Bratislava is easily reachable by various means of transport: airplanes, trains, coaches and cars. Two airports are situated at distances of 20 km (Bratislava airport) and 60 km (Swechat - Vienna airport). Regular buses from both airports bring participants to the center of the city. Rental car agencies can be found at each airport. There are regular train connections and regular busses to Vienna, Prague, Warsaw and Budapest. Public transport and taxi services are well developed in Bratislava, thus every point of the city can be easily reached.
Collective City Transport
The most important lines with the marked stops corresponding to the hotel locations are listed on the page with the list of hotels (on the bottom). Most of places and sights attractive in tourist terms can be found directly in the city centre, in the pedestrian zone. In case you would like to see some attraction at a longer distance from the centre, we recommend you to use city transport. In Bratislava, there is a dense network of public city transport lines running in regular intervals according to schedule. The schedule (times of departure) of the respective line can be found on any stop of city collective transport. City transport connections in Bratislava are provided for by bus, tram and trolleybus lines whose last departures from their terminal stops are at about 11:00 p.m. First morning connections start running only at about 4:20 a.m. Most daytime connections, however, start running only closely before 05:00 o‘ clock in the morning. Between 11:00 p.m. and 05:00 o‘clock in the morning, the so-called night lines are driving in Bratislava. There are altogether 18 of them in Bratislava. Lines of night connections are indicated with numbers 501 - 518. Most of lines (i.e. 501 - 515 and 518) start at the main railway station, while the line On the night lines, there apply bus passes (prepaid transportation tickets), tourist tickets and 60-minute transportation ticket (at the price of SKK 22), whose validity is extended to 90 minutes. You can learn about connections and transport conditions on www.dpb.sk (sorry for inconvenience - this page is in Slovak only so yo can check the list of routes with the name of the stops under "trasy liniek" and time table of lines as "cestovné poriadky " - here you have to open combo boxes with the number of lines. Here "Električky" means the trams, "Trolejbusy" means the trolly buss and "Autobusy" means the busses "Nočné spoje" means the night lines. You will get a complete time table for any transport line.
A brief list of most important public transport lines you will find at the end of page with hotel locations.
Aircraft.
The airport of M.R. Stefanik is the biggest international airport in the Slovak Republic. It is spreading 9 km north-east of the centre of the capital city Bratislava. It serves for regular and irregular air transport on inland and foreign lines. Regular lines fly to Bratislava from Amsterdam, Birmingham, London, Brussels, Paris, Leipzig, Stuttgart, Munich, Frankfurt-on-Main, Berlin, Zürich, Milan, Venice, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Rome, Prague, Kosice, Warszaw, Kiev, Moscow, Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik, Sofia, Varna, Delhi, Larnaca, Tel Aviv, Kuwait City, Armitsarm, Copenhagen (planned). Regular buss line of city transport No. 61 runs to the airport of Bratislava on the route from airport to the main railway station ZSR (Railways of the Slovak Republic). Connection to the centre by this line lasts for about 20 minutes.
International airport of Schwechat – Vienna is 45km far from Bratislava. You can get from the airport to the city centre on the motor road E 58 in 40 minutes.Regular connection from the airport to the bus station of Mlynske Nivy is provided for by the joint-stock company SAD, a.s., Division of Eurolines. Regular line to the airport runs every hour, connecting the International Airport of M.R. Stefanik through the city centre with the International Airport of Schwechat. A stop of this bus line is in front of the departure hall of the Schwechat airport. You can find more detailed information on connections from Bratislava to the International Airport of Schwechat on www.eurolines.sk or http://english.viennaairport.com. Slovak Airlines.
Train
Railway routes from the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, Hungary and the Ukraine are converging in Bratislava.
These are the routes from the Czech Republic - (Berlin – Dresden) – Decin - Prague – Brno – Břeclav – Kuty – Bratislava (Warszaw – Katowice) – Ostrava – Otrokovice – Břeclav – Kuty – Bratislava
- from Poland – the route: Krakow – Cadca – Zilina – Trencin – Trnava – Bratislava
- from Austria - the routes: Vienna – Marcheg – Devinska Nova Ves – Bratislava Vienna – Kittsee – Bratislava-Petrzalka
Hungary is connected to two international railway routes in direction Budapest – Györ – Rajka – Bratislava or in direction Budapest – Szob – Sturovo – Nove Zamky – Galanta – Bratislava.
There are leading railway connections to other towns and municipalities of whole Slovakia from Bratislava. There have been built 2 main railway routes – northern and southern. The northern one = Bratislava – Trnava – Trencin – Zilina – Poprad-Tatry – Kysak – Kosice The southern one = Kosice – Banska Bystrica – Zvolen – Galanta – Bratislava
Regular connection of Bratislava and Vienna leads through the station Bratislava–Petrzalka , from where regular connections depart almost every hour. You can find more information on railway transport on the site http://www.zsr.sk/ . The following lines go from the main railway station to all parts of the city through the centre: 1, 2, 3, 8, 32, 41, 61, 74, 81, 93, 201, 210. All night lines depart from the main railway station.
Buss
Regular international and inland bus transport is provided for by the joint-stock company SAD, a.s. At present, the Division of Eurolines runs regular lines within the framework of international bus transport from Bratislava to the following destinations – Prague, Brussels, London, Venice, Munich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt-on-Main, Vienna, Cologne, Dortmund, Paris, Zurich, Hamburg, Györ, Nice, Makarska, Geneva, Utrecht, Nantes, Bordeaux, Amsterdam, Salzburg, Milan. You may obtain more detailed information on inland and international connections on the site www.eurolines.sk.
The bus station of Mlynske Nivy is located in about 5 minute walking distance from the city centre, while connection to the bus station is run by the following lines of city transport – 21, 25, 50, 70, 85, 89, 202, 206, 208, 210.
Boat
International boat port on the Danube provides for both-way connection of Bratislava to international boat traffic, particularly interconnection from the North Sea through the water channel of the Rhine – Main – Danube up to the Black Sea. Passenger boat transport makes use of the port primarily for round and excursion cruises to the castle of Devin, to Hainburg, Vienna and, in the opposite direction, to the water project of Gabcikovo and to Budapest. You will find more information on regular boat connections to Vienna and Budapest as well as on excursion and recreation cruises on www.lod.sk.
Bratislava‘s ship port is interesting by its location directly in the city centre close to the pedestrian zone, more significant historical sights as well as a huge number of cosy restaurants and cafes.
Car
Bratislava is interlinked to international transport routes and motorways through the motorway E65 to the Czech Republic, the motorway D-2 to Hungary and through international transport routes E75 and E58 to Austria. The international transport route E 58 connects Bratislava with the international airport of Schwechat at Vienna, while the route E75 goes on farther across the territory of Slovakia to Poland and to the Ukraine. A broad network of roads and traffic nodes is leading through the city. Bratislava represents the most significant node of the Slovak Republic, particularly not only in road transport. At present, a motorway bypass of the city is under construction in order to unburden traffic situation in the centre. Despite that, you almost do not experience large traffic jams in Bratislava, which are known from many big European towns.
You may get more detailed information on Bratislava parking options on the Bratislava web page