Bratislava is fab!!!

[chipmonkey]

Before we went, people were saying Brata-where? but I have to say it is a beautiful city, like a smaller friendlier Prague. The restaurants were lovely as well as inexpensive. We got a box in the opera for €15. And our apartment,
\link{http://www.bratislavahotels.com/apartment-blue-bratislava\apartment blue} was fantastic and really reasonable. The owner was very helpful. It's one of the few cities we plan on going back to. And the Slovakian people were so nice I wanted to pack 3 of their little girls for the ds's to marry in our suitcase!

Would you take children for a short/long stay?

Did you take your ds with you? Is it a child friendly city?

We didn't take the ds's because it was for dh's 40th and we wanted some "us" time. So it was just myself, himself and the breastpump! But there were a lot of buggies visible in the city centre. The hill up to the castle would be difficult for little legs but there is a tram that goes up there. TBH I would find it difficult to gauge because I didn't have the experience of bringing the children but they were such a friendly bunch that I would imagine they would most likely be nice to children. They seem to be innately kind; when a down-and-out would come into a cafe he would be given a bagel, rather than shoo'ed out the door.Also, when I held up the queue in the local Tesco's by having insufficient Slovak crowns and my Euro in big denominations only no-one tutted or rolled their eyes, they were all really understanding. There were certainly a lot of locals with buggies in the city centre and the old town is entirely pedestrian, though with cobblestones which might give a baby a rattly ride! Apartment Blue itself had a fold up single bed in the main bedroom which was so spacious that a cot could also easily have been accommodated.

What a lovely review of Bratislava. We considered going there when we went for a week to Vienna over New Year but our Slovakian former nanny advised against it. She said it's not worth it. When pressed she said it might be worth it for a few hours but no longer. Shame we didn't go. Sounds like you had a nice time.

Lake Bled was great too, bit of a hike up to the castle on the hill but lovely walks around the lake and we took dd over to the island in the boat (18mth), she had a great time feeding the ducks and the locals were lovely and accomodating.

Hi Chipmonkey, maybe I´ll give Bratislava another go one day. USed to live near there and visited for the day and found it a bit of an anticlimax really. I´d agree with the Slovenian nanny, worth a few hours no more, BUT the mountain region looks absolutely fab, would love to go there instead!

Not Brataslavia but still Slovakia! Just spent a week here www.slovakia-sun-ski-spa.com/ had a wonderful time, really child-friendly with a 4 year old. Gorgeous 'Hip Hotels' nearby that really looked after DS, also noticed babychanging, wipes etc in the loos so would recommend even for babies. Great place for DS to learn to ski. So cheap. Have already booked to go back next year. Will probably fly to Brataslava next time.

Chuffed...Lake Bled is in Slovenia, not Slovakia.....

But Cristina's nanny is Slovakian! Wish these new countries would go the the effort to make their names more different, would make things a lot easier!