We will be traveling by train from Prague to Budapest on the last Saturday in September. We are considering stopping in Bratislava for one night, then on for three days in Budapest. Or we could go straight to Budapest and spend four nights there.
Given that we would only have the afternoon/evening to see Bratislava, is there sufficient time and reason to stop over (other than to say we have been to another country)? Or would our time be spent better seeing more in Budapest?
Thanks!
Bratislava is only 39 miles from Vienna, however it's a completely different world. Its center city is not very large, and it's walkable. They have a huge modern mall overlooking the Danube, and there are a bunch of restaurants with outside seating that's nice. Bratislava is a high tech, high income little city.
We stopped there for a couple of nights to rest up after a busy week in Budapest.
You could stop there or go on to Budapest. Either way would be fine.
Unless you will have 3 full days in Budapest I would skip Bratislava. A full day is where you wake up in Budapest and go to sleep in Budapest. Actually, I would skip the 6.75 hour train ride and fly Czech Airlines. For about $120 there is a flight that leaves Prague about 7:30 and arrives in Budapest about 8:30am.
Flying is fine if you just want to go from city center to airport to airport to city center and in this case might save a few hours but if you want to see the countryside and the small towns taking the train is a better and less expensive option. Depending on where you are staying in the two cities it might be possible that hotel to hotel might be faster if you take the train.
