Vienna to Bratislava

Old Sep 24th, 2016, 04:52 PM
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Vienna to Bratislava

Planning a trip from Vienna to Budapest with a stop in Bratislava for the day.

I think I have to go by train as I will need to leave my carryon at the luggage locker. From Vienna there appears to be Vienna Central and a south station. There is also Bratislava Petrzarka and Bratislava hl.st.

Which one do I leave from in Vienna and which one do I arrive at in Bratislava that is closest to the Old Town? Do both stations in Bratislava have luggage lockers? Thanks.
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Old Sep 24th, 2016, 05:38 PM
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The trains from Vienna's main train station, Wien Haupbahnhof, and arriving at Bratislava hl. st. are the easiest. The trains going on to Budapest Keleti mostly depart from this station. You can easily visit Bratislava's old town center in a day. There are numerous buses that travel between the station and the old town; walking takes about 40 minutes. To fully appreciate Bratislava, leave Vienna early in the morning and take a later train to Budapest so you have much of a day. I visited Bratislava on a day trip from Vienna so I cannot comment on the storage locker situation.
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Old Sep 24th, 2016, 10:20 PM
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Tickets for Vienna-Bratislava purchased through ÖBB include public transportation in Bratislava; the X13 bus has a stop near to the Stare Mesto (direction: Stare Mesto, Novy SNP). The ticket can be purchased at the Vienna station before boarding, but not on board.

According to this information there is luggage storage available at Bratislava's main train station. https://bratislava-slovakia.eu/places/luggage-lockers
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Old Oct 18th, 2016, 02:23 PM
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Bookmarking since I plan to do this same thing next year.
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Old Oct 19th, 2016, 08:07 AM
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We just arrived in Bratislava by train from Budapest a couple of hours ago. The EC trains running between Bratislava and Budapest go about every two hours. You can buy a return ticket for 17.50 €. The train we were on, which was operated by the Czech national railway, contunued on to Brno and Praha. There are also trains that go via VIenna Hauptbahn. You won't have a choice of which Bratislava station to arrive at, as far as I know, unless you take some circuitous route with a change (or more). Once you arrive at Bratislava's main station it's about a 15€ taxi ride to the historic center. There are buses as well. Be advised that once you reach the perimeter of the historic center you have to walk into it, as the American Embassy has blocked access. For us it was a 5-minute walk to our hotel. Can't help with luggage storage. We are traveling light with only one small rolling suitcase each and a small messenger bag.
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Old Oct 19th, 2016, 08:55 AM
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"Be advised that once you reach the perimeter of the historic center you have to walk into it, as the American Embassy has blocked access."

Please elaborate. Has the embassy (which isn't anywhere near Stare Mesto) sent someone to spray paint a white border around the Old Town? Stare Mesto has been a pedestrian zone for at least the last four years. Has something changed?
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Old Oct 20th, 2016, 02:03 PM
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No, nothing has changed. Upon arriving, I just parrotted what our taxi driver said to us, which was "American Embassy block the road." It's now clear to us that it is always blocked because there is no vehicular traffic allowed in the historic center other than garbage trucks, and the American Embassy is right on the perimeter of the historic district.


The American Embassy is indeed two rather short blocks from Stare Mesto. It took us all of 5 minutes to walk to our hotel on Zelena Street in the center of the historic district (Stare Mesto).
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Old Oct 20th, 2016, 09:48 PM
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You are correct. I was thinking about the ambassadors residence, which is outside of Stare Mesto. Last month I read about an issue with the embassy wanting a fenced perimeter; perhaps that is to what your driver was referring.

http://spectator.sme.sk/c/20291225/b...s-embassy.html
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Old Oct 21st, 2016, 01:32 PM
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I'm not sure I would call it a fenced perimeter, but there is a turnabout in front of the embassy that cannot be passed, and a big metal fence on the sidewalk restricting foot traffic. In other words, there is no way you can get near the American Embassy on foot or by car.

It was a bit unnerving for us early this morning trying to find the taxi we called to pick us up at that closed-off turnabout - we HAD to catch a 9:53 train to Budapest. The taxi parked WAY down the street and just hung out there. We had no idea if it was our taxi or not until we hoofed it down the street and said we needed to get to the main train station, and the driver said OK. Still don't know if it was the taxi we called or not.
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