City Europe
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital city of Slovakia. It sits beside the Danube River. A big white castle stands on a hill above the town.
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia, on the Danube River close to the borders with Austria and Hungary. For more than 200 years it was the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary. The 2021 census counted 475,503 people in the city.
Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, lies where the Danube cuts through the Little Carpathians near the meeting point of Slovakia, Austria and Hungary, 56 km east of Vienna. Known as Pozsony, it was Hungary's capital from 1536 to 1783; it became Slovakia's capital within Czechoslovakia after 1918 and of independent Slovakia in 1993. Census 2021: 475,503.
Photo: Rob Hurson from Kentstown, Ireland, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital city of Slovakia.
The wide Danube River flows past it. On a hill above the river stands a big castle. The old town below has a square with a fountain.
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia, a country in central Europe. It lies in the far southwest of the country, on the Danube River, where the river has cut a gap through the Little Carpathian Mountains. Austria and Hungary are right next door, and Vienna, the capital of Austria, is only about 56 kilometers to the west.
The 2021 census counted 475,503 people in Bratislava. It is a city of universities, theaters and museums, and the Bratislava region is the most prosperous part of Slovakia.
Bratislava occupies the extreme southwest of Slovakia, on the Danube where the river has carved a gorge through the Little Carpathians, close to the point where the frontiers of Slovakia, Austria and Hungary meet. Vienna lies 56 km to the west.
The 2021 census recorded 475,503 residents. Long a frontier town of the Kingdom of Hungary, the city has been known as Pressburg (German), Pozsony (Hungarian) and Prešporok (Slovak); the name Bratislava was introduced after 1918. Today it is a road and rail junction, a river port and Slovakia's main cultural center, and its region is the country's most prosperous, producing about 26 percent of Slovakia's GDP.
- Country
- Slovakia (capital)
- People in the city (2021 census)
- 475,503
- River
- the Danube
- Distance to Vienna
- about 56 km
Famous places
A big white castle sits on a hill above Bratislava.
It is very big. Below it is the old town, with a big old church and a square with a fountain.
Bratislava Castle stands on a flat hilltop about 100 meters above the Danube and towers over the city. Austria's royal family stayed there when they visited Hungary. A fire destroyed it in 1811, and it has since been largely restored.
Below the castle is the Old Town. Its Gothic Cathedral of St. Martin is where Habsburg rulers were crowned kings of Hungary. In the Baroque Archbishop's Palace, Napoleon and the Austrian emperor signed a peace treaty in 1805.
The castle dominates the city from a plateau about 100 m above the Danube. It was the residence of the Austrian royal family on visits to Hungary until a fire destroyed it in 1811, and it has since been largely restored. In 1741 Empress Maria Theresa fled here when French and Bavarian troops threatened Vienna.
In the Old Town below, the Gothic Cathedral of St. Martin is where Habsburg rulers were crowned kings of Hungary. The Baroque Archbishop's Palace is where Napoleon and Emperor Francis II signed the Peace of Pressburg in 1805, after the Battle of Austerlitz. The Slovak National Theatre, the Slovak National Gallery and the Slovak National Museum are also in the city.
- Bratislava Castle
- on a plateau about 100 m above the Danube
- Cathedral of St. Martin
- Gothic; Habsburg rulers were crowned kings of Hungary here
- Archbishop's Palace
- Baroque; the Peace of Pressburg was signed here in 1805
A crossroads on the Danube
People have lived here for a very, very long time.
Long ago, kings were crowned in its big church. Later, the city became the capital of Slovakia. In 1993, Slovakia became its own country.
People lived here in prehistoric times, and later Celts and Romans built forts and settlements. Slavs lived here by the 700s. The town became part of the Kingdom of Hungary and grew into a busy trading center. In 1291 the king of Hungary made it a free royal town.
From 1536 to 1783 the city, then called Pozsony, was Hungary's capital, and Habsburg rulers were crowned kings of Hungary in its Cathedral of St. Martin. After 1918 it became the capital of Slovakia within Czechoslovakia, and the name Bratislava came into use. In 1993 Slovakia became an independent country, with Bratislava as its capital.
Archaeology points to prehistoric settlement; Celts and Romans later fortified the site, and Slavs lived here by the 8th century, within Great Moravia, the earliest West Slavic state. The area then passed to Hungary, where its frontier position made it an economic and administrative center; Andrew III granted it the rights of a free royal town in 1291, and the Istropolitana Academy, the first university in the kingdom, was founded here in 1465.
After Ottoman forces defeated Hungary at Mohács in 1526 and took Buda, the Hungarian Diet moved the capital to Pozsony, which served from 1536 to 1783; the parliament met here until 1848. German speakers were long a leading group alongside Hungarians and Slovaks. After World War I the city became Slovakia's capital in the first Czechoslovak Republic and took the name Bratislava. World War II brought great upheaval: most of the city's Jews were deported, and after the war most of its Germans were expelled. Since the 1950s about 90 percent of residents have been Slovak, and the city became the capital of independent Slovakia in 1993.
Getting around Bratislava
People in Bratislava ride trams, buses and trolleybuses.
Trains and roads meet here, and the city has a port on the Danube. One boat goes all the way to Vienna!
Bratislava's city transport company, Dopravný podnik Bratislava, runs trams, trolleybuses and buses. Trolleybuses are buses that take electricity from wires above the street.
The city is an important crossroads for roads and railways, and it has a port on the Danube. A boat service called the Twin City Liner carries passengers along the river between Bratislava and Vienna, two capital cities only about 56 kilometers apart.
Britannica describes Bratislava as an important road and rail junction and river port. Public transport is run by the city transport company, Dopravný podnik Bratislava (DPB), which operates trams, trolleybuses and buses; in 2026 it reported nearly 9.7 million more passenger boardings in the first eight months of the year than a year before, after investing almost half a billion euros and bringing in up to 136 new low-emission vehicles.
The Twin City Liner boat service runs on the Danube between Vienna and Bratislava, two national capitals about 56 km apart.
- City transport
- trams, trolleybuses and buses (Dopravný podnik Bratislava)
- Boat to Vienna
- the Twin City Liner, along the Danube
- Transport hub
- road and rail junction and river port
Cold winters, warm summers
Winters in Bratislava are cold.
Many nights are below freezing. Summers are warm. It does not rain a lot.
Bratislava has four clear seasons. At the World Meteorological Organization's Bratislava station, January days averaged about 3 °C and nights about −3 °C between 1991 and 2020, so the average night is below freezing.
Summers are warm: July days averaged about 28 °C and nights about 16 °C. Bratislava is fairly dry, with about 570 millimeters of rain and snow a year, and the most falls in summer.
WMO normals for Bratislava (1991–2020, Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute) give average daily highs and lows of about 3 °C and −3 °C in January and about 28 °C and 16 °C in July; December, January and February all have average lows below freezing.
The monthly averages add up to only about 574 mm a year. February is the driest month, at about 33 mm, and July the wettest, at about 62 mm, with May to September each averaging close to 60 mm. Even so, winter has more days with precipitation, about 13 to 14 in December and January, compared with about 10 in August.
- January, average daily high and low (WMO Bratislava station, 1991–2020)
- about 3 °C and −3 °C
- July, average daily high and low (same station and period)
- about 28 °C and 16 °C
- Rain and snow in a year (sum of the monthly averages)
- about 570 mm
Living in Bratislava
Bratislava has a university that opened in 1919.
The city has theaters, museums and an art gallery. Factories in the city make cloth and other goods.
Bratislava is Slovakia's main center for learning and culture. Comenius University, founded in 1919, is here, along with the Slovak Academy of Sciences, the Slovak National Theatre and the Slovak National Gallery.
Factories in the city make products such as textiles, chemicals, metal goods and electrical goods. The Bratislava region is the most prosperous part of Slovakia, producing about a quarter of the country's wealth.
As the national capital, Bratislava holds Comenius University (1919), which Britannica describes as the successor to the medieval Istropolitana Academy, the Slovak Academy of Sciences (1953), specialized schools and technical institutes, the Slovak National Theatre and the Slovak National Gallery and Museum.
Its diversified industries produce textiles, chemicals, and metal and electrical goods. The region is Slovakia's most prosperous, accounting for about 26 percent of national GDP. The population has been about 90 percent Slovak since the 1950s, after centuries in which German, Hungarian and Slovak communities shared the city.
- Comenius University
- founded 1919
- Slovak Academy of Sciences
- founded 1953
- Share of Slovakia's GDP (Bratislava region)
- about 26 percent
Bratislava on the map
Find Bratislava on the globe.
It is in Slovakia, in the middle of Europe. Look for the long Danube River. Bratislava sits on it, very close to Austria and Hungary.
Bratislava is in the far southwest corner of Slovakia, on the Danube River. Austria lies just to the west and Hungary just to the south, and Vienna is about 56 kilometers away.
Here the Danube has cut a gorge, a narrow valley with steep sides, through the Little Carpathian Mountains. The city's castle stands on a plateau about 100 meters above the river.
Bratislava lies at about 48.2° N and 17.1° E, in the extreme southwest of Slovakia, where the Danube passes through a gorge in the Little Carpathian Mountains near the junction of the Slovak, Austrian and Hungarian frontiers. Vienna is 56 km west.
Its position on the kingdom's frontier made it an economic and administrative center of Hungary and, from 1536 to 1783, its capital.
- Latitude
- about 48.2° north
- Longitude
- about 17.1° east
- Neighbors close by
- Austria and Hungary
Amazing facts
-
Kings were once crowned in Bratislava's big old church.
For centuries, Habsburg rulers were crowned kings of Hungary in Bratislava's Gothic Cathedral of St. Martin.
While Pozsony was Hungary's capital (1536–1783), Habsburg rulers were crowned kings of Hungary in the Gothic Cathedral of St. Martin.
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Bratislava has had several different names.
Bratislava used to be called Pressburg in German, Pozsony in Hungarian and Prešporok in Slovak. The name Bratislava came into use after 1918.
Pressburg, Pozsony and Prešporok all named the city; Slovak patriots favored Bratislava for its medieval Slavic origins, and it was introduced after the founding of Czechoslovakia in 1918.
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Bratislava is very close to Vienna, another capital city.
Vienna, the capital of Austria, is only about 56 kilometers from Bratislava, and a boat on the Danube links the two cities.
Vienna lies 56 km west of Bratislava; the Twin City Liner connects the two capitals along the Danube.
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An empress once ran to Bratislava to stay safe.
In 1741 Empress Maria Theresa of Austria went to Bratislava when French and Bavarian troops threatened Vienna.
In 1741 Maria Theresa fled to Bratislava when French and Bavarian troops threatened Vienna, a sign of the city's role in the Habsburg realm.
Words to know
- capital
- the city where a country's government meets
- castle
- a large, strong building with thick walls, built long ago for rulers or soldiers
- coronation
- the ceremony in which a king or queen is crowned
- border
- the line where one country ends and another begins
- trolleybus
- an electric bus that gets its power from wires above the street
- port
- a place where boats and ships load and unload
- gorge
- a narrow valley with steep sides, cut by a river
Discovery challenge
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Bratislava is the capital of which country?
Bratislava is the capital city of which country?
Bratislava became the capital of which independent country in 1993?
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Austria
Show the answer
Slovakia
Slovakia! Bratislava is its capital.
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia, in central Europe.
Slovakia, which became independent in 1993; Bratislava had been Slovakia's capital within Czechoslovakia since after 1918.
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Which river flows past Bratislava?
Which great European river flows through Bratislava?
Bratislava lies where which river cuts a gorge through the Little Carpathians?
- The Nile
- The Danube
- The Thames
Show the answer
The Danube
The Danube! Boats sail on it.
The Danube, which passes Vienna before it reaches Bratislava.
The Danube; the Twin City Liner runs on it between Bratislava and Vienna.
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What stands on the hill above Bratislava?
What stands on a hilltop about 100 meters above the Danube in Bratislava?
Which building, destroyed by fire in 1811 and largely restored since, dominates Bratislava from its plateau?
- A castle
- A lighthouse
- A windmill
Show the answer
A castle
A castle! You can see it from all over the city.
Bratislava Castle, about 100 meters above the river.
Bratislava Castle, once the residence of the Austrian royal family on visits to Hungary.
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Which big city is close to Bratislava?
Which capital city is only about 56 kilometers from Bratislava?
Which national capital lies 56 km west of Bratislava?
- Vienna
- Paris
- Madrid
Show the answer
Vienna
Vienna! It is in Austria, very close by.
Vienna, the capital of Austria, about 56 kilometers to the west.
Vienna, 56 km west; the Twin City Liner links the two capitals on the Danube.
-
Which month is colder in Bratislava?
In which month is Bratislava colder, on average?
In which month do nights at the Bratislava station average about −3 °C (1991–2020)?
- January
- July
Show the answer
January
January! Nights can be frosty.
January days average about 3 °C, while July days average about 28 °C.
January; July nights average about 16 °C (WMO normals, 1991–2020).
Nearby places
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Watch
Landmark
Belvedere
The Belvedere in Vienna is made of two Baroque palaces, the Lower and the Upper Belvedere, joined by a large garden. Prince Eugene of Savoy had them built as a summer home from 1712 to 1723, to designs by Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt. In 1777 the Upper Belvedere became, the museum says, one of the world's first public museums, and today the Belvedere is an art museum.
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City
Vienna
Vienna is the capital of Austria, on the Danube River. For centuries it was the home of emperors, and composers such as Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven lived and worked there. About 2 million people lived in the city at the start of 2026.
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City
Budapest
Budapest, the capital of Hungary, was made in 1873 by joining three towns on the Danube River: hilly Buda and old Óbuda on one bank and flat Pest on the other. About 1.7 million people live there (2026), with hot springs under the ground and the first underground railway built on the European mainland.
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City
Ostrava
Ostrava is the third-largest city in Czechia and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. Universalis says it was born of the industrial revolution, as a place for mining coal, and grew with a big iron and steel industry. Czechia's 2021 census counted 282,450 people.
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City
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital of Croatia, between the Sava River and Medvednica mountain. It grew from two old hilltop towns, Kaptol and Gradec, which joined in 1850. The 2021 census counted 767,131 people in the City of Zagreb, and its blue trams have run since 1891.
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City
Prague
Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, lies on the Vltava River in the heart of Europe. With Prague Castle on its hill, the 14th-century Charles Bridge and so many church towers that it is called the 'City of a Hundred Spires', its historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. About 1.4 million people lived there in 2025.
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Watch
Landmark
Old New Synagogue
The Old New Synagogue in Prague was built in the 1270s. Prague's official tourist site calls it the oldest synagogue in Central Europe and one of the oldest Gothic buildings in the country. It has a high saddle roof with tall brick gables.
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Landmark
Charles Bridge
Charles Bridge crosses the Vltava River in Prague, the capital of Czechia. It was begun in 1357 under Charles IV and finished in 1402, and it is made of sandstone blocks. Towers guard both ends, 30 statues and statue groups stand along its walls, and today it is a bridge for people on foot.
Explore next
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Watch
Country
Slovakia
Slovakia is a landlocked country in central Europe. The Carpathian Mountains cover much of it, with the High Tatras in the north, and about 5.4 million people lived there at the end of 2025. Its capital, Bratislava, sits on the Danube River.
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Natural wonder
Danube
The Danube is Europe's second-longest river, after the Volga. It begins as two small streams in Germany's Black Forest and flows about 2,850 kilometers east to the Black Sea, passing through 10 countries and four capital cities. For more than 2,000 years it has been a border, a highway for boats and a home for wildlife, and it ends in a giant delta of reeds, lakes and birds.
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City
Vienna
Vienna is the capital of Austria, on the Danube River. For centuries it was the home of emperors, and composers such as Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven lived and worked there. About 2 million people lived in the city at the start of 2026.
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Watch
City
Budapest
Budapest, the capital of Hungary, was made in 1873 by joining three towns on the Danube River: hilly Buda and old Óbuda on one bank and flat Pest on the other. About 1.7 million people live there (2026), with hot springs under the ground and the first underground railway built on the European mainland.
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Watch
City
Prague
Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, lies on the Vltava River in the heart of Europe. With Prague Castle on its hill, the 14th-century Charles Bridge and so many church towers that it is called the 'City of a Hundred Spires', its historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. About 1.4 million people lived there in 2025.
- Watch Geography Capital cities A capital is the city where a country's government is based. Many capitals grew up over hundreds of years beside rivers and trade routes. A few, like Brasília and Canberra, were built from scratch, and some countries share out their capital's jobs among two or three cities.
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City
Košice
Košice is the second-largest city in Slovakia and the center of the country's east. It lies in the valley of the Hornád River, with hills and mountains around it. Slovakia's 2021 census counted 229,040 people in the city.
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City
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands. It began as a fishing village beside a dam on the Amstel River, which gave the city its name. Today about 942,000 people live among its rings of canals, hundreds of bridges, houseboats and bicycles.
For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Locate Bratislava on the Danube, next to Austria and Hungary.
- Explain how one city can have had several names and belonged to different countries over time.
- Describe what a coronation city and a capital city are.
- Read temperature averages to describe a climate with cold winters and warm summers.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Bratislava has been called Pressburg, Pozsony and Prešporok. Why might a place have different names in different languages?
- Two capital cities, Bratislava and Vienna, are only about 56 kilometers apart. What might be good about living so close to another country?
- A river connects many cities and countries. What does a river or road near you connect?
Try at home or in class
- Draw the Danube on a long strip of paper and mark Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest along it, with the castle on a hill beside Bratislava.
- Make a name map: write your town's name and ask family members how they would say or spell it in other languages they know.
Key vocabulary: capital, castle, coronation, border, trolleybus, port, gorge
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Natural Earth vector data , Natural Earth (NACIS) (Public domain)
- Bratislava , Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Dopravný podnik Bratislava , Dopravný podnik Bratislava (city transport company)
- Twin City Liner: Vienna - Bratislava , Twin City Liner
- Bratislava: climatological information , World Meteorological Organization, World Weather Information Service
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.