I did a day trip to Bratislava in 2023 by train from Vienna.

Slovak Cities

• Bratislava – 6/10 (2023)

Perfectly respectable CEE historical city with nice architecture, cheap food, and history. Well, to be fair, Slovakia was first under the suzerainty of the Hungarians, and then united with the Czechs, who were more urban/industrial and had a proper capital. So basically Slovakia is virtually devoid of artifacts; their main national museum has 10x fewer objects than the one in Prague, which in turn is a pale shadow of what Vienna and Budapest accumulated/appropriated during their centuries of hegemony over the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The main thoroughfare is overly intrusive, cutting off Bratislava Castle from the historical center with fumes and noise. So city planning could be better.

Overall, it is neither cold nor hot. About what I expected of a minor people from the margins of history. Pleasant enough place to booze it up for a day or three. Must be gruesomely boring if staying longer.