Bratislava's Old Town is small enough to cross on foot in one go, and most of its best-known sights sit along a single line from the last surviving city gate down to the Danube. This guide covers six of them: Michael's Gate, the Main Square, the Primate's Palace, the bronze Čumil, St Martin's Cathedral and, a little further towards the river, the Duck Fountain.
Michael's Gate (Michalská brána)
Michael's Gate is the only one of the medieval town gates still standing. The gate dates from around 1300, when Bratislava was fortified, and it is first mentioned in writing in 1411. Its tower was rebuilt in the baroque style in 1753–1758, when a statue of St Michael fighting the dragon was placed on top. Inside the tower is the weapons exhibition of the Bratislava City Museum, and the climb ends on a small gallery with a view over the rooftops. It is one of the stops on our scavenger hunt route.
- St Michael and the dragon on top of the tower, best seen from Michalská street.
- A stone plaque inside the passage recording that the town council and citizens repaired the tower in 1758.
The Main Square (Hlavné námestie)
The Main Square has been the centre of town life since the Middle Ages, and the Old Town Hall beside it is the oldest town hall in Slovakia. Building began in the 13th century, its tower dates from around 1370, and the complex was finished in 1599. Today it houses the Bratislava City Museum, founded in 1868, and you can climb the tower for a view of the Old Town.
In the middle of the square stands the Maximilian Fountain, also called the Roland Fountain, the oldest fountain in the city. It was made in 1572 by Andreas Luttringer, on the orders of Emperor Maximilian II after a fire in 1563 showed that the town needed a better water supply. The square is one of our scavenger hunt stops.
- The cannonball lodged in the wall of the town hall tower, fired by Napoleon's army when it bombarded the city in 1809.
- The middle section of the fountain with small boys, part of the original 16th-century work.
The Primate's Palace (Primaciálny palác)
Right behind the Old Town Hall stands the pale pink Primate's Palace, built in 1778–1781 by the architect Melchior Hefele for József Batthyány, Archbishop of Esztergom and Primate of Hungary. On 26 December 1805, after the Battle of Austerlitz, the Peace of Pressburg between France and Austria was signed in its Hall of Mirrors. Today the palace is the seat of the Mayor of Bratislava, the city council meets in the Hall of Mirrors, and parts of the building are open to visitors.
In 1903, soon after the city bought the palace, workers renovating it found six 17th-century tapestries hidden behind the wall covering next to the Hall of Mirrors. They were woven at the Mortlake workshop near London and tell the Greek legend of Hero and Leander, the lovers separated by a strait. The palace is one of our scavenger hunt stops.
- The iron model of the cardinal's hat, about 150 kg, on top of the facade above Batthyány's coat of arms, with allegorical statues and vases along the roofline.
- The courtyard fountain with St George killing the dragon.
Čumil
Bratislava's most photographed statue is a bronze workman leaning out of a manhole with his chin on his arms. He was made by the sculptor Viktor Hulík and installed on 26 July 1997, during a street party to celebrate the renewed pedestrian zone. His name means roughly a gawker or rubberneck. After several drivers hit him, a MAN AT WORK road sign was put up beside him, and in 2018 he was briefly removed to repair damage done by vandals. He is one of the stops on our scavenger hunt route.
- The road sign next to him, and the fact that he looks up at the passers-by at street level, so watch your step.
St Martin's Cathedral (Dóm svätého Martina)
The Gothic cathedral of St Martin was begun in 1311 on the site of an older church. Building stopped during the Hussite Wars and the church was consecrated in 1452. Its tower was built into the city walls and formed part of the defences. From 1563 to 1830 it was the coronation church of the Kingdom of Hungary: eleven kings and queens, including Maria Theresa, and eight royal consorts were crowned here.
At the top of the 85-metre tower sits a gilded copy of the Crown of St Stephen, placed there in 1847. It weighs about 150 kg and stands on a gilded cushion. The cathedral is one of the stops on our scavenger hunt route.
- The crown on the spire, which you can see from the riverbank and from the castle hill.
- The baroque statue of St Martin dividing his cloak, made to a design by Georg Rafael Donner in 1744, which shows the saint dressed as a Hungarian hussar.
The Duck Fountain (Kačacia fontána)
On Šafárikovo námestie, a square near the Danube at the eastern edge of the Old Town, stands a bronze fountain from 1914 by the local sculptor Róbert Kühmayer. It shows shepherd boys with ducks. A local legend, which the sculptor is said to have heard in an inn, tells of a water goblin who joined the boys in disguise and, when they mocked him, turned them and their ducks to stone. The fountain is not on our scavenger hunt route, but it is close to its final stop at the Old Bridge.
- The boys' faces and the ducks around the basin, the figures of the legend.
How to see them in one walk
Start at Michael's Gate and walk down Michalská street to the Main Square and the Old Town Hall. Go through the town hall courtyard to Primate's Square and the Primate's Palace, then return to the Main Square and take Rybárska brána to Čumil, where it meets Panská and Laurinská streets. Panská leads you on to St Martin's Cathedral. From the cathedral, walk east along the riverside to Šafárikovo námestie for the Duck Fountain.
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 to the Old Bridge over the Danube. Michael's Gate, the Main Square, the Primate's Palace, Čumil and St Martin's Cathedral are all stops; the Duck Fountain is close to the end of the route.
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.