How To Get From Vienna To Bratislava By Train
A day trip to the Slovakian capital of Bratislava from Vienna is a really easy journey. It’s quick and cheap, and Bratislava is a delightful city which has lots of history and plenty of things to do. Here’s our detailed 2025 guide on how to get from Vienna to Bratislava by train, including how to get the best value tickets.
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Where Do Trains From Vienna Depart From?
Trains run from Vienna Hauptbahnhof (Wien Hbf) to Bratislava so you need to make your way to the main station. This is not Mitte, which is likely to be the central station that you will have come into when arriving in Vienna from the airport.
S1, S2, S3, S4, S60, S80 as well as Trams 0 and 18 will get you to the Vienna Hbf. If you are travelling on the U-bahn, take U1 to Sudtiroler Platz. Vienna Map has the details.
Vienna Hbf is a modern and airy station. The ticket machines and platforms are all well signposted.
How Much Does It Cost To Get From Vienna To Bratislava By Train?
The ticket costs just 18 Euros. This includes your return fare from Vienna and all public transportation when in Bratislava.
Note: the ticket is valid for three days and includes all public transport in Bratislava, but you can only use public transport in Bratislava on the first day, so we recommend buying your ticket on the day.
Buying Tickets From Vienna To Bratislava.
Ticket machines are available all over Vienna Hbf and are clearly signposted.
Buying the cheap, flexible ticket isn’t obvious. We were helped by a very kind fellow passenger while we were at the ticket machine. And were very pleased to be able to pay the advice forward later, when another passenger was struggling to buy their ticket.
You can select from multiple languages. Do not type Bratislava into the destination box, as that will bring up a ticket for a specific train. Instead you need to select from the “city tickets and more” box on the lower left side of the display.
You can then select a Vienna to Bratislava ticket.
Choose the number of passengers. Then pay.
How Long Does It Take To Get From Vienna To Bratislava By Train?
The journey takes around an hour. There are often stops along the way.
Arriving at Bratislava
Bratislava has two train stations – Hlavna and Petržalka. You can walk to the centre from Hlavna or catch a tram or bus. The bus stop is directly outside the station entrance. The tram stop is located below the station – you will need to go down the steps on the left-hand side after you have exited the platforms.
If you arrived at Petržalka, buses 80, 91 and 93 take you into the city centre. The journey will take around 10-15 minutes.
Petržalka is the station most closely connected with Vienna and trains go to Petržalka every half hour.
Other Points To Remember
Slovakia is in the EU and part of the Schengen group of countries. This means that crossing the border from Austria is seamless. However, we recommend bringing your passport with you if you are travelling from a country outside the EU. It’s unlikely that it will be checked but it’s worth having just in case you encounter any problems.
Things To Do In Bratislava When You Arrive
The old town in Bratislava is lovely. It’s compact and easy to walk around. The lanes of the oldtown are very pretty. There are all sorts of sights – a castle and cathedral, churches, museums and fun statues. It has a bridge across the Danube which features a ‘UFO’ style restaurant. The food is great and there are plenty of restaurants and cafes in the area.
You can read our detailed post about what to see on a day trip to Bratislava.
Return Journey
Make your way back to the station that you arrived at. Trains don’t necessarily return from both stations. When we visited we arrived at Petržalka and there were no trains running to Vienna from Hlavna that day.
If you end up at the wrong station, Bus 93 will get you to the other one.
An Alternative Journey
If you have a bit more time in the area, another – and rather romantic – trip is to get a boat from Schwedenplatz in Vienna and cruise to Bratislava along the Danube.
There are also buses that run from Vienna to Bratislava several times a day. The journey takes a similar time to the train – between 45 minutes and an hour.
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A Delightful Bratislava Day Trip From Vienna
Located just an hour away on the train, the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava, is very easy to reach from Vienna. It’s a city with a charming old town and has plenty of attractions that you can easily explore in a day. Here’s our guide for taking a Bratislava day trip from Vienna.
Please note that this post contains affiliate links. If you click through and decide to make a purchase we will make a small commission, at no extra cost to you, which will help towards the costs of running this site. Thanks for your support!
How To Get To Bratislava From Vienna
There are a variety of ways to reach Bratislava from Vienna for a day trip. The quickest and easiest is via train which takes around an hour. Bratislava has two train stations – Hlavna and Petržalka. You can walk to the centre from Hlavna or catch a tram or bus. Buses 80, 91 and 93 take you from Petržalka into the city centre. Petržalka is the station most closely connected with Vienna and trains go to Petržalka every half hour.
Other options include getting a boat from Schwedenplatz for a cruise along the Danube. And buses run regularly from Vienna’s Erdberg coach station.
Slovakia is in the EU and part of the Schengen group of countries. This means that crossing the border is very easy. We recommend bringing your passport with you though. It’s unlikely to be checked but worth having just in case you encounter any problems.
A Bratislava Day Trip From Vienna
Bratislava’s old town is quite compact and very walkable. We recommend visiting the tourist information centre which has a map of the area and suggested walking tours as well as a list of top attractions.
The tourist information centre is marked in green on the map below and is well-signposted in the city.
Top Attractions in Bratislava For A Day Trip
The Old Town Hall
Located just across the square from the tourist information centre, the old Town Hall houses the city museum, Slovakia’s oldest continuously operating museum. Its exhibits document the history of Bratislava. It is closed on Mondays.
The Lanes of the Old Town
The old town is absolutely charming with lots of squares as well as lanes and alleys to explore. There are plenty of places to stop for coffee and cake.
A City of Fun Statues
Schone Naci was a famous resident who live in the city in the first part of the 20th century, and was apparently loved for his kindness. His statue definitely shows his joie-de-vivre!
Cumil is possibly the most famous statue and certainly the most photographed. He’s a bronze figure of a man emerging from a hole in the street. You’d worry about tripping over him but never fear, you can easily find him because he’ll be surrounded by a plethora of visitors.
Tip: If you want to buy souvenirs, the shops on the smaller streets offer much cheaper options.
Michael’s Tower
Michael’s Tower and Gate is the last remaining of the four gates to the city. It’s an imposing tower with a delightful onion dome. Originally completed in the 14th century it was destroyed in the 16th century by the Ottomans and rebuilt a couple of hundred years later, only for the city’s defences to be deconstructed.
Bratislava Castle
Bratislava Castle’s imposing position on a hillside above the Danube ensures that it is one of the most prominent sites in the city. You will get a splendid view of it coming in on the bus from Petržalka. It is a rectangular design with four turrets in each corner, the oldest dating from the 13th century. It is possible to visit the castle and its extensive Baroque gardens.
St Martin’s Cathedral
The lovely church is just across a busy road from the castle hill. There’s a bridge where you can walk across the road and along the remains of the old city walls which have interesting infographics about some Bratislava’s famous residents.
The cathedral is a gothic church originally constructed in the 15th century and was once used for the coronation of kings.
The UFO
To contrast with the historic centre, the UFO is an altogether more modern, indeed futuristic construction. Located on the bridge across the Danube, the only cable supported bridge in the city, the SNP has a UFO-shaped observation deck and restaurant.
The Blue Church
A little way out of town (but still very walkable) is the Blue Church. It is a church to Elizabeth of Hungary but is known as the Blue Church due to its delightful Art Nouveau style and blue decoration.
Bratislava for Foodies
When visiting Bratislava for a day, we recommend enjoying lunch at Bratislava Flagship, one of the largest restaurants in Europe. Located on Postova, near the Centrum tram stop, it used to be a theatre! Normally we’d aim for a quiet intimate location but we wanted to try as many Slovakian dishes as possible so, although it is touristy, the Flagship offers excellent local food and good service and reasonable prices. They have a brewery on-site so you can try home-brewed beers. Local wine is also available.
The Slovenska misa is a Slovakian platter comprising quintessential local dishes for two people to share. Bryndzove halusky are dumplings with sheep cheese, pirogi are filled dumplings and kapustove strapacky are dumplings with cabbage and bacon. All are delicious and very filling.
You really can taste the sheepy-flavour with ewe cheese (this is a good thing!) it has such a distinctive taste. The cabbage and bacon dumplings add a nice sour element (and vegetables!) to the dish.
Other dishes include hearty soups served inside a hollowed out loaf. Plenty of deserts are available as well. (Although we couldn’t manage a dessert as we were too full!)
If you’re feeling peckish mid-afternoon you can stop for a coffee or a beer and a cake. Pumpkin cake with fruit compote is delicious and you can pretend it’s healthy as it contains both fruit and vegetables!
The quintessential snacks are Bratislava rolls. These are curvaceous yeasted pastries, baked in a horseshoe shape and filled with either walnuts or poppy seeds. There will be plenty on offer in the local bakeries and at just a Euro each they make for a brilliant snack. And both are utterly delicious.
A River Trip To Bratislava
Althoug the train is cheap and convenient, if you have a bit more time in the area it is possible to enjoy a boat ride from Schwedenplatz in Vienna and cruise to Bratislava along the Danube.
Final Thoughts
A Bratislava day trip from Vienna definitely worth enjoying if you are spending time in this delightful part of Europe. The trains are fast, convenient and cheap. The whole city is conveniently walkable and very easy to get around, and there are plenty of choices for sights to see. It is also lovely to be able to enjoy local food and home-brewed beer and wines.
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Thanks so much for reading. We hope you enjoyed this article. If you’d like to keep up to date with new posts and recipes, please subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on social media – Bluesky, Facebook or Instagram. We always love hearing from you and would be delighted to read your thoughts about this article.
