Here at BratVegas we’ve been asked by a number of people, especially those gearing up for their first New Years Eve in 
Bratislava, to give some advice on what to do for NYE here. We’ve put our heads together to come up with some advice and tips.
In recent years, Bratislava has been steadily receiving more visitors from outside the country at NYE. It gets busy enough to create a good atmosphere isn’t as crowded as many European cities. Having said that, if you want a table at any good restaurant, book in advance. If you want to get in to any good bars, booking a table is also highly advised. You’re likely to pay quite a high cover charge – up to several hundred crowns. This will probably include drinks and possibly food too so check what you get first, it may be better value than it first appears.
Most nightclubs put on parties similar to their regular nights. There are no world stars in the lineups but also no hike in entry prices, meaning you’ll struggle to pay more than €10 to get in anywhere. Subclub has a night of drum n bass by the Nuclear crew (who do a monthly party at the club) with artists and DJs visiting from Spain, the UK and Italy, including Dub Elements, AEPH, Bifidus Aktif and Ideon. Elsewhere Unique has Scottish trance DJ Andy Duguid performing and Dopler has 2 stages, one with 70s, 80s and 90s music, one with trance and progressive.
The city organises a big free event (this year is the 10th) and that’s a good option to go for. This year there will be 2 zones – the Concert Zone in Hlavna Nam (Main Square) and the Party Zone in Hviezdoslavovo Nam (Long Square). Slovak ska 
legends and BratVegas favourites Polemic play first (click here to read our interview with them at Pohoda), and also performing are jazz musician Peter Lipa, the indie disco Puding pani Elvisovej (click here to read our review of their set at Pohoda) and 2 popular pop/rock outfits Para and Hex. Headliners are I.M.T. Smile, you may not have heard of them but even if you’ve only been in Bratislava for a couple of weeks, you’ll know their song ‘Mam krasny sen Hawaii’. In the party zone there will be world music performances from 1700 by diverse acts such as Pressburger Klezmer Band, Mango Molas and Sendreiovci. To round the night off DJs will perform until 0230 as the square transforms into an open air disco.
If that’s not enough entertainment, at 1930 Tibor Bircak will try for a Guiness World Record spending at least an hour in a barrel filled with ice at -18 degrees Celsius. Big screens will show the countdown in other cities across the world from 2pm and midnight itself will be accompanied by a firework display over the danube.
Entry to the event is free and access is through controlled checkpoints and once inside there are plenty of places to get food and drink. The organisers advise travelling by public transport and there is a special timetable running. For more information, visit www.silvestervbratislave.sk.
