Bratislava

Bratislava - darkometer rating : 3 - The capital and largest city in Slovakia . It has a few offbeat darkish sites to offer itself, and is also a good base for excursions to other dark attractions a bit further away. Moreover it is a pleasant, not yet over-touristified and fairly affordable place. It isn't as immediately spectacular as e.g. Prague or Budapest , but I like it. > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos What there is to see: For a European capital city, Bratislava isn't very big, and the mainstream touristic centre is in fact tiny. From a dark-tourism point of view, on the other hand, many of the most noteworthy sights lie well outside the centre and are best explored on specialist guided tours: - “post-socialist tour” - Iron Curtain relics and bunkers - Slavin monument - Devin - Devinska Kobyla - Ondrejsky cemetery With the exception of the cemetery, all the items in this list (and many more) are covered by the alternative tour operator “Authentic Slovakia” who I'd recommend as a first port of call when planning a dark-tourism trip to Bratislava – see their sponsored page here ! Apart from the very atmospheric Ondrejsky cemetery there are also further cemeteries in Bratislava that may be worth a look, including the curiously named Goat's Gate cemetery (Cintorín pri kozej brane in Slovak) north of the castle as well as the city's largest still active one: Cintorín Slávičie údolie . Amongst the prominent characters buried in the latter is Alexander Dubček – the leader of the Prague Spring attempt at reforming communism “with a human face”.