| Organization |
ACCOMMODATION AND SOLVING VENUE
Falkensteiner Hotel☆☆☆☆ Bratislava
The hotel has an excellent location right in the city center. All events will take place in the hotel.
PRICES
Per room per day, bed, breakfast, wifi, and hotel wellness included, excluding city tax 1,70€ per person per night:
- single room: 99€
- double or twin room: 129€
- participation fee: 75€ (early registration until Apr 30th, afterwards 90€)
The registration fee is to be paid in cash to the organizer upon arrival, the payment for accommodation will be paid directly to the hotel. You may choose to stay in a different hotel if you wish, but we do not provide official alternatives and the registration fee (both before and after 30.4.2023) remains the same.
ORGANIZATION
Slovak Organization for Chess Composition, contact ecsc2023@soks.sk.
ARRIVAL
Slovakia is a member of the EU and the Schengen Area, the local currency is Euro. You probably don’t need visa or any special documents, but if you’re arriving from outside of the Schengen Area, please double check with your local authorities.
Bratislava is well reachable from many European cities by both trains as well as flights.
TRAIN
Direct night (and day) trains to either Bratislava or Vienna run from many European cities including Amsterdam, Berlin, Stuttgart, Warsaw, Zagreb, and Zurich. In the daytime, there are 2 train connections per hour between Vienna and Bratislava, one for Bratislava’s main train station (Hlavná stanica), the other for Bratislava-Petržalka. The trip only takes an hour and a return ticket costs 18€. Regardless of which train station you arrive at in Bratislava, you can take the bus 93 to the stop Zochová, which is right in front of the hotel.
You can check connections through Vienna and buy tickets at the website of the Austrian railways. Connections to Bratislava can be found at the website of the Slovak railways, and also at the independent website cp.sk.
AIR
Bratislava has its own international airport (BTS) and is located close to Vienna International Airport (VIE). Buses run frequently between both airports and the city.
To get to the hotel from the airport, take the bus 61 to its final stop “Hlavná stanica”, then change to the bus 93 and get off at “Zochová.” The trip will take around 40 minutes, you will need a 60-minute ticket, as well as a discounted 30-minute ticket for your luggage if larger than 60x40x25cm, for a combined price of roughly 2€. You can buy both tickets from a machine at the bus stop at the airport (as well as at most other major stops), they must be validated inside the vehicle. Find more information about travel between the city and the airport in this article and below.
Regular bus service is also available between Vienna airport and Bratislava, provided by several different companies. The trip takes around an hour and usually costs between 5 € and 17€ one way, depending on the company, time of booking, etc. You can check schedules and book tickets at their websites: Slovak Lines, RegioJet, or FlixBus. You may be able to find additional connections at cp.sk. Travel to the station “Most SNP” in Bratislava, which is just a 10-minute walk from the hotel; or to the final stop “Mlynské Nivy”, take the trolleybus line 42 to “Kollárovo námestie” and then 80 to “Zochová”; or continue on 42 one stop longer to “Hodžovo námestie,” where you will see the presidential palace, and from where the hotel is a 5-minute walk away.
Note that there is no direct train connection from Vienna airport to Bratislava; you can take a train to Vienna and then change to a train to Bratislava if you so wish, but this takes longer than bus.
The hotel offers airport shuttle at a surcharge.
CAR
If you’re planning to arrive by car, note that you will need to buy a vignette even if you plan to enter by the short strip of highway from Austria or Hungary (and naturally if you enter by highway from any other country). Slovakia has only an electronic vignette, which you can buy online.
It is possible to bypass those short highway sections when coming from Austria or Hungary at the cost of only a little delay; please reach out if you need advice.
Parking in the hotel costs 17,50€ per day (24h). Long-term parking on the streets around the hotel is only available to residents; we are happy to provide suggestions upon request for free outdoor parking at a modest distance from the hotel (we cannot guarantee availability at any given time). For more information about parking rules in Bratislava see the official website.
GETTING AROUND
Bratislava has a comprehensive public transport network. You can use imhd.sk or Google maps to look up connections. When traveling with luggage larger than 60x40x25cm, it is recommended to buy paper tickets as explained above (paper tickets must be validated in the vehicle). When traveling without such luggage, there is the additional option to buy a ticket by tapping a credit card (or a smartphone/watch if you have payments enabled) upon entering a bus or tram. These tickets are valid until the end of the trip of the vehicle where you tap, and include one transfer within 45 minutes of the first tap; and so are well suited for a trip from the airport as well. Multiday tickets are also available; see here for a comprehensive review of the available tickets.
Some popular taxi options include Hopin, Bolt, and Uber; there are many other taxi services which you will be able to find online.
That said, the hotel is only a 1-minute walk away from the historic centre, so chances are you will not need to travel much.
As a random fun fact, know that tap water in Bratislava is safe for drinking.