Birthday Trip to Bratislava ~ 11th July - 14th July 2019
Airline - Accommodation - Transport
This is the 6th country my husband and I have visited together. It has been a relaxing one from start to finish. It was a great break from the heat in Malta at the moment.
One most important thing which is useful to know is that most people in Bratislava speak very good English.
Airline
For this trip the cheapest airline we found was Ryanair. Unfortunately, rules re. luggage
changed and as where in previous trips I could use a small non-hard shell bag with wheels, this time I was not allowed. Thus, I used a gym bag for these 3 days. As many of you may know, Ryanair tend to have delays. BUT, thank god for this trip we did not have this problem. On the contrary, both going and coming we were ahead of schedule (30 minutes early on the way back ).
Accommodation
Since we arrived in Bratislava relatively late (around 9pm), we booked our stay from Airbnb as we were able to contact the host re. check-in or find something with a self check-in. We came across this lovely small apartment situated at the center of Bratislava. The apartment had everything we needed and even more. For example; towels, toothpaste, snacks, teas, wifi etc. It was also exactly as described and seen in the photos. Currently there is some construction going on in the building but that sis not really bother us, in fact we managed to sleep with no problems even though there is also a pub right next door.
The apartment is also close to all amenities like Tesco express, coffee shops, restaurants and bus/tram stops.
In addition, the host was one of the best we had so far! She was very helpful, gave us tips where we should visit. Also, she messaged us during our stay to make sure everything was fine with the flat. Our flight back was at 9pm and usually check-out from this accommodation is at 10am, but the host was kind enough to let us leave out luggage at the flat while we go around.
Price: 3 nights €127.90 (€96 for the nights, €15 cleaning fee, €16.90 service fee)
Location: Moskovská 265, Bratislava, Bratislavský kraj 811 08, Slovakia
Transport
Before we visited Bratislava we got to know that there is an app for public transport called: imdh.sk. We also noticed that it works without wifi, but unfortunately it was not as expected. In order to use the app you have to know the bus stop names as it does not work with landmarks, therefore we were not able to use it much during our trip. We mainly relied on google maps (obviously downloaded the offline map of Bratislava). Although, it was very helpful, at times it was misleading as it shows you to stop at a specific bus stop when you could have stayed in the bus for more.
Another thing which you should know if you are visiting Bratislava is that the bus number you take to one place, does not mean you have to board on the same bus number on the way back as most of them have different routes back and end up in a different place and need to catch another bus.
One thing I really liked is that at some bus/tram stations there were these benches where you can charge your phone and it even offered free wifi (Steora Smart Bench). And guess what! It is a solar bench.
As for the tickets, one can purchase them from newspaper kiosks or machines found almost near every bus stop. The machine at the airport is a very modern one with a touch screen and can choose the language you prefer to read with. On the other hand, normally you find these "old" machines (like in the photo). Prices can also be seen in the photo.
PS:
->Tickets are valid for both buses and trams
->You validate them on the vehicle
->Buses and trams are very frequent
Also we noticed that on the tram time table, it shows if the next tram is going to be wheelchair friendly, which in my opinion is a very good thing to know if the older trams are still being used.
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