Bratislava's main station

Bratislava Hlavna Stanica is Bratislava's main station, usually abbreviated to Bratislava hl.st..  Hlavna means main, Stanica means station and is pronounced staneetsa.  All major train routes radiate from here.

Bratislava Petrzalka is a secondary station, further from the city centre and south of the river.  An hourly regional service links Vienna & Bratislava Petrzalka, but it's better to stick with the trains linking Vienna to Bratislava Hlavna.

small bullet point  Overview

small bullet point  Which platform for your train?

small bullet point  Tickets & reservations

small bullet point  Left luggage

small bullet point  Walking, taxi, tram to the city centre

small bullet point  Travel tips

    

small bullet point  The original 1848 station

small bullet point  Hotels in Bratislava

On other pages

small bullet point  Trains from Bratislava to other European cities

small bullet point  Trains from other European cities to Bratislava

Overview  Station plan  Location map

In 99% of cases your train will arrive or depart from Bratislava Hlavna Stanica, the city's main station.  It isn't huge, just 6 platforms served by 10 tracks.  The modern foyer at the front was added in 1987 as a temporary measure but it's still in use today, known locally as the Skleník or greenhouse.  Behind lurks the original 1905 station building, heavily remodelled in 1960 when the impressive mural was added.

Main entrance to Bratislava Hlavna station

Bratislava Hlavna Stanica, forecourt.

Main entrance to Bratislava Hlavna station

Bratislava Hlavna Stanica, main entrance into the Skleník (greenhouse).  Note the winged railway wheel on top of the original 1905 station building.

Bratislava Hlavna concourse, inside the 'greenhouse'

Inside the Skleník (greenhouse), added in 1987 as a temporary measure but still here today.  The domestic ticket office is in the background with (on far left) the yellow Regiojet ticket window.  Turn right here for the tram station.

Bratislava Hlavna concourse, steps up to 1905 booking hall

Steps up from the Skleník (greenhouse) concourse to the original 1905 booking hall.

Bratislava Hlavna Stanica's 1905 booking hall

The original 1905 booking hall, with an impressive mural dating from 1960.  The ticket windows on either side are for more complex bookings including international tickets & reservations.  The left luggage office is through the exit in the far left corner.  Platforms are straight ahead, down the steps under the mural into the pedestrian subway.  For a lift down to the subway, go onto platform 1.

Bratislava Hlavna Stanica, platforms

Bratislava Hlavna showing platform 2 (left) and platform 1 (right).

Which platform for your train?

Lift from platform 1 to passageway under the tracks   Bratislava Hlavna, subway under the tracks

Lift from platform 1 to passageway under the tracks.

 

One of the two passageways linking all the tracks.

Bratislava Hlavna platform 2, tracks 4 & 2

Platform (nástupišťa) 2, with track (koľaje) 4 on one side and track (koľaje) 2 on the other.

Tickets & reservations

Complex ticket windows

Two of the four 'complex ticket service' windows in the 1905 booking hall.

Bratislava station travel centre entrance   Inside Bratislava Hlavna travel centre

Entrance to the ZSSK travel centre.

 

Inside the ZSSK travel centre.

Left luggage

Bratislava Hlavna Stanica left luggage office   Bratislava Hlavna Stanica, cafe

Left luggage office, in a passageway leading off the far left corner of the 1905 booking hall.

 

One of several inexpensive cafes around the station, opposite the travel centre.

Walking, taxi or tram to the city centre

The tram pit, seen from the forecourt

The 'tram pit', viewed from the forecourt above.  You access the trams down escalators from inside the station.

Passageway towards the tram station   Tram stop at Bratislava Hlavna

To reach the trams, walk along the passageway above left, from the greenhouse to the escalators down to the tram station (above, right).

Travel tips

Clarion Congress Hotel bar   Clarion Congress Hotel entrance

Peace & quiet:  The Clarion Congress Hotel bar.

 

Entrance to the Clarion Congress Hotel.

The original 1848 station

The original Vienna-Bratislava railway station from 1848 still stands, a terminus used before Bratislava Hlavna was rebuilt as a through station.  It's at the foot of the station approach road, in the photo below left that's the left turn into the approach road up to the current station immediately to the right of the 1848 station.  The original station is now used as offices for the Slovak railway police.  There's a small transport museum on the old terminus tracks behind it, for details go to stm-ke.sk and under Branches select Museum of Transport in Bratislava.

The original 1848 Bratislava station   Plaque on the original 1848 Bratislava station

The original 1848 station.

 

Plaque on the 1848 station.

Hotels near the station

Hotels in the old town


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