Bratislava News

The famous Davis Cup is displayed in the Primate (Archbishop) Palace in the Old Town Bratislava. Everything is ready for the weekend match. So Go Slovakia Go...

The WILSONIC is a modern music festival that is held annually in Bratislava. Although the main event took place in June, there are progressive beat concerts given all year round. The Micro Wilsonic concert will also take place in the Stara Trznica (Bratislava Old Market) on Friday, December 2 with Daddy G, also known as Grant Marshall, as the headliner of the event. This famous DJ from Bristol, one of the founding members of Massive Attack, is also considered to be the father on the Trip-Hop. Except for him also the Slovak Hip-hop artists Tina & Band, Vec and Junior will present their music. Find out more on the WILSONIC.

The traditional Christmas Market starts in Bratislava today. It will held in the lovely restored medieval Old Town Squares until 23rd December. 106 wooden booths have been installed to provide local flavor to the Christmas shopping under the decorated Christmas tree. Mainly folk art products are offered here (jewelry, leather belts and bags, candles, wooden dishes and toys, pottery products, pictures painted on glass, straw bowls and baskets, folk costumes, etc.).
Typical Slovak handicrafts including blacksmith, pottery and glassmaking are presented in the courtyard of the Old Town Hall. Many of the booths offer the traditional food and drinks, e.g. Roast Pork “Gympy Style”, Lokse – Potato Pancakes with Cabbage or Goose Liver, Lard Buns called Pagace, Grilled Sausages, Cabbage Soup, Mulled Win, Mead and Punch. Also various concerts will be held here to enhance the festive atmosphere. It is the ideal time to visit Bratislava and enjoy its unique spirit.

The 7th INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL BRATISLAVA 2005 will be held between December 2nd and December 10th in Bratislava. 140 movies will be presented in the following programme sections: International Competition of First and Second Feature Films, Made in Europe, Off the Mainstream, Free Zone: Making Money, GMT, Zoom: National Hits, Focus: I ♥ UK, Focus : Film and Music III. - Legends and Video Clips, Asylum - short films, Santa Claus, Slovak Films 2005 and Special Events. The will take place in the Palace Cinemas Multiplex, Aupark Shopping Centre in Petrzalka. Admission: afternoon / evening screenings SKK 59 / 99. The season tickets are available at SKK 999 a piece.

Located opposite the beautifull Presidential Palace, the Crown Plaza Hotel was open this summer. The fully refurbished 4-star property now offers deluxe accommodation in 223 guest rooms equipped with all the technology expected from the 1st class hotel. The Crown Plaza also offers state-of-art meeting spaces, a pleasant Magd a Lena Restaurant, modern Fitness Plazza as well as in-house Casino. Bratislava now offers another quality international chain hotel. The rates for a double room start at as low as EUR 119. Find out more on Crowne Plaza Hotel Bratislava.

2005 Davis Cup Final will be held in the Sibamac Arena National Tennis Centre in Bratislava on 2 - 4 November. Our team will play Croatia with their star Ljubicic. I hope that the unique atmospehere that the Slovak tennis fans always make will help Dominic Hrbaty and Co. win again. Although the the match is sold out officially, you can always get the tickets on spot. But it will not be cheap of course...

There is the last chance to check the very interesting exhibition on Indonesia in the building of the Slovak National Museum on Vajanskeho nabrezie 2 this weekend. The double exhibtion features the unique collection documenting the undiscovered parts of the Papua - New Guinea Island by the Adventure Travel Agency LIVINGSTONE, as well as the 80 large prints on the famous 20th-century expeditions by the photographers of the National Geographic. Open 9am to 6pm, admission adults/children SKK 100 / 70.

The Central European Initiative (CEI) is an intergovernmental forum for political, economic and cultural co-operation among its 17 Member States, including Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine. It was established in 1989 with the aim to help transition countries in Central Europe to access the EU.

The 8th CEI Summit Economic Forum (SEF) will be held in Bratislava, November 23 – 24, 2005. The SEF offers a unique opportunity for discussing feasible business ideas, examining potential investments, establishing trade partnerships and meeting policy makers. The event will take place at three Bratislava hotels: Radisson SAS Carlton, Danube and Devin and at the historical building of the Slovak Philharmonic. Some 1000 participants are expected to meet and discuss this year’s SEF main theme -Reforms - key to Competitiveness. Seminars, project presentations and focused meetings will provide a platform for discussions of topics such as reforms for improving business environment, development strategies for raising competitiveness, opportunities in energy, SMEs, infrastructure and human resources. Also several social events will provide participants with further opportunities for networking iin the pleasant and relaxed environment.

With more and more low-cost carriers launching their flights to Bratislava, our city is becoming very popular city break destination. Travellers from all over Europe keep finding out what a gem Bratislava is. The historical Old Town with all the major attractions is small, walkable and offers cosy atmosphere, unlike large neighbouring cities of Vienna, Budapest or Prague, that are crowded with tourists all the time. Find out more on Bratislava City Weekend Breaks.

Mozart Week, the 8th International Music Festival will be held in Bratislava in the end of November. Program as follows:

Monday, November 20:
VIRTUOSI DI PRAGA, the Czech chamber orchestra will launch the festival with the famous melodies of Mozart’s operas

Friday, November 25:
ISTROPOLIS, the Slovak trio will play the music by Mozart, Martinu and van Beethoven

Saturday, November 26:
HAO HIGANO, the Japanese soprano accompanied by Veronika Lackova on piano will perform with the pieces by Mozart, Hayden and Tomasek

Sunday, November 27:
Bratislava’s SOLAMENTE NATURALI and the young soprano Lenka Macikova will crown the event with works by Groll, Heyden and Mozart

All four concerts in the Palffy Palace on Zamocka street, start at 7pm, admission SKK 120 (approx EUR 3) per concert.

After releasing her new album “Counting Down the Days”, Natalie Imbruglia has started her Europe Tour. The only concert in the Central Europe will take place in the Sibamac Arena (the National Tennis Centre) in Bratislava on November 19, 2005.

Biblioteka 2005, the 13th International Book Fair starts in Bratislava today. The most important event of its kind in Slovakia will be held in the Incheba exhibition grounds until Sunday, November 13. Admission is free.

The Marrols Hotel, the proud member of the world wide exclusive hotel chain - the Small Luxury Hotels is considered to be the very best Bratislava hotel. It is located in the historical building in the Old Town Bratislava and offers well appointed accommodation in the 42 guest-rooms, all tastefully furnished and equipped with the state-of-art amenities. Marrols also features the excellent Italian restaurant Massina, pleasant meeting facilities, modern fitness centre and the exclusive Jasmine Spa.
Marrols Hotel offers special weekend rates of EUR 147 for a double room. This rate includes breakfast buffet, free minibar, hotel fitness centre access, unlimited high-speed internet access. Also all taxes and fees are included. Pretty good deal, I would say.
Click here for more information on Marrols Hotel.

It is a really pleasant autumn in Bratislava this year. Sunny and warm. Ideal time to visit our Little Big City.

Melos-Ethos, the International Festival of Contemporary Music will be held in Bratislava in the next few day. It will be launched with Partita for 54 String Instruments, Harpsichord, Timpani and Tubular Bells by Vladimir Godar, an opening concert in a concert hall of the Slovak Philharmonic on Monday, November 7. There will be altogether 14 performances of classic works of the 20th century avant-garde scene until November 17. For more information check the official website of the festival.

One World (Jeden Svet), the 6the Annual International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival will be held in Bratislava between 9th and 13th November, 2005. It is organized by the People in Peril Association (PIPA), a non-for-profit and non-governmental organization, a very successful humanitarian, development and campaigning organizer.
The festival will offer 53 in 10 film categories, inluding Seeing is to Understanding, Dictatorship Regimes – Forever?, Women’s Burdens, AIDS – Global Challenge, Focused on Iraq, Rich North – Poor South, Clashed and Dialogues of Cultures, Generation Next, Immigrants’ Oddysey and Docs for Kinds. Except for the movie screenings, the festival also features events such as after screening discussion, several photography exhibitions and a multicultural evening dedecated to the refugees in Slovakia.
The Festival venues include Film Club Charlie Centrum on Špitálska 4, A4 – Zero Space (V klub) on Nám. SNP 12 and VŠMU Cinema (Film and TV Faculty) on Svoradova 2. Admission charge per one film block is SKK 40; season ticket is available at SKK 250.
For more information please click here.

After opening the 1st route Bratislava – Milan on October 10, Ryanair, the Europe’s largest low-cost carrier has started two other new routes this week. Daily flights to Frankfurt - Hahn and twice-a-day flights to London – Stansted were launched on October 30. Ryanair's current promotion offers free tickets (taxes and fees excluded). Yet another reason to visit Bratislava. For more information check their website.

The Festival of Young Wine will be held in Bratislava, November 10 to November 12 on Primacialne namestie (square) and in the Old Town Hall Courtyard. Except for the local wine tasting, the evening will also feature folk, country and rock band performances, as well as the sale of typical local food and handicrafts.

Vienna International, the hotel managment group with 20 luxury hotels in Czech Republic, Austria, Poland, Greece and Croatia is to start the business in Slovakia. They teamed up with the local developer Urbia Holding to turn two historical buildings in the Old Town Bratislava into deluxe hotels.
The 13-century Hussitenhaus on Frantiskanska is being refurbished into a deluxe 5-star Arcadia Hotel with 35 guest-rooms, and the two 18-century buldings on Panenska will be turned into a 4-star Habermayer Hotel with 86 guest-rooms. The both hotels are scheduled to open in 2007.
Check current offer of Bratislava Hotels.

Society Fototo & Central European House of Photography in Bratislava organize the
15th Jubilee Festival MONTH OF PHOTOGRAPHY, the most important meeting of renowned photographers in the Central Europe. Several exhibitions will be held in Bratislava between November 1 and 30. For the detailed program you can download the brochure here

The highlight of this year’s festival will be the exhibition of the American photographer James Nachtwey, famous for his war reportages from Afganistan and Iraq. There will be also several collective exhibitions, inluding
LIGHT WALTZ – (Hungary)
CENTRAL EUROPEAN SELF – STORIES (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia)
BOUNDLESS BEAUTY – (Germany – Slovakia)
BRATISLAVA IN PHOTOGRAPHY OF MONTH OF PHOTOGRAPHY 1991 – 2004
ILLUSTRATED REPORTS OF SLOVAKIA 2001 – 2005
PHOTOGRAPHIC STORIES BETWEEN THE HOME A EMIGRATION – (Austria)

A part of the Month of Photography 2005 festival will be the exhibition of the 6th Portfolio Review winner - Reiko Imoto. Porfolio Review is the chance for both beginning and professional photographers to have their work seen by some of the most important people in the field of photography.

Also be a conference on the Contemporary Photography in Central Europe as well as several workshops are important parts the festival.
For more information, please click here