Bratislava

Bratislava is far from any sea, and the Danube is not for swimming because the current is strong and the river carries barges. Summer bathing happens at lakes. Zlate piesky, on the north-eastern edge of the city, has a sandy shore, a tram connection and warm water in July and August. The Senec lakes, about half an hour away, are the larger weekend escape for locals. Both are pleasant on a hot afternoon but crowded at weekends, and the season is short. Nobody plans a stay here around swimming.

Slovak cooking is mountain and farm food: bryndzove halusky, small potato dumplings with sheep's cheese and bacon, cabbage soup, roast duck with lokse potato pancakes, and the poppy-seed and walnut Bratislava rolls found in old bakeries. Old Town pubs serve it in generous portions, with Czech and Slovak lager on tap and a number of small breweries that brew their own beer on the premises.

The better surprise is wine. The Small Carpathian vineyards start at the city's edge, and wine bars pour local Veltliner, Riesling and Frankovka that rarely leave the country. Cafes line the Old Town squares and Danube embankment. The range thins quickly beyond Central European cooking, and the most central streets lean towards tourist menus, so the best meals take a little looking for.

The Old Town is small and well kept, a tangle of baroque palaces, burgher houses and narrow lanes below the castle. Between 1563 and 1830 St Martin's Cathedral crowned Hungarian kings and queens, and brass crowns set in the pavement trace the coronation route. The Primate's Palace, Michael's Gate and the Old Town Hall sit within a few minutes of each other. The pale Art Nouveau Blue Church is a short walk east.

Above it all, the square white castle holds a historical museum. The Slovak National Gallery and the communist-era Most SNP bridge, topped by its saucer-shaped tower, show the twentieth century. On the city's western edge the ruins of Devin Castle sit on a cliff where the Morava meets the Danube. The whole set takes a day or two to see.

Going out happens in the Old Town, where pubs, wine bars and cocktail bars run into each other along a handful of streets. On Friday and Saturday nights the area is loud and full until late, helped by students and drink prices that draw weekend groups from abroad, stag parties included. Weeknights are much quieter. There are a few clubs and some riverside terraces in summer, but the scene is small and nobody from further afield comes for it. Expect a fun pub crawl rather than a club city.

The Little Carpathians begin at the city's edge. From the Koliba and Zelezna studnicka areas, forest trails climb through beech woods to the Kamzik TV tower and continue north along a long ridge of vineyards and wooded hills. Devinska Kobyla, a hill above Devin, has steppe meadows and wide views over the meeting of the Morava and the Danube.

The river shapes the rest. Wild floodplain forests and backwaters line the Danube on both sides of the border, and the flat Danube cycle route runs west into Austria and east along the dykes. At Cunovo a whitewater course offers rafting and canoeing. The hills are gentle, never mountains, and the high Tatras are a full day's journey away.

The great asset is Vienna, about an hour away by train or a pleasant ride by boat up the Danube, which makes a world capital an easy day out. Closer to home, the Small Carpathian wine route links Svaty Jur, Pezinok and Modra, known for wine cellars and blue-painted majolica pottery, with Cerveny Kamen castle above them.

Trnava, with its many churches, is under an hour by train, and Nitra and the castle town of Trencin take a little longer. Across the borders lie the Roman ruins of Carnuntum, the Lake Neusiedl wine villages, the UNESCO-listed chateaux and parkland of Lednice-Valtice, and the hilltop abbey of Pannonhalma. Few capitals have three countries within such easy reach.

Bratislava is safe, small and calm, so it is easy with children even if little is built for them. The Old Town is mostly pedestrian, and the quirky bronze statues on its corners make a good game of spotting. Families spend time in the forest park around Kamzik, with its playgrounds, chairlift and tower, at the hillside zoo, or at the Zlate piesky lake in summer. A thermal water park at Senec is the big treat. Castle visits and a boat to Devin round out a short stay, but after two or three days the options run thin.

Most of what a visitor wants sits within a twenty-minute walk: the Old Town, the castle on its hill, the riverfront and the theatre squares. Trams, trolleybuses and buses on a single ticket system cover the rest of the city, reaching Kamzik, the zoo, Zlate piesky and Devin. There is no metro, so longer trips across the river or out to the suburbs are slower than the short distances suggest. The main railway station sits on a rise north of the Old Town, a short tram ride or a walk downhill to the centre. The climb to the castle is steep but brief. A car is unnecessary in town and helps only for the wine villages and castles beyond the train lines.

Shopping is modest. The Old Town has souvenir shops and a few small design and craft stores, and the state folk-craft centre sells genuine Slovak work: Modra majolica, wood carving, lace, painted eggs and blue-print cloth. Most locals shop in large riverside malls and in the mall at the rebuilt bus station, which carry international chains rather than anything distinctive. Wine from the Small Carpathians is the best thing to take home. Luxury fashion and serious boutique streets are a train ride away in Vienna.

Bratislava is good value by Western European standards, and everyday costs stay low. Local beer and wine, public transport and museum entry are cheap. Ordinary pubs serve hearty weekday lunch menus for little. Hotels and apartments are reasonably priced for most of the year, though rooms get dearer on the busiest summer weekends and during big events.

The costs rise in a few predictable places. Restaurants on the main Old Town squares and in the glass-fronted shopping and office complexes along the Danube charge something closer to a mid-sized Western city. A short walk away from those spots, prices drop again. Bratislava is not a rock-bottom budget destination, but a modest budget covers a comfortable stay with good meals and a central room.

The Slovak National Theatre stages opera and ballet in its ornate nineteenth-century building on Hviezdoslav Square and in a larger modern house by the river. The Slovak Philharmonic plays in the Reduta, a Neo-Baroque concert hall across the square. Tickets are easy to get and the standard is solid, which makes an evening at the opera a natural part of a visit from autumn to spring.

The Bratislava Music Festival in autumn and a long-running jazz festival add highlights. Beyond these, theatre is mostly in Slovak, and live music in bars is small-scale. Visitors who want a major international programme take the train to Vienna.

Bratislava has no thermal baths of its own, and wellness in town means hotel spas, a few massage studios and slow afternoons in Old Town cafes or by the Danube. The pace is unhurried for a capital, and the forest paths above the city are quiet on weekdays.

Slovakia's real bathing culture lies outside the city. A thermal water park at Senec is half an hour away, and the historic spa town of Piestany, known for its mud and sulphur-water cures, is about an hour by train. A visitor who mainly wants to unwind will enjoy the calm but should plan a day out for the baths.