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VIENNA

How to make the most of a quick trip from Vienna to Bratislava

With only about 80 kilometres between them, Vienna and Bratislava are two of the closest capital cities in the world, with the Slovak capital ideal for a quick cross-border weekend or day trip.

Published: 9 June 2023 09:42 CEST
Updated: 26 March 2024 16:50 CET
Bratislava
The Slovak capital of Bratislava is only about an hour trip from Vienna. Photo: Pixabay

Getting to Bratislava from the Austrian capital is about as easy as it gets, with more than a few Vienna residents having made several such trips.

With plenty of options for things to see or ways to get there at an affordable price, it’s a simple international treat for a Vienna visitor or resident.

Once you’re in Bratislava, your wallet may well thank you as well. While estimates vary depending on index, the cost of living in the Slovak capital is about one quarter less expensive than Prague, and about a third less than Vienna.

Slovak sights: what to see

Travel gurus sometimes label Bratislava as “The Little Big City.” It may feel larger and is ultimately a European capital, but it has only about 400,000 residents compared to Vienna’s nearly two million, and it’s easy to navigate on foot or with public transport.

The city has two castles to delight visitors. The first is the well-known Bratislava castle, perched on a hill above the old town. Dating back all the way to the 10th century, the castle has many uses today – from acting as a representative place for members of the Slovak parliament to host guests, to housing the Slovak National Museum of History.

The Castle also contains the Museum’s Treasury – with its collection of gold and silver. The city’s second main castle, Devin Castle, sits just outside town and right on the border with Austria, with its Maiden Tower right at the confluence of the Danube and Moravia rivers.

Bratislava UFO Bridge

Bratislava’s Most SNP, or “UFO Bridge” housing a restaurant and observation deck. Photo: Vlastimil Starec, Pixabay

On the other side of the charming Old Town’s main square from Bratislava Castle, sits the Catholic Church of St. Elizabeth, a blue-coloured Art Nouveau treat for the eyes. You’ll also find the Slovak Presidential Palace, numerous art galleries, and even the infamous Most SNP – a UFO-like structure sitting on top of Bratislava’s New Bridge – where you can check out the view from either the restaurant or observation deck.

READ ALSO: Five of the best weekend getaways from Vienna

How to get there: ÖBB’s Bratislava-Ticket

For a single day’s trip, Austrian rail company ÖBB will offer you the Bratislava-Ticket for €18, or €9 for children between six and 14 years old.

With it, you can use it to travel between Vienna and Bratislava on either ÖBB or Slovak ZSSK, the Slovak rail company. But it doesn’t stop there. You can also use the same ticket on all public urban transport within Bratislava, as well as on regional ÖBB trains within Vienna.

Most train and bus services from Vienna to Bratislava leave via Vienna’s central station. (Photo by JOE KLAMAR / AFP)

Given the ticket’s usefulness among commuters and students, you can also get weekly tickets for €42.50 or monthly ones for €143.80. Ticketholders can also sometimes get walking tour discounts.

Alternatively, you can typically get a train ticket from Vienna to Bratislava for less than €10, with the journey lasting just over an hour.

READ ALSO: What international border towns can you travel to on Austria’s KlimaTicket?

How to get there: By Bus

Numerous buses leave every day from Vienna to Bratislava and in reverse. Flixbus provides the most common services, although their prices are about the same as what you’d be paying out for a train ticket – around €10. The travel time is also mostly the same, clocking in at just over an hour.

RegioJet shuttles also make regular runs between the two cities.

How to get there: By Car

If you have your own car, Vienna to Bratislava is a piece of cake – doable in just over an hour’s drive. Otherwise, there are several taxi or driver services that shuttle people between the two cities – especially from Vienna Airport. These are more expensive though, with many running up at around €75 a ride.

How to get there: By Bike

Lastly, cyclists with a bit of spare time can try out the Vienna to Bratislava bike trail. Forming a part of the much larger Danube Cycle Path stretching from Passau in Germany all the way to Budapest, the Vienna to Bratislava section clocks in at around four hours of cycle time along the EU’s longest river, with almost no car traffic to speak of.

How to get there: By Boat

If you fancy a trip between the two capitals on the Danube River, but aren’t willing to do the cycle, there are boat services connecting the two cities.

Bratislava Water

Bratislava as seen from the water. A boat trip from Vienna takes about 75 minutes. Photo: Helena Jankovičová Kováčová, Pexels.

The most regular of these is from a company called Twin City Liner, which operates a catamaran at least once daily in low season, and more often in high season.

As a highspeed catamaran, it also barely takes longer than a train or bus ride, completing the trip in about 75 minutes. It’s much cheaper than a taxi service, but definitely more than a train or bus, with most tickets running at about €35.

READ ALSO: How to save money while travelling around Austria

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For members

CRIME

Are there ‘young gangs’ forming in Vienna?

If you read Austrian tabloid media, Vienna has a 'gang' problem, with several crimes committed by groups of young people in recent months. But is that true?

Published: 18 April 2024 13:17 CEST
Are there 'young gangs' forming in Vienna?

Austrian tabloid media jumps on such stories: a group of teenage girls breaking into cars in Linz or vandalism and robberies committed by young people in Vienna. Particularly in the capital, it seems that there was a rise in crimes committed by groups of young people. But does that mean that Vienna has a gang problem?

According to the newspaper daily Der Standard, the Vienna Provincial Police Directorate (LPD) repeatedly states that the much-cited youth gangs do not exist but that there is “an increase in young people appearing in groups and committing offences”.  

What does that mean, and what is the difference between “young people appearing in groups and committing offences” and gangs?

According to the police: “The term gang is commonly used in everyday language – without a precise definition in this context. In criminal law, however, the term is clearly defined. From a criminal law perspective, a gang is an organised, hierarchically structured group of people intent on committing offences on an ongoing basis.”

READ ALSO: Which crimes are on the rise in Austria?

According to the police, they are dealing with “groups that come together spontaneously” and are not “hierarchically organised.” These groups mostly commit “thefts or minor robberies” but are not criminal organisations. 

So, technically, Vienna does not have a “youth gang” problem, but it does have an increase in young people in groups committing crimes – though the police didn’t share official numbers.

A recent Kurier report stated that the number of crimes committed by young people and children under the age of 14 has doubled in the last ten years.

At the same time, there has only been a slight increase among young people over the age of 14 and even a decrease among young adults. The main crimes committed by young people and adolescents are theft, damage to property, assault, burglary and dangerous threats.

Christian Holzhacker, Head of Education at the Association of Viennese Youth Centers, told Der Standard that it is important not to “stigmatise” an age group and that the word gang is often used in an “inflationary way”. He points out that in relation to the size of the Viennese population, the number of minors committing crimes is small, even if it is increasing.

He also highlighted that stigmatising regions or groups of young people who get together in public spaces is not the answer. “If you want to fight crime, you have to look at the realities of the lives of the people who have committed crimes,” he said.

READ ALSO: Is Vienna a safe city to visit?

What are the police doing about the crime?

Austria’s federal criminal police office has gathered a new special task force to combat youth crime (EJK). According to the Ministry of the Interior, the idea is to recognise the new phenomenon and combat youth gangs in Austria. 

The task force is set to carry out checks in public spaces, particularly in urban areas and “potential hotspots”, Kurier reported.

The task force also set up a “panel of experts” to suggest how parents can be more responsible, how children’s use of social media and cell phones can be improved, and how the asylum system can better accommodate young migrants.

However, Dieter Csefan, head of the task force, told Die Presse that most young offenders were born in Austria.

“There are unaccompanied minors, but the young people we meet in the groups and gangs usually have parents. And the prolific offenders often come from a normal home. They can also be native Austrians. So it’s not always just Afghans or Syrians”, he said.

He also mentioned that “lowering the age of criminal responsibility is one suggestion” to fight crime. Currently, the age is set at 18, but there are discussions and proposals to lower it to twelve. However, “that alone is not necessarily enough”, he added.

READ NEXT: Which parts of Austria have the highest crime rates?

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