Most visitors to Bratislava stay inside the old walls, between Michael's Gate and the cathedral. This guide covers five places just outside them, between the Old Town and the Danube, where the city grew in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: the Blue Church, the Reduta concert hall of the Slovak Philharmonic, the monument to Ľudovít Štúr, the Natural History Museum of the Slovak National Museum and the Old Bridge.
The Blue Church (Church of St Elizabeth)
The Church of St Elizabeth, known to everyone as the Blue Church, is the work of the Hungarian architect Ödön Lechner, the leading figure of the Hungarian Secession, the local version of Art Nouveau. The foundation stone was laid on 23 August 1909 and the church was consecrated on 11 October 1913. It was built as the chapel of the grammar school next door, which Lechner also designed.
The church is dedicated to St Elizabeth of Hungary, the daughter of King Andrew II, whom tradition links to Bratislava Castle. A well-known legend says that when she was caught carrying bread to the poor, the loaves in her cloak turned into roses. The church is the first stop on our scavenger hunt route.
- The blue facade, the blue majolica and mosaics, and the roof of blue glazed tiles, which give the church its nickname.
- The pale blue interior, where even the pews are blue.
The Reduta (Slovak Philharmonic)
The Reduta is the home of the Slovak Philharmonic, the national orchestra founded in 1949, whose first chief conductor was Václav Talich. The building went up in the 1910s to designs by the Budapest architects Jakab and Komor, on the site of an 18th-century baroque granary, in an eclectic style. Besides concerts, it was built for balls and social events, and balls are still held here today.
Its address is Námestie Eugena Suchoňa, a square named after the Slovak composer Eugen Suchoň. Besides the orchestra's own season, the hall hosts the annual Bratislava Music Festival. The Reduta is one of the stops on our scavenger hunt route.
- The richly decorated facade and the entrance hall, which you can see if you come for a concert.
The monument to Ľudovít Štúr
Ľudovít Štúr (1815–1856) is the man who gave Slovaks their written language. In 1843 he and his friends agreed on a new standard form of Slovak, and in 1844 he published its grammar. He also led the Slovak national movement during the revolutions of 1848–1849. His monument stands on the square named after him, close to the Danube.
The square has a past of its own. From 1897 to 1921 it held a marble equestrian statue of the Hungarian Queen Maria Theresa by the sculptor Ján Fadrusz; it was destroyed in 1921, a few years after the new state of Czechoslovakia was founded. The Štúr monument is one of the stops on our scavenger hunt route.
- The Esterházy Palace on the same square, and the view from the monument towards the Danube.
The Natural History Museum (Slovak National Museum)
The large building on the Danube embankment at Vajanského nábrežie is the headquarters of the Slovak National Museum. It was designed by the architect Milan Michal Harminc, built between 1925 and 1928, and opened on 4 May 1930. Part of it is the Natural History Museum, whose collections hold around 2.5 million items, from minerals and fossils to animals.
Its permanent display, called The Miracle of Nature, is spread over three floors and has five parts: the story of life on Earth, the biodiversity of Slovakia, the biodiversity of the Earth, the treasures of the Earth, and human evolution. It is a good place to take children or to escape a rainy afternoon. The museum is one of the stops on our scavenger hunt route.
- The Treasures of the Earth room, with minerals and gemstones.
- The long riverside facade, best seen from the Old Bridge or the far bank of the Danube.
The Old Bridge (Starý most)
The first bridge on this site, a steel structure named after Emperor Franz Joseph, opened in 1891 to carry the railway from Bratislava to Szombathely in Hungary. Its steel spans were destroyed in the Second World War, but the stone piers survived, and after Soviet troops took the city in 1945, the bridge was rebuilt by Red Army soldiers and German prisoners of war. For a time it was called the Red Army Bridge.
Cars were banned from the bridge on 1 January 2009 because of its poor condition, and in December 2013 it was closed completely to be taken down. A new bridge for pedestrians, cyclists and trams was built in its place by December 2015, and it now carries the tram line to Petržalka, the large housing district on the south bank. The Old Bridge is the last stop on our scavenger hunt route.
- The trams crossing beside the footpath and cycle lane, and the view upstream towards the castle hill.
- The view back over the embankment to the Slovak National Museum and the Old Town, best in the late afternoon light.
How to see them in one walk
Start at the Blue Church, east of the Old Town, and walk west to the Reduta. From there it is only a short way to the Štúr monument on Ľudovít Štúr Square. Then follow the Danube embankment east to the Slovak National Museum building, and finish on the Old Bridge, right next to the museum, with a look back at the city from the river.
See Bratislava with World City Trail
Our Bratislava scavenger hunt turns the Old Town into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops, from the Blue Church past Michael's Gate, the Main Square and St Martin's Cathedral to the Old Bridge. All five places in this guide, the Blue Church, the Reduta, the Štúr monument, the Natural History Museum and the Old Bridge, are stops.
There is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Bratislava, for people who prefer a different format.
Play the Bratislava scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Bratislava →
Play the outdoor escape game in Bratislava →
Facts checked in October 2026.