So I bought my plane ticket to Budapest the other day (yay!), and I’ll be there from December 13th to the 23rd. My friend that I’m staying with will be done with classes by then, so we’re thinking of taking a day trip or staying overnight in either Bratislava or Zagreb, we can’t decide which. Has anyone been to either of these places recently and can tell me what exactly there is to do there? All I can find on the Internet are vague, “there’s a pretty castle on a hill”, descriptions of cultural life. Are they worth visiting for only a day or two, especially in the dead of winter?
Thanks,
tsarina, who expects pulykamell to buy her a beer once she gets there.
I have been to both. Bratislava is a smaller town than Budapest but definitely nice to see. On the other hand, I would recommend the smaller ex-saxon towns more - like Presov, etc. They have more in the way of old curches and such than the capital.
I didn’t see much of Zagreb, unfortunately, but it didn’t seem as interesting (mind you, this was in 1986, and things might have changed a lot since). If you go to Croatia, go to the coast. There are many small islands (monasteries, little Dalmatian towns…) you could visit as well.
Sigh. I looked all over my room for my Bratislava books but can’t find them. I’ve never been but my mom was and she brought back all these books for me since that’s where my Grandmother came from. Well sort of, they lived in Sastin nearby but the whole family (that remained) lives in Bratislava now.
Sigh, so I guess all I can say is have a great time. If you meet any Bakics say you know their cousin in the US.
I was in Bratislava for three days a few years back, before Czechoslovakia separated.
Beautiful place. Not a bad place to purchase crystal, as I recall.
Nearly bought a musical instrument, called a fujara (foo-ya-ra) which is native to the region. But the only one I could find had a hairline crack the length of the instrument, and I didn’t think it would survive the trip home.
There were a few casinos there, then. Some took only USDollars or Germans Marks so as to prevent the locals from frittering away their earning on gambling, as I was told.
I was in Zagreb in 2000. The old town is nice but quite small and the nightlife is reasonably good. Overall though, I have to agree with Melan - it paled in comparison to the Dalmatian islands and coast. I reckon it’s worth a visit if it’s on your way but it’s probably not worth making a special round trip.
Never been to Croatia, but if you are willing to travel that far, I would then suggest going to Prague (where I am currently located).
A 7 hour train ride, first class sleeper will cost you under $100 roundtrip (but the day train ain’t bad either- lots of pretty country side to gaze upon, and the second class coach on Eurail trains is pretty spiffy anyways). Prague is simply great- historically, culturally, nightlife-ly, etc. TONS to do, and there are daily train trips to and from, so no worries about scheduling.
Bratislava is fine, I liked it. Castle on the hill and all that. But it pales in comparison to Prague. If you can handle the trip[ to Zagreb, you can handle the trip to Prague.
AND, just in case you got money to burn…last minute 3 or 4 day trips to Istanbul or the south side of Turkey by air with hotel, half-food, etc. will run you around $350…think about it.
When I was in Bratislava in 1997 it was undergoing a massive bout of renovation of the old town area. There was a very good english language bookstore called Big Ben – cheapest in Europe so far as I observed. I bought Kim Stanley Robinson’s Green Mars there!
The freaky/ugly/bizzaro half-suspension/half cantilever bridge called Most SNP is worth a wander. Me and my SO spent a few entertaining hours reading the grafitti on the pedestrian deck. Add some of your own! Its fun! the Castle has a small but very nice archaeological museum, and, if I’m recalling correctly, a museum of clocks as well. (I go in for the oddball museums)
We took the hydrofoil up the Danube from Budapest to get there. That was a great trip in and of itself.
The only problem with Prague (which is truly beautiful!) is the ungodly amounts of people (in the summer and early autumn, at least). Bratislava is a bit more quiet and less hectic, which you might appreciate. But, as I said, I would recommend the smaller places - a different kind of charm, sure, but overall more beautiful IMO.
Hi! Yeah, course I’ll buy you a beer! Provided that I am in town. I may be back in Chicago for the holidays by then, but I think I’ll be around at least 'til the 18th.
Anywho. I’ve been to both. Unfortunately, I don’t have any kind words for Bratislava (I was last there in March.)To put it bluntly, I found it fucking boring. Some people seem to like it, though, and I approached it with an open mind but was greatly disappointed. The city center is quite small, and apart from a rather bizarre bridge that looks like it was designed by aliens, there’s really nothing terribly interesting to see, in my humble opinion. Crystal? You can get crystal every-freaking-where in Eastern Europe. On the plus side, the beer is cheap and very good there.
Zagreb. Last time I was there was in 1998. Zagreb is certainly an improvement over Bratislava. The cafe culture there is pretty cool, but you’ll be there in December, when all the cafes go indoors. It’s a livelier town than Bratislava and it’s far more interesting to go wandering around in Zagreb. It’ll take you about 5-7 hours (depending on the train) to get there by train from Budapest. Bratislava you can get to in about 2 1/2 hours. Be careful! Some of the Bratislava trains take up to 5 hours to get there, so check that schedule closely. You can find Hungarian timetables at this really easy-to-use site.
I’m trying to think what else would be worth a day trip in the middle of winter. Eger, in Hungary, is popular for wine tourists, but in the dead of winter it’s really not all that exciting. Prague is gorgeous and the dead of winter is probably a very good time to visit…avoid all the tourist crowds. I’d opt for that, if it is at all possible. I have my issues with Prague, but I’ve never heard of anybody being really disappointed in that city. The quickest train to Prague takes 6 hours 45 min. The longest, 9 hours 37.
And, of course, there is Cesky Krumlov, which seems to be one of the hot tourist destinations in the Czech Rupublic these days. Haven’t been there yet, but everybody I’ve talked to raves about it.
