Trains from Bratislava, Slovakia Price Guide

This guide will analyze all the best railway connections involving Trains from Bratislava, Slovakia, with availability and prices

Bratislava is a rather small capital city in Central Europe, with a population of just 650 inhabitants (metro area). Bratislava is also the capital of Slovakia, with an excellent geographical location, just under 100km of Vienna and under 200km of Budapest. Even if Bratislava itself doesn’t have too much too offer, it ends up attracting millions of tourists which are visiting Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland.

bratislava-slovakia
Bratislava Slovakia Photo by Miroslav Petrasko

Slovakia is both a EU and Eurozone member, the latter explains why prices in Bratislava are slightly more elevated than those in Budapest and Prague. Bratislava remains however much cheaper than its Western neighbor Vienna, the capital of Austria.

Bratislava is connected with an excellent railway network, with direct trains to Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and others. Slovakia has also other very interesting places, like the High Tatras region, so you might visit the country’s capital while en route to this mountainous areas.

Train Stations in Bratislava

bratislava-train-station
Bratislava Main Station Photo by Antii

Bratislava has a several train stations, but the central one most national and international traffic is the Bratislava main railway (Bratislava hlavná stanica), which is the main point for domestic and international traffic.

It has one of the ugliest buildings among all important railway stations in Europe. Designed and built in Brutalist architecture, it shows the history of the city during the Soviet influenced Czechoslovakia.

The Bratislava main station is not so close to the city center, and taking public transport or a taxi is advised. However, if you want to walk you can reach the center in around 20 minutes from the station.

Click here to check accommodation options near the Bratislava Main Railway Station on Booking.com

Bus Stations in Bratislava

bratislava-slovakia-2
Bratislava Bridget Photo by Miroslav Petrasko

The main bus station in Bratislava is called Autobusová stanica Mlynské nivy and is not located in the Ružinov district which is relatively close to the old town (a long walk or a short ride). Just like every other country in Central Europe the bus transport is widely used and you can get great offers, traveling on the cheap.

You can check more information at the Slovak Lines website.

Click here to check accommodation options near the Bratislava Mlynske Nivy on Booking.com

Trains from Bratislava: Domestic Routes

Bratislava is very well connected with the biggest cities in Slovakia: Košice, Prešov, Žilina and Banská Bystrica. Below you will find the train travel journey duration and minimum full ticket price available on these routes.

Bratislava to Košice: There are many direct daily trains operating on this route. The direct train ride takes x min. Cheapest available ticket price: 12,90 € one way.

Bratislava to Prešov: There are many direct daily trains operating on this route. The direct train ride takes x min. Cheapest available ticket price: 19,90 € one way.

Bratislava to Žilina: There are many direct daily trains operating on this route. The direct train ride takes x min. Cheapest available ticket price: 11,90 € one way.

Bratislava to Banská Bystrica: There are many direct daily trains operating on this route. The direct train ride takes 3h30 min. Cheapest available ticket price: 9,20 € one way.

Trains from Bratislava: International Routes

Slovakia is very well connected with direct train lines to all of its neighbors. The most available lines from Bratislava are to Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic. But it is also possible to travel on direct trains to Poland and Ukraine.

There are also direct train connections to countries that do not border Slovakia, like Germany, with a good variety of connections and Belarus and Russia, with a train that runs almost every day.

If you consider that Bratislava is quite close to Vienna (Wien), you can travel to Austria and  the number of direct connections expand greatly. From Vienna there are direct connections to many other countries such as Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia and Croatia.

Trains from Bratislava to Germany

Even if Slovakia does not share land borders with Germany, there are some pretty decent direct train connections between Bratislava and Germany, most of them are parts of longer journeys (Budapest to Berlin, Budapest to Hamburg).

Bratislava to Dresden:  There are two direct trains that run almost everyday connecting Bratislava and Dresden. Both routes start in Budapest, and while the night train ends in Berlin, the daily train goes all the way to Hamburg. The trip takes about 7 hours, and the lowest price is 39 €.

Bratislava to Hamburg: There is one direct EuroCity train connecting Bratislava to Berlin. It runs frequently, however it is not a daily train. It is an 11 hour ride and the cheapest possible ticket costs 59 €.

Bratislava to Berlin: Just like Dresden, if you travel from Berlin to Bratislava you have two direct trains running almost everyday.

Bratislava to Munich (via Vienna): if you cross the border between Slovakia and Austria, you have a number of great direct connections departing from Vienna, Austria. Several daily trains operate on the route Vienna – Munich and the ticket costs as low as 39 €.

Trains from Bratislava to Austria

Bratislava to Vienna: Oddly enough, there are virtually no direct connections between Bratislava and Austria. Most of the trips will require taking a direct regional train from Bratislava to Vienna. In Vienna then you can take trains to all parts of Austria.

The good news is that there are trains every hour connecting Bratislava (Bratislava hl. st.) to Vienna (Wien Hauptbahnhof). The trip takes 1 hour and 15 minutes. The full return ticket price is 13 €. You can also buy a return ticket that gives you the possibility of using the Vienna public transport network (at 17.50 €). There are also weekly and monthly tickets, mostly focused on people who live in Bratislava and work in Vienna.

Trains from Bratislava to Hungary

As Slovakia has a very considerable population of Hungarian origin, the train connections between Bratislava and Hungary are numerous. They are mostly on the route Bratislava to Budapest.

Bratislava to Budapest: There are many trains traveling daily between Bratislava (Bratislava hl. st.) and Budapest (Budapest Keleti). They are mostly part of longer routes including Prague to Budapest, Warsaw to Budapest and Berlin to Budapest.

The trip takes roughly 2 hours and 45 minutes. The return price for this trip costs € 17.50.

If you are traveling from or to Budapest, you can check our Trains from Budapest page for more information

Trains from Bratislava to Poland

There are a few direct trains operating between Bratislava and Poland, namely to the cities of Warsaw, Katowice and Krakow.

Bratislava to Warsaw: there is one day EuroCity train and one EuroNight train connecting Bratislava to Warsaw (Warszawa Zachodnia, Centralna and Wschodnia station).

The EuroCity route takes roughly seven hours, while the EuroNight train, equipped with couchettes and sleeping cars, takes almost 8 hours.
Bratislava to Krakow: There is one EuroNight train connecting Bratislava to Krakow, running almost everyday. It starts in Budapest and takes slightly more than 8 hours to complete the Budapest Krakow leg.

Bratislava to Katowice: the train connections between Bratislava and Warsaw also stop at Katowice, a city with great connections to other cities in Poland like Wroclaw, Opole, Rzeszow, etc. The train rides takes from 4 to 5 hours (depending on whether you travel during the day or at night)

Trains from Bratislava to Ukraine

There are no direct trains between Bratislava and Ukraine. Your best bet is to travel to Žilina in Slovakia, and catch the train that operates on the route Prague to Kiev, stopping at Lviv as well.

Trains from Bratislava to Belarus

There is one daily train operating between Bratislava and Belarus. It is part of a longer route between Budapest and Moscow, available most of the days. The sleeper train takes 18 hours to complete the route between Bratislava and Minsk, calling at other important Belorussian cities like Brest.

Trains from Bratislava to Russia

The same train that goes to Belarus, goes all the way to the Moscow Belorussian station (Moskva Belorusskaja). The trip takes 27 hours after departing Bratislava at 11.10 am.

Buying Train Tickets in Slovakia

You can buy all domestic train tickets within Slovakia from the Slovak railways website. It is also possible to buy some international trips from that website, but not all of them.

You can have more information on our buy train tickets page.

Buying Train Passes Valid in Slovakia

If you are planning to travel to Europe and to buy a train pass valid for your trip, check our train ticket buying guide clicking here.

Getting to Slovakia

If you want to fly into Bratislava, Slovakia, we recommend buying tickets via CheapOair. They accept not only the usual payment methods, but also PayPal, which may be useful for some.

The Bratislava Airport is not a big one, considering that it is a capital city. That is mostly because Bratislava is extremely close to Vienna, and its airport has much better connections to other European cities and even to other continents.

2 thoughts on “Trains from Bratislava, Slovakia Price Guide”

Comments are closed.