Bratislava has been a border town for most of its history, and it still feels like one. The Danube flows past below a castle on a rocky hill, with Austria visible a few kilometres to the west and Hungary to the south, and the city has been Pressburg, Pozsony and Bratislava at different times. For nearly three centuries, from 1563 to 1830, Hungarian kings were crowned in St Martin's Cathedral, in the old town, so that this modest place was the coronation city of a kingdom. The cathedral spire carries a gilded replica of the crown. Maria Theresa was crowned here in 1741, Mozart played here as a boy, and the old town reflects that Habsburg past in its pastel-coloured baroque palaces.
The old centre is small, car-free and very pleasant, with squares, cafes and quirky bronze statues, including a man peeping out of a manhole, a Napoleonic soldier leaning on a bench and the paparazzo. The castle, rebuilt in the 1950s, is a white block with four corner towers, nicknamed the upturned table, and the view over the river is fine. The UFO Bridge, with its flying-saucer restaurant on a tall pylon, is a relic of the communist era.
The ride toward Vienna is only sixty kilometres, on a motorway that crosses into Austria with almost no formality, as both countries are in the Schengen area. Motorway vignettes are required in both Slovakia and Austria, and the easy way to buy them is online before you start. The road passes the site of Carnuntum, a large Roman legionary fortress and city on the Austrian side, whose reconstructed buildings and amphitheatre are well worth a stop. It was the capital of the province of Pannonia, and the emperor Marcus Aurelius is said to have written part of his Meditations while on campaign nearby.
Within Bratislava, traffic is manageable, though the tram tracks and the cobbles of the old town are slippery when wet. Fuel stations are plentiful on the outskirts. Local food is hearty, with bryndzove halusky, potato dumplings in sheep's cheese with bacon, as the national dish, and cheap, good wine from the Little Carpathians, which begin just outside town. Spring and autumn are the best times to visit, and the vineyards turn gold in October.