Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2013/Conference

Arriving to Bratislava

See map of most important places. Modra is 30 km from Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia.

CP [1] offers an exceptionally useful website with integrated timetables for all trains and buses in Slovakia, including all intra-city and inter-city transports. It is also useful for international travel from/to Slovakia.

Recognised refugees in possession of a valid travel document issued by the government of any one of the above countries/territories are exempt from obtaining a visa for Slovakia (but no other Schengen country, except Germany and Hungary) for a maximum stay of 90 days in a 180 day period.

Slovakia became a part of Schengen area only relatively recently, and local cross-border transport services might be limited in certain areas, though this is improving, and in some places it is very easy to cross over. You should have ID with you anyway, but to avoid hassle, make sure to keep an ID on you in border regions.

If you need a visa, always apply at an embassy beforehand. There are zero chances you will get a visa at a Slovak border, no matter how you enter or what your nationality is.

By plane

Bratislava has its own airport. Danube Wings are the only full service airline flying into Bratislava, being the Slovakian flag carrier. They offer flights to Kosice, Rijeka, Split, Venice and Zadar.

However, the budget airline Ryanair operate flights to Bratislava from various European cities, including London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Dublin, Rome (Ciampino), Paris (Beauvais) and Brussels (Charleroi), and a few others. These flights can be quite cheap, so if you are arriving from outside Europe, you might end up saving a lot of money by flying to a bigger airport and then connecting to Bratislava. However these flights do not operate daily, so you may be better flying into Vienna. Norwegian Airlines operate flights from Copenhagen and Oslo, and there are also flights to Moscow and Tel Aviv with UTAir and Sun d'or Airlines respectively.

The alternative is Vienna Airport, which is just 35 km (22 mi) from Bratislava. It provides a more convenient way of arriving to Slovakia by the major airlines, but can be more expensive. It also operates a much greater number of long-haul flights. Buses leave for Bratislava hourly, going from Vienna Airport straight to the main bus station in Bratislava. You can find the schedule at http://cp.atlas.sk, search for Wien [*A] --> Bratislava. Alternatively, you can take the airport shuttle, or a taxi which will cost around €70.

Other options include airports in Prague and Budapest, with both cities about 4 hours away by public transport. There are also direct flights operated between Prague and Bratislava and Prague and Kosice, the latter in conjunction with flights to Prague providing the most convenient access by plane to the Eastern part of the country.

Poprad - Tatry Airport [2] is also connected with Bratislava, Bologna and Basel thanks to scheduled routes operated by Danube Wings.

You can also fly to Kraków if you want to go to the Tatra Mountains. Buses from Kraków run to several Slovak towns around the Tatra mountains and Orava.

By train

From the Czech Republic

As parts of former Czechoslovakia, the trains between the Czech Republic and Slovakia are frequent. EC trains operate every two hours from Prague to Bratislava and Žilina. There is one daily train from Prague to Banská Bystrica, Zvolen, Poprad and Košice. All these cities have a direct overnight sleeper car connection from Prague.

Cheap tickets SporoTiket Evropa can be bought at the Czech Railways e-shop [3], at least 3 days in advance. The price begins at €15 for seat or €26 for couchette. Please note that such e-ticket is valid only on the one specific train!

If you want greater flexibility or cannot buy in advance over the Internet, you can get a significant discount at a railway station if you buy a return ticket called CityStar. Such international return ticket is valid for one month on any train (and cannot be bought over the Internet at all).

From Germany

There are three daytime and one overnight train from Berlin to Bratislava. Cheap tickets can be bought at German Railways e-shop [4], when bought at least 3 days in advance. The price begins at €29.

From Austria

Hourly regional expresses operate from Vienna to Bratislava. You can use EURegio ticket for €14 – a return ticket valid 4 days.

If you are traveling from the Vienna airport (shown as Flughafen Wien on http://cp.atlas.sk), you can take bus #4 from right in front of the airport to Bratislava Main Bus Station (Bratislava,,AS MHD), and from there take bus #41 traveling to Modra,,Kráľová rešt. From there it is a 15 minute walk to the venue.

From Poland

There is an overnight through car from Warszawa to Bratislava via Czech territory. Direct train connection from Poland is very poor, a bus is generally a better alternative. There are only few local trains going just over the border line – one train Zwardoń (PL)–Skalité (SK). There's no international passenger traffic at Nowy Sącz–Prešov (since Dec 2010) and Lupków-Medzilaborce line (since Dec 2009).

If you really want to travel from Poland by train, prepare for a full-day trip with a lot of train changes. It's cheaper to buy Polish ticket only to border point (Skalité Gr.) and then buy a Slovak domestic ticket at conductor (€1.30 surcharge).

From Hungary

There are EC trains from Budapest to Bratislava running every two hours and two IC trains a day from Budapest and Miskolc to Košice. Unlike trip from Poland, it wouldn't be cheaper to buy the Slovak section at conductor. Instead, there is a bilateral return discount of 60% (i.e. a return ticket is cheaper that a one-way ticket).

From Ukraine and Russia

There is a daily direct sleeper car from Moscow, Kiev and Lvov to Košice, Poprad and Bratislava. The journey is very long – 2 nights from Moscow and Kiev and 1 day and night from Lvov – because of poor rail state in western Ukraine, lengthy customs process at UA/SK border and bogie changing (Ukraine has different gauge than Europe).

It is much more cheaper to buy Ukrainian or Russian ticket only to the Ukrainian border station Chop, then buy a ticket from Chop to the first Slovak station Čierna nad Tisou, and then buy a Slovak domestic ticket at conductor (€1.30 surcharge). But then you have no berth reservation for the Slovak section and you have to change to seat car in Chop.

Another option is to buy CityStar ticket in Russia (or Slovakia were its prices are cheaper) which can be however is valid only for group up to 5 members. CityStar ticket than servers as one-month valid two-way ticket between the stations and is offered with a discount for each next passenger on the ticket. Of course you have to buy berth ticket additionally as well.

From Belarus

There is no direct trains from Belarus, so one may order tickets to Warsaw-Central, and then to Slovakia (or Bratislava particularly), see section about travelling from Poland.

By bus

Among many others, there are regular services from Vienna, Prague and Budapest to Bratislava; and from Uzhhorod, Ukraine to the eastern Slovak town of Michalovce and from Kraków, Poland through Zakopane, Poland to Poprad.

Taking a bus from Prague to Bratislava is slower but cheaper than train if you buy a ticket in advance, e.g. at Student Agency, Slovak Lines, or using the common bus reservation system AMSBus.

Buses from Poland and Ukraine are the best option, they are faster and more frequent than trains.

From Budapest the travel is 4 hours, the bus stop for 5 minutes at Györ and in a small restaurant in the road.

Travelling through Bratislava

Tickets and other info on travelling through Bratislava on public transport can be found here: [5]

By foot

There's a pontoon ferry accessible to car-drivers and pedestrians between Angern an der March (Austria) and Záhorská Ves (Slovakia). 05:00-22:00.
There's a bridge for pedestrian and cycle driver between Schloss Hof (Austria) and Devínska Nová Ves (Slovakia) - the Cyklomost slobody.

Travelling from Bratislava to Modra

Travel from Bratislava to Modra takes cca 1 hour and is ca 30 km long. It cross the town Pezinok. The simplest means to arrive to Modra from Bratislava is to use a direct bus from Bratislava's main bus station Mlynské Nivy. The schedules and other useful information is on website http://cp.atlas.sk (in Slovak, English and German).

The nearest bus stop to the venue is Modra, Kráľová reštaurácia. Once you get off at this bus station (can ask the driver to tell you once you get there), cross the street, walk less than half a block south towards Trnavska st. and from there turn right and go straight. The asphalt road will end and a footpath will appear. Continue on this until you get to an asphalt main road (Okruzna). Turn right on this road and continue walking until the tallest building you see on the left-hand side. This is the venue. You can also see these directions on this map.

If your only connection is to Modra (obchodný dom), you can ask organisers for pick-up.

Pick-up

We will provide a pick-up microbus for up to 8 persons. Prefer to use normal travel options and use this pick-up as a back-up option. Better to make group of attendants to pick-up.

Visa

Citizens of European Union and European Free Trade Association (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland) can travel to Slovakia without a visa. Citizens of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia with a biometric passport don't need visa either.

Accommodation

Accommodation for participants will be provided by organisers (unless otherwise requested) in the venue building. The participants will live in two-bed rooms with their own shower and WC. There are rooms for 84 people in total. Lodging in single-person room or in three-person room will be available too.

The program venue has a few workshop and discussion rooms, computer labs with internet access and the possibility to use own computers; wireless internet connection on the ground floor of the venue, main hall with a podium, projector and piano, small sportroom, indoor billiards and table tennis corner, outdoor tennis court, minifootball pitch and a terace with a gril. Close to the venue, there is an all-night bar and also a disco and a bowling alley.

Accommodation costs 14.5 €/person/night for two-bed room and 20 €/person/night for single room. Meals are 14 €/person/day.

If you prefer another accommodation you can use some of close pensions and hotels.

Venue

Študijné a kongresové stredisko Centra ďalšieho vzdelávania Univerzity Komenského (48.354324,17.311104)

Študijné a školiace kongresové stredisko
CĎV UK - Modra Harmónia
Modra Harmónia č. 3553