Merry Christmas Eve! After 10 days traveling around Christmas Markets in Wroclaw, Prague, and Bratislava, we’re finally home in Alicante and ready to relax for a few days before our next trip (next week!). I’ll be missing my family tomorrow, but I’m feeling pretty good about our plan to spend every other Christmas in Spain vs. the U.S., so this is a Spain year! We’ll be hanging out at our friends’ house, having brunch and watching Christmas movies.
Now, it’s time for my final Christmas market review: Bratislava, Slovakia! Slovakia was a new country for us both, so we were really excited to experience somewhere completely new. And while my sister visited Bratislava over the summer — and said it was pretty small with not too much going on — we decided to take a chance on it for our last Christmas market of the trip.
So, here’s everything you need to know about the Bratislava Christmas Market.
When Does the Bratislava Christmas Market Start?
The Bratislava Christmas Market started on November 22, 2024, and goes until January 6, 2025. However, there are a few days it will be closed — December 24, 25, and 26. Apparently, this is the first year that the Christmas Market lasts until Epiphany (January 6), so there’s still time to visit through the end of European Christmas!
As we learned in 2019 when we were in Salzburg for Christmas, most Christmas Markets around Europe are closed on December 24 and 25, so it wouldn’t be a good time to visit. (Although the Prague Christmas Markets were scheduled to remain open.)
Where Is the Bratislava Christmas Market?
The Bratislava Christmas Market has two locations, just a few minutes’ walk from each other. The first one is at Main Square, or Hlavné Square, which is Bratislava’s central plaza. On one end of the square you’ll find the city’s town hall, which finished construction in the year 1599. It makes a nice backdrop for the Christmas market, and a big, decorated Christmas tree stands in front.
The other Bratislava Christmas Market, at Hviezdoslav Square, is known as the Old Town Christmas Market. And it is literally a 2-minute walk from the main market! Rather than being an actual “square,” it’s more like a promenade with market stalls on both sides, and it’s a little bit more spread out.
I read that there was also a market up at Bratislava Castle, but it only lasted until December 15, so I’m not able to share any information on that! If you ever have the chance to check it out, be sure to report back here. 🙂 When we visited on December 22, there was a medieval market in the castle square instead.
Food To Try at the Bratislava Christmas Market
Despite the fact that Bratislava’s Christmas Markets were maybe 50% wine (and I’m not mad) they also had soooo much food! Honestly, I’d say it was probably 50% wine, 45% food, and like 5% everything else. (Matt says it was 50% food and 45% wine.) Also, a lot of their market stalls offering food were absolutely huge — like easily twice as big as the stalls at the other two markets we’d been to. They had full kitchens running back there.
We also felt that Bratislava maybe had the widest selection of food. Some of the things we saw:
- Halušky: kind of like gnocchi, with special Slovak cheese Bryndza
- Kielbasa and other sausage
- Langoš: like a big puffy flatbread with toppings
- Chimney cakes
- Lokša: rolled potato pancakes with fillings
- Burgers
- “Slovak burger”: pork cutlet in a bun
- Poplamuchy: similar to pizza?
- Churros
- Crepes
- Mini pancakes
- Gyozas
- Baked potatoes and fries
- Potato swirly fries
- Potato pancakes
- Cheese
- Nanuky: something similar to a cake pop
- Bao
- Sauerkraut soup
- Dried fish
- Goulash
- Chocolate covered fruit
- Marzipan
For lunch on our first day, ended up trying a “Slovakian” Langoš, which was absolutely massive and really tasty, even though I think they forgot to add the Bryndza cheese on top. We also had Lokšas, filled with Nutella (mine) and poppy seeds and plum (Matt’s), but we didn’t care for them too much — I think we were expecting them to be softer, more like crepes.
LangosWe got the same langoš again the next day, and they didn’t forget the cheese that time. And the other thing we had multiple times was the Bryndza Halušky. We decided it was like adult mac & cheese with bacon on top.
While there was plenty of food in the Main Square market, along with other things, it seemed like the Old Town market was mostly food only. There were even some food trucks at the end of the promenade, serving traditional as well as “modern” dishes, like smashburgers.
Drinks & Mugs at the Bratislava Christmas Market
Very sadly, the Bratislava Christmas Markets did not have souvenir mugs either, just like Prague. I can’t believe the Wroclaw Christmas Market was the only one of the three we visited on this trip that had the mugs! Also like in Prague, they were using these dumb reusable plastic cups instead. In fact, they were exactly the same as the ones in Prague. Which confirmed my suspicions that the pictures on the outside of the cups had nothing to do with the city we were in. Also, plastic doesn’t do a good job insulating your fingers from the hot liquid inside!
Besides me being salty over the lack of cute Christmas market mugs, the Bratislava Christmas Market was very committed to the beverage scene. Like I mentioned above, I think half of the stalls had drinks! On the first night, we were suckered into a warm pineapple rum drink and apple strudel drink that weren’t very good, but the other things we tried were better.
And seeing prices in euros again, rather than Poland’s zloty and Czechia’s koruna, helped me understand better how much money we were actually spending on drinks. In Bratislava, a regular red or white mulled wine was only €3, compared to the about €4-5 equivalent in Wroclaw or Prague.
One unique thing about Bratislava was the fact that, throughout the town center, there were little wine stations set up all over the place! They were usually in front of restaurants, but I think there were some just kind of independent ones as well. Sometimes they had different selections than the Christmas market, and sometimes they were cheaper than the markets.
I actually liked getting drinks from them because they were just using plain paper cups so I didn’t have to worry about the plastic cup and the deposit. I thought it was cool that they were doing that, though! It made the whole town feel so festive, and it reminded me of a similar setup when I went to Lyon for the Festival of Lights a few years ago.
Bratislava Christmas Market Activities
Bratislava had a lot going on for Christmas, though not all of it lasted all month. Each of the markets had a main stage. On Saturday afternoon, there was a group of adults and children dressed in traditional Slovak attire who performed some songs and dances. And it seemed like there was something going on almost every day, several times a day — at least on the weekends. On Saturday night over at the Old Town market, there was a DJ on stage and a crowd (including us) gathered to dance for a while, warmed on the inside from mulled wine and the shots we took at one of those little independent drink booths.
There was also a major focus on being family-friendly. Behind the Main Square market, at Primatial Square, there’s what’s called the “Friendly Zone” — a tent where families, older people, and anyone who wants a little more low-key Christmas market experience can go to get away from the crowds. And over at Old Town, there’s a small Christmas tree maze for kids as well a bunch of little wooden playhouses.
And, while we missed it because it only runs from December 1 – December 15, there’s a “Christmas Forest” at Primatial Square. At the Christmas Forest, there are 30+ Christmas trees, all decorated by local schools with handmade ornaments. The public can vote on their favorite tree, with the top three winning prizes. After the competition, all trees are donated to organizations that then provide the tree to a family or community that would otherwise not be able to afford a Christmas tree.
Other Things To Know About the Christmas Market
It felt soooo good to get back to using euros after using złoty in Poland and koruna in Czechia — that was extra confusing because $1 USD was equal to about 4 Polish zł, but $1 USD = about 25 Czech kr. It all just felt like Monopoly money. In Bratislava, it was also nice that there was no issue paying for everything with credit cards, though your cup deposit would be returned to you in euro coins.
One thing we saw at the Bratislava Christmas Market that we didn’t see at the others, was the fact that every stall had a QR code on the roof that you could scan and read/write reviews. Besides that, there was a full Christmas market website (available in Slovak, English, Hungarian, German, and Ukranian) that offered a directory of stalls along with all other kinds of information about the market. We referred to this site multiple times when we were trying to decide where to eat.
Also, another unique thing to the Bratislava Christmas market — they were very heavily focused on recycling, to the extent that they had an attendant at all trash/recycling bins who would direct you on how to dispose of your items. The plastic forks and knives went in one bin, paper plates and napkins in another, food waste in another, etc. This was really helpful because, even if you know the language to read what’s written on the bins, I feel like every place has their own system. They were super committed, I have to give them that!
My Review: Bratislava Christmas Markets
We really loved the Bratislava Christmas Market! After our first night, when we had dinner at a restaurant first thing after arriving in town, we ate all our meals at the Christmas markets. There was so much great food and so many things to try!
The markets also had a much more local feel, especially after coming from the Prague Christmas Markets, where it seemed like most of the visitors were tourists. In Bratislava, we didn’t hear much English, and we actually felt like we had space to breathe, which made us actually want to stay and hang out at the markets instead of just get-in-get-out. It was a great size — not too big, not too small — and there were enough tables to stand with your food, which was also a plus.
We also really liked how you could research the market stalls and check out the reviews, so it was easier to browse and see what the food options were, even when we were sitting in the hotel and planning to head out for the day. And the website was super helpful — I’m not sure if Wroclaw or Prague had sites like that, but if they did, they weren’t as well-advertised as the Bratislava one.
The biggest downside of the Bratislava Christmas Market was the lack of special reusable mugs. 🙁 We were really looking forward to those, so it was certainly a letdown that we didn’t get to bring home a cute souvenir from a Christmas market we enjoyed so much.
Bratislava Christmas Market 2024 Dates & Hours
Location: Main Square (Hlavné Námestie)
Dates: November 22, 2024 – January 6, 2025
Hours: Daily 10:00-22:00
Location: Old Town Square (Hviezdoslavovo Námestie)
Dates: November 22, 2024 – January 6, 2025
Hours: Daily 10:00-22:00
Exceptions:
- Closed: December 24, December 25, December 26
Plan Your Christmas Market Visit
Best Bratislava Hotels: Bratislava Slovakia Hotels
Things To Do in Bratislava Slovakia: Bratislava: Riverside, Castle or Complete City Segway Tours // Wine Tasting With Sommelier // Soviet Era and Post-Communist Tour
So, now you know that the Bratislava Christmas Market is worth visiting, especially if you’re in the mood for some delicious Slovak food. Now, keep an eye out for my Wroclaw-Prague-Bratislava Christmas Market itinerary coming soon!
Have you ever visited the Christmas Market in Bratislava, or somewhere else? What did you think? Let me know in the comments!
-Cathy
This site contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links at no additional cost to you.
Leave a Reply