Slovakia (A) - general

[pineapple stu]

Post all other general info and chat on the game in Slovakia in here. I'll try keep a summary of the main links in this thread.

Other links -

Accommodation (hotels to campsites)
Flights (or other means of getting there)
Charter travel (incl tour operator bookings, charter buses, taxis, etc)
The game (match tickets, kick off time, directions to the ground, etc)
Places (towns, internal travel, reccies, etc)
Pubs (including meet ups)

[stojkovic]

Two words - don't go.

[zenokelly]

Two words - don't go.

Had a great time in Bratislava the last time and looking forward to returning, Stay central and drink in the locals bars,

[Beavis]

I found it a bit nasty last time but it's one of the few that's easily accessible so I'll probably go. Had a great, relatively cheap rail trip from Graz which I might do again.

[pineapple stu]

Had a great time in Bratislava the last time and looking forward to returning, Stay central and drink in the locals bars,

Seconded.

[pineapple stu]

Interesting.

Though there were more Irish than Slovaks at the game in 2007, so I'd imagine 11000 would still be enough capacity. Depends how hard World Cup fever hits though.

[SuperDave]

You sure it won't be in Trnava? Was there not talk of that last time around?

[Hibs4Ever]

You sure it won't be in Trnava? Was there not talk of that last time around?

Trnava doesn't reach UEFA standards. Even during the World Cup qualifying Slovakia had to get special permission from UEFA to use the stadium in Bratislava.

As said, Zilina is only stadium that is approved. Trnava would need a lot of work done to it, and with the amount of money the Slovak FA are putting into the Bratislava stadium I can't see them doing wotk on any others for a long time

[shakermaker1982]

How rough was it last time around? I've heard a few scare stories

[HarpoJoyce]

How rough was it last time around? I've heard a few scare stories

Very rough. At one stage there was a debate among Rep. of Ireland fans about the best type of Architecture to dominate a Central European city. e.g. Baroque, Art Deco that type of thing. It nearly got physical when one fan expressed the view he "didn't minded the Constructivist/Social Realism style". Unbelievable.

[SuperDave]

Very rough. At one stage there was a debate among Rep. of Ireland fans about the best type of Architecture to dominate a Central European city. e.g. Baroque, Art Deco that type of thing. It nearly got physical when one fan expressed the view he "didn't minded the Constructivist/Social Realism style". Unbelievable.

Good Lord. I hope you put him right by showing him the damage concrete can do a persons skull...

[gspain]

I enjoyed the trip last time with 2 reservations

1) It rained non stop.

2) Taxis rip you off if you don't agree the fare in advance.

I did avoid the Dubliner bar (must be avoided at all costs full of skinheads looking for fights and that is only the staff).

[stojkovic]

I did avoid the Dubliner bar (must be avoided at all costs full of skinheads looking for fights and that is only the staff).

Too true.

And they all looked like the Russian hitman in Bourne Supremacy.

[mypost]

My supervisor over here is Slovak and says the match will definitely not be in Bratislava. The Stadium is getting knocked down and re built from May this year, and won't be finished til May 2012



Our match will almost certainly be in Stadium Pod Dubňom in Zilina, which has a capacity of around 11,000. There are a few other Stadiums closer to Bratislava and with bigger capacity, but Zilina is the only one that meets UEFA Standards


http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium...a_dubnon.shtml

Slovakia played Wales in our group in Trnava. They played San Marino in Dubnica Nad Vahom.

Stopped in Zilina on the way to Prague last time, and it's the Slovak version of Sligo, near the Czech/Poland border.

[pineapple stu]

Mod note - posts on getting to Blava moved to the flights thread. Just want to keep everything together as early as possible so people can use the threads for research later.

[gspain]

Had a great time in Bratislava the last time and looking forward to returning, Stay central and drink in the locals bars,

Me too. Just avoid the Dubliner pub completely.

[Girl in Green]

Looking forward to visiting........hope it's not as bad as some are making out....I guess you just need to be careful.

[ParkLife]

Why not stay in Vienna? Only an extra hour to Zilina, and much safer!! That's where we're going to be based!!

[EastTerracer]

We stayed in Bratislava the last time but got bumped from our nice central hotel http://www.art-hotel-william.sk/ into some generic travel lodge place a couple of miles outside the centre http://www.cityhotelbratislava.sk/en/index.html

The hotel blamed this on flooding (due to the incessant rain) but I think it was more likely due to overbooking. The old town centre was pleasant enough but outside of that there was a bit of a dodgy feel to the streets (especially since they didn't much go in for street lighting). The walk back from the stadium wasn't the most scenic.

[mypost]

Why not stay in Vienna? Only an extra hour to Zilina, and much safer!! That's where we're going to be based!!

Vienna's only useful if the game's in Bratislava, but I'd say a good few will stay there if it gets the ok.

Zilina has an airport, which currently serves Prague only.