Slovakia Getting there & around

Getting there & away

Land

Bus

Eurolines (5541 4438; www.eurolines.sk) connects Bratislava by bus with most major European cities, including London (€100, 23 hours, five weekly), Munich (€40, eight hours, three weekly) and Vienna (€6, one hour, hourly).

Car & motorcycle

All foreign drivers’ licences with photo ID are valid in Slovakia. As well as your vehicle’s registration papers, you need a ‘green card’ (which proves drivers travelling through Europe have insurance that complies with the minimum requirements of the places that they drive through). Your vehicle must display a nationality sticker and carry a first-aid kit and warning triangle.

Train

Direct trains connect Bratislava with Prague (4½ hours, six daily), Budapest (three hours, seven daily) and Vienna (one hour, 30 daily). One night train links Bratislava with Moscow (32½ hours) and one with Warsaw (10½ hours). A daily train to Kiev (21 hours) passes through Košice on its way from Budapest.

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Boat

Slovak Shipping and Ports (Slovenská plavba a prístavy; 02-5293 2226; www.lod.sk) hydrofoils ply the Danube river. Boats depart from the Hydrofoil Terminal (Fajnorovo nábrežie 2) and head to Vienna and Budapest daily from April to September.

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Air

Bratislava’s MR Štefánika Airport (code BTS; www.airportbratislava.sk) receives flights from across Europe. SkyEurope (code NE; 02-4850 4850; www.skyeurope.com) has the most connections (22 cities) and Czech Airlines (code OK; 5296 1042; www.czechairlines.com) flies between Prague and both Bratislava and Košice. Slovak Airlines (code 6Q; 4870 4870; www.slovakairlines.sk) connects the capital with Brussels and Moscow, albeit infrequently. To get here from beyond the Continent, use Vienna International Airport (code VIE; www.viennaairport.com), 60km from Bratislava, which is connected by hourly buses.

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