Which means of transport to use Slovakia?

From the airport to the city centre Slovakia

To reach downtown Bratislava from Bratislava M. R. Štefánik Airport (BTS), travelers have several options:

the fastest, but also most expensive, solution is to take a cab (with meter), for which you'll need to pay around €20 (official cab offered by the airport: ✆ +421 948 966 967). There's also the Bolt app, which works on the same principle as Uber.

Public transport is obviously the cheapest option (€1.70). The journey takes between 45 minutes and 1 hour, depending on traffic. From the arrivals terminal, bus 61 will take you from the airport to the train station. From there, you can reach the Old Town on foot (15-minute walk), by bus no. 93 (Hodžovo námestie stop) or by streetcar no. 1 (Námestie SNP stop). Bus 61 runs from 4.42 a.m. to 11.32 p.m., departing every 15 to 20 minutes. Tickets can be purchased from a ticket office in the arrivals hall or from a vending machine near the bus stop (note that vending machines only accept coins, so make sure you have change). If you arrive at night, night bus no. 61 will also take you to the train station, departing every hour between 11.52pm and 3.52am.

By car. The airport is located on the eastern outskirts of the capital Bratislava, and is directly connected to the D1 freeway.

Arrival by train Slovakia

Slovakia's rail network is extensive and organized, but slow. Trains may be faster and more frequent for some destinations (Poprad or Košice), very slow for others (Nitra, Banská Bystrica). It's best to compare train and bus speeds for your destination on the excellent cp.sk website, which gives all bus and train timetables. Travelling by train is well worth it if you're not in a hurry and want to enjoy Slovakia's beautiful scenery. Rail fares are roughly comparable to bus fares, with a train journey costing around €1 for 20 km.

Streetcars, buses and trolleybuses leave from Bratislava's main railway station (Hlavná stanica) for the whole city. The Old Town can be reached on foot in 15 minutes. This is a major national and European rail hub. You'll find fairly inexpensive tickets here for the whole of Europe, and very inexpensive tickets for Slovakia's various cities.

International lines: Bratislava is connected by train to Vienna (one train every hour, one-hour journey, 75 km). For Budapest (one train every 2 hours, 214 km, approx. €20), prefer the no-change trains, which reach Budapest in 2 hours 30 minutes. Prague (396 km) is served by a train every hour, with a journey time of 4 hours 30 minutes. Two direct trains a day reach Warsaw (674 km) in 7.30 to 10 hours. One direct train a day reaches Bucharest (1,100 km) in over 17 hours.

National lines: in Slovakia, Bratislava is linked by train to all the country's major cities: Nitra (a train leaves approx. every 2 hours, 91 km, the journey always includes a change and takes up to approx. 2 hours 30 minutes, €5.50), Trnava (a train every quarter of an hour, 46 km, 50-minute journey, €2.55), Trenčín (one train approx. every hour and a half, 132 km, 2 hours 20 minutes travel time, approx. €6), Komárno (6 direct trains a day, 120 km, 2 hours 30 minutes travel time, €7), Žilina (one train approx. every hour and a half, 203 km, approx. 3 hours travel time, approx. €10), Poprad (one train every hour and a half, approx. 344 km, 4 hours travel time, approx. €15), Banská Bystrica (one train every 2 hours, 3 hours 30 travel time, 230 km, approx. €11), Prešov (three trains a day with one change, 5 hours 30 travel time, 446 km, between €15 and €20), Košice (one train every hour and a half, 445 km, 5 hours travel time, between €15 and €20).

Free trains for over 62s! With an ID card and a photo, you can obtain a card at the ticket office, which gives you free travel on classic trains and discounts on express trains.

Arrival by boat Slovakia

Thanks to its location on the Danube, Bratislava is regularly connected to Vienna by boat. The centre of Vienna (Schwedenplatz) and Bratislava are connected by a fast catamaran, Twin City Liner, but also by another fast boat, which is anchored in Vienna on Handelskai. You can also use the services of lod.sk for transportation by boat.

Public transport Slovakia

Bratislava, like all its Slovakian counterparts, is a city that's easy to discover on foot. The Slovak capital has a dense, efficient, clear and inexpensive public transport system (Mestská hromadná doprava, www.imhd.sk) (at least for tourists). There is no metro in Slovakia; public transport is provided by bus, streetcar or trolleybus lines, which arrive on time and never go on strike! At night, service is reduced, but continues on the main lines at a slightly lower frequency.

Tickets(Cestovné lístky) can be purchased at tobacconists(tabák), newspaper stands or vending machines located near stops. They can't be bought on public transport, and must be validated (once only, at the start of the journey) at the yellow terminals inside the bus, trolley or streetcar. There are different types of ticket: €0.70 (2 zones) valid for 15 minutes, €0.90 (2 zones) for 30 minutes, €1.10 (3 zones) for 60 minutes, €1.60 (4 zones) for 60 minutes, €2.50 (5 zones) for 90 minutes, etc. Children under 6 travel free. Please note! Transporting large items of luggage, strollers without children and dogs is theoretically charged at €0.35 (buy a 15-minute ticket at the reduced rate), and is valid for 3 hours. 24-hour pass: €3.50/€6.90. 3-day pass: €8. Passes must be redeemed on the first trip after purchase, and only then.

Arrival by bus. Opened on October¹, 2017, Bratislava's bus station (Autobusová Stanica Mlynské Nivy) is brand new and modern. It's some 100 m from the old station and features digital screens to check timetables, free toilets, WiFi and plenty of stores to buy food and drink. There's still work to be done around it, and the final project should be completed soon. The station is located to the east of the city center. Bus 37 connects the station with the city center on the Danube banks, and bus 208 takes you to Presidential Square (Hodžovo nám.) to the north of the city center. Bus 210 connects the bus and train stations.

The well-designed bus network covers the whole of Slovakia. Fares are more or less the same as for trains, but the journey, although less pleasant, can sometimes be faster than by bus.

International lines: an hourly bus takes you to Vienna (74 km) in around an hour. For Budapest (215 km), it's best to take the train, as only 3 buses reach the Hungarian capital in around 3 hours, with the Orange ways and Regiojet companies. For Prague (443 km), hourly buses make the journey in 5 hours, with changes in the Czech Republic.

National lines: in Slovakia, Bratislava is linked by bus to all the country's large and small towns: Nitra (one bus approx. every half-hour, 98 km, 1 hour 15 minutes travel time, €2 to €5), Trnava (one bus approx. every quarter-hour, 51 km, 45 minutes travel time, approx. €5), Trenčin (one bus approx. every two hours, 124 km, 1 hour 30 minutes travel time, approx. €7.50), Komárno (one bus approx. every two hours, 99 km, 2 hours 10 minutes travel time, €4.70), Žilina (one bus approx. every hour and a half, 215 km, 3 hours 30 minutes, approx. €18), Poprad (one bus every hour and a half, 340 to 360 km depending on the route, approx. 6 hours' journey, approx. €20), Banská Bystrica (one bus every hour, 3 to 4 hours' journey, 230 km, approx. €17), Prešov (8 direct buses a day, 8 hours 30 minutes' journey, 444 km, approx. €24), Košice (12 buses a day, 430 km, 7 hours' journey, approx. €23).

For timetables, visit cp.sk (in English), for low-cost journeys with maximum comfort: regiojet.sk, and eurolines.sk and flixbus.sk also operate in Slovakia.

For all your bus and traintravel needs, visit www.cp.sk

Bike, scooters & co Slovakia

There are no bicycle lanes in Bratislava, but electric scooters have recently made their appearance in the capital. The old town is a pedestrian zone where it is pleasant to stroll, and the new districts are often unpleasant to walk around because of the traffic; you also have to be very careful with the trams. The only trails suitable for cycling lead to the Devin Castle or the Danubiana Museum. There are a few bike rental companies in the city centre, some of which even offer guided tours (bikebratislava.sk; www.bratislavabikepoint.com). A bike-sharing system similar to the Parisian Vélib has just been set up in the capital (slovnaftbajk.sk), costing €6 per day.

With a driver Slovakia

Looking for an original tour with a driver? The website www.authenticslovakia.com offers thematic tours of the city in old Škoda cars. These tours will help you discover the post-communist city of Bratislava.

By car Slovakia

Bratislava lies at the intersection of major freeways. Prague is 330 km away, Budapest 200 km, Vienna 65 km. From Vienna, take freeway E60, then road E58 (or 9). From Prague, take the E55-E65 freeway, then, from Brno, turn south onto the E65. From Budapest, take the M1 to the town of Vértesszőlős, then turn onto Route 1 towards Komárno, which becomes Route 63 or E575 towards Bratislava.

You'll need a vignette to drive on Slovakia's freeways, which costs €5.4 per day, €12 per 10 days, €17 per month and €60 per year for one car. You can buy them online at https://eznamka.sk. It's also becoming increasingly difficult to park in Bratislava's often congested city center. Parking spaces are expensive and clogs are ruthlessly installed.

To rent a car, you obviously need to have your driving license with you. In principle, you have two options: local (www.autopozicovna.autowilis.sk; www.auto-rental.sk) or international (www.europcar.sk; www.avis.sk). Slovak agencies are cheap, but it's best to book in advance. Seatbelts are compulsory in both front and back seats, in town and country. Maximum speed limit on roads 90 km/h, on freeways 130 km/h and in town 50 km/h. You must keep your headlights on at all times, day and night.

Accessibility Slovakia

Although Bratislava is modernizing and making more and more efforts in this direction, there is a cruel lack of facilities to make life easier. Only a few buses are equipped for wheelchairs.

Tourist traps Slovakia

As with many destinations, the main scam risk for tourists in Slovakia is cabs and their drivers. So be vigilant around train stations and airports, which are their preferred hailing areas. To benefit from preferential rates in Bratislava and throughout the country, it's best to order your journey by telephone. That way, you can be sure you're dealing with an official cab. Here are some contacts for real cabs: Fun Taxi, ✆ 421 905 767 757 - www.funtaxi.sk, Yellow cab, ✆ +421 24 444 11 11 - www.paladio.sk. There's also the Bolt app, which works on the same principle as Uber, reliable and a little cheaper.