joining me on my tour of Bratislava!
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going to europe in a few weeks – may put this on my list!
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I hope you have a splendid time touring around Europe, there’s so much to see.
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Looks lovely. I think a weekend break there could be an option sometime. Thanks for the interesting post.
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Bratislava is often overlooked but it makes for a very attractive city break. Thank you for your much appreciated comments.
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Thank you for this tour of Bratislava. Liked the pictures and the blue church was our favorite.
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Thank you for your much appreciated comments. The Blue Church was one of my favourites too!
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🙂
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That Blue Church is amazingly beautiful. The ladt photo is great, something we don’t see here, a castle in the middle off a city.
Thank you once again for sharing your travels with us.
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Thank you for your kind words Kristina, Bratislava is quite a hidden gem.
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Just took a coffee break whilst travelling with you! Best coffee break i had in a while 🙂
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Thank you for taking the time to read and comment on my post, it’s much appreciated!
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It was a pleasure 🙂
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The old East European capitals are the new gems of Europe. I stayed in an AirBnB in an old communist-style apartment house (gray concrete) just outside Bratislava’s city center. Great food. Cheap. And great communist bar honoring Stalin and Lenin.
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The former east European capitals are absolute gems John. I’m glad you also had a splendid time in Bratislava.
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Reblogged this on World News Now.
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