BRATISLAVA is the country’s capital and it deserves guidebooks that provide tourists with all the information they’ll need. The recently published Bratislava Active guidebook has enriched the so-far limited offer of such literature in English.
Bratislava Active is a user-friendly, pocket-sized guidebook written by Martin Sloboda.
Divided into chapters, it provides brief but comprehensive information about places of interest for tourists as well as useful information on where to sleep or go shopping.
Its author chose to give brief information on an extensive number of places. This makes the guide an excellent tool in helping tourists to get oriented in the capital, gain a broad understanding of the city, and find sights and places of various interest.
The chapter Highlights in Bratislava introduces the main sights of the capital such as the castle, St Martin’s Cathedral, the Main Square and Devín Castle. It dedicates to each of them two to four pages of information on their main features, history, as well as opening hours.
The Sights chapter covers other important buildings and features of the city such as parks, historical cemeteries, fountains, and sculptures in Bratislava’s streets.
In Cultural Events & Leisure, tourists can find information about traditional cultural events taking place in Bratislava as well as a list of the most important museums and galleries.
It recalls the city's rich wine tradition as well as its role as Hungarian royal capital. It also includes information on leisure activities for children and sports venues.
In Going Out, traditional Slovak cuisine is described and the guide gives a list of restaurants where tourists can taste the dishes, from student haunts up to the most expensive.
The Accommodation chapter helps tourists choose accommodation in the city according to their budget.
The Shopping & Beauty section gives tips on where to buy the latest fashion, traditional hand-crafted products and original accessories as well as where to go for wellness cures.
The Walks & Trips chapter suggests various walking tours of historical Bratislava as well as nearby towns.
It is admirable how much information Sloboda managed to squeeze into such a small book. It is also pleasing that the author included websites of the featured places, enabling tourists to get the latest information as Bratislava continues to dynamically develop.
But it would have been useful if he had included more Slovak names in the book rather than their English translations, as these English versions - especially for lesser known places - are not common in the city.
Nonetheless, Bratislava Active is a professionally written travel guide that contains a deep knowledge of Bratislava that all tourists will find useful.
