A daytrip to check off another country? Why not! Bratislava, Slovakia is a popular daytrip from Vienna as it is close and super easy to get to. There are multiple and inexpensive ways to get there: rail or bus. The rail station nearest to the old town is under maintenance so the train option would require a change, bus, or uber into the old town. The bus option would be the best in this case as the bus stop is next to the old town. There are also multiple bus companies operating this route, I chose RegioJet because of its schedule…although I do wish they have an earlier option. Our departure was at 8:50 AM arriving at 10:10 AM. Cost for 3 adults and 2 kids: only €29.50 one way! The bus station is at Vienna Hbf Main train station (Südtiroler Platz) and platform “B1” and I would think an “international bus station” would be inside a building with gates and display of bus numbers. Totally not! According to Google Maps, I ended up at a parking lot! I was doubting myself if this is the right place! There is no display, no gate, not even a ticket counter!
I looked around and there is “B1” hum…. Until a bus arrived and I asked the driver if this is the bus stop to Bratislava, he said yes! Unbelieveable!
The driver got his smoking break and then came back when boarding time. He scanned our QR code and we boarded the bus. The bus made a stop at Vienna airport to pick up more guests and then on the way to Bratislava. There was no border control, nothing as Slovakia is in the EU.
Once we were on the MOST SNP Bridge, I immediately see the Bratislava Castle on the left side on top of the hill.
The bus dropped us off across the street from the Park Inn by Radisson Hotel. From there, it was a short walk into the old town. Note that the bus back to Vienna, the station is located under the bridge, Google Map has it as “Most SNP Bus Station”: https://maps.app.goo.gl/LWXfXKdyf9siYwdj6.
We turned right and there is St. Martin’s Cathedral:
The lively street into the old town:
An injured butterfly dropped down on the floor 🙁
Into the old town with beautiful classic buildings:
The buildings getting more colorful and more souvenir shops as we approaching the center of the old town.
You can see the Bratislava Castle from the street too.
The main street of the old town lead to the beautiful Michael’s Gate (on the background):
But our first stop was the post office: Slovak post – Bratislava 1 to get stamps to add to Jason’s collection. Inside the post office, there was a little shop that sell stationary, toys, and some stamps. We showed the cashier lady the collectible stamps and she shake her head. She said no English and then another lady came in whom she spoke Slovak to. Then this other lady said follow her……she took us to another side of the post office, through a room under construction and to an office. We thanked her so much for showing us the way! There were lots of collectible style stamps, Jason bought a few designs. Unfortunately, the Slovakia landmarks weren’t available.
After fulfilling Jason’s quest for stamps, we walked another 15 minutes on the outskirt of the old town to the cute “The Blue Church” – Church of St. Elizabeth. I saw this fairytale book design church years ago from a website and always wanted to visit Bratislava for that.
After fulfilling Jason’s quest for stamps, we walked back into the old town to use its public restroom….traveling with young kids, we need to plan bathroom breaks accordingly. The public restroom is a paid restroom, although it wasn’t manned, there’s a gate that you need to insert a 1 Euro coin to enter. Bathroom break solved, we walked another 15 minutes on the outskirt of the old town to the cute “The Blue Church” – Church of St. Elizabeth. I saw this fairytale book design church years ago from a website and always wanted to visit Bratislava for that.
Doesn’t this give you a gingerbread house vibe?
My daughter’s favorite color is blue so she loved this church!
Another moment where I wish I had my wide angle lens!
Apparently, they offered paid guided tour of the interior of the church! We didn’t join it knowing my kids will lose patient so we just took a few photos and left.
On the way back to the old town, we saw this cute building across the street of the Blue Church. The design style looked similar but in yellow.
After 15 min walk again, we were back to the old town.
The amazing Stará Radnica (Old Town Hall) on the back with its patterned tile-roof. This reminded me of Zegreb.
Next to the Old Town Hall is the pink palace, Primacial Palace. I was planning to visit the palace and to use the restroom but it was closed on Mondays!
Through the Old Town Hall, a little square with those big wheel bicycle displays, the kids had fun posting for pics on them!
The other side of the Old Town Hall of a beautiful square with colorful houses.
A colorful and pretty square!
There was also a fixture that sprays mist so the kids had fun running through it.
Every square in Europe has a fountain….here is Maximilian’s Fountain:
We took a turn on the left and there was the “hardest working statue” surrounded by tourists. We waited till the tour group left and my kids got their turn taking photos with Čumil. My naughty son had to sit on him LOL!
It was time for lunch and the Vietnamese restaurant, Bamboo was just around the corner. Jason ordered Pho and it tasted good! They didn’t have the Pho noodle we had in Boston, so far, of all the Vietnamese restaurants we had been to in Europe, we haven’t encountered one that uses the Pho noodle like home. I guess they don’t have factory to produce it there.
I ordered the crispy duck curry, it was okay, the curry sauce was spicy but runny.
I got the kids and my mom a chicken teriyaki rice and bento box of grilled salmon and salad.
Their lunch special was quite cheap, at around 10 Euros per dish!
After lunch, it was souvenir shopping time! This handcraft toy shop was super cute but quite expensive!
Most souvenir shops sell the exact same stuff, the popular ones are those colorful ceramic flowers. One stem cost 5-10 Euros!! If you want a nice bouquet of flowers, it’ll cost more than 40 Euros!!
Another type is the glass flowers, they looked so pretty but I don’t think I can carry them home in one piece so I didn’t buy it.
We were back to the most beautiful building in the old town (in my opinion): Michael’s Gate.
As we walked toward the gate, I saw this unique side street with connecting bridges:
The backside of the gate looked more plain:
After checking out few shops with repetition of the same stuff, we only bought a music box for my daughter. We continued on our walk out of the old town to the bus station. At first, I couldn’t figure out the location, Google Maps kept telling me to go around which takes 16 minutes of walk when it looked right in front of me. Sure enough, it was under the bridge and there was a little path next to the Park Inn by Radission Hotel to cross the road to get under the bridge.
It looked shady LOL but at least they have a cafe shop there where I asked the staff if this is the bus stop back to Vienna. He nodded!
The RegioJet bus came right on time – 2:45 PM for our return back to Vienna arrived at 4ish since there was traffic. The bus dropped us off at the same bus station (I would say parking lot) near the Hbf Main Train Station. We took the metro China-Restaurant Zhong Xin for our dinner reservation at 5 PM via TheFork with special 30% off!
We ordered a few dishes and all ended up being delicious! We ordered the tofu pot as the kids love the fried tofu, it was tasty.
The stir-fried beef in garlic spicy sauce was great too….the beef was tender!
Yum…we missed the stir-fried green veggy with garlic!
Their lamb BBQ skewers tasted authentic according to Jason….since I don’t eat lamb.
The beef and broccoli in oyster sauce was the most salty dish but their beef quality was very tender!
All those dishes with discount came out to be only 50 Euros!!! Unbelievable deal!
We took the metro back to Stadtpark and the kids had a blast at the playgrounds in the park!
It was a great playground to burn the kids’ energy 😀
My daughter was brave enough to give this a try, once she got to the top and slide down this long slide, she ended up loving this and kept climbing for 3x times until I said it was time to go!
It was a great day trip to Bratislava, it has a cute little old town and the unbelievable cute Blue Church…I finally checked off the box and added another country to my list! I totally recommend a day trip to Bratislava, it was easy, inexpensive, and a lot to see to fill the day. It has public restrooms which makes it easier traveling with young kids. Their souvenir was expensive by Eastern Europe standards, but their restaurant is very affordable.
