A Sampling of Slovakia Hotels in 4 Cities

I just spent a chunk of time touring around the country of Slovakia, half of the former Czechoslovakia, leading a group tour that was mostly in the Low Tatras and High Tatras mountains in the central north after meeting up in Bratislava. We had ski chalets at Jasna, but I got to sample plenty of Slovakia hotels in the capital city and three others. I was going for mid-range places that were in a good location and comfortable, but not splurges. Whether they were rated that way or not, these would all be considered 2-star or 3-star hotels internationally. 

Unfortunately, 3-star hotels in Slovakia have all the normal deficiencies found in your average European hotel room, but then they add on some more just to remind you that they used to be communist here. So I only saw one piece of equipment hinting at air conditioning anywhere, toiletries are minimal if there are any, and not one single shower stall I used in nearly two weeks had any kind of shelf to set anything on.

Bring all your own toiletries (plus maybe a washcloth if you use one of those regularly) and prepare to bend over a lot to retrieve your own shampoo off the floor. 

There’s one other strange quirk to hotels in Slovakia: they don’t include the required city tax in the hotel rate. I don’t know if it’s a mistrust about the accounting or just some old custom that refuses to die, but you have to pay from €2.50 to €6 per person for a city tax on arrival when you check in, whether your hotel was €15 or €350. So hang onto those euro coins. 

Three Bratislava Hotels

Most of my group was staying at Hotel Mamaison Sulekova in Bratislava when we met up, but they didn’t have enough rooms for all of us, so another guest and I were at Hotel Antares. I came in a day early and spent two nights there while waiting for my luggage that KLM had misdirected to arrive. (Three weeks later, I’m still waiting for my purchase reimbursement, grrrr.)  Apart from the common problems outlined earlier, everyone liked Malmaison, and apart from some steep stairs to navigate to the lobby — or an even steeper ramp — they thought it was good overall and had a nice breakfast.

These rooms were around €65 to €90, the latter being a suite that two shared, with a living room big enough for us to gather for a happy hour. It was about a 10-minute walk to the historic center. 

Check rates for Hotel Mamaison Sulekova online at Expedia, Booking.com, Agoda, or Hotels.com.

My Hotel Antares was a block away, and both of these hotels were in a mansion area of Bratislava that was very quiet at night, with buildings so historic-looking that they were shooting a WWII movie one day. My room was on the corner, with plenty of light, and had a desk where I could get some work done. Extras included a fridge and a capsule espresso machine.

I slept well and had a good breakfast in the morning, which I chose to get in the rates up front. The dining room was cheerful, and there was a spacious lounge area as well. This one was €62 to €78 per night with breakfast because I booked at two different times. 

Check rates for Hotel Antares online at Expedia, Booking.com, Agoda, or Hotels.com.

When I returned to the city on my own, I was taking advantage of a point promotion deal from one of my airline cards, and that narrowed down my choices a bit. I ended up at Hotel Matysak because I wanted to be near the train station. The main restaurant was closed for renovations, but this spread below landed in front of me when I sat down for breakfast, so I was filled up on the morning of my departure from Slovakia. 

This hotel is affiliated with a Slovakian winery and has a nice wine shop at street level. An elevator serves the rooms. Front desk staffers spoke English well, and my €79 room had a desk and minibar.

Check rates for Hotel Matysak online at Expedia, Booking.com, Agoda, or Hotels.com.

This had the oddest toiletry array I ran into the whole trip, though: “Hand Wash” by the bathroom sink and in the shower! Slovaks obviously aren’t very picky about what they clear their hair and body with… 

A Nice Spot in Poprad

We spent a couple of nights in Poprad while exploring local sites like Spis Castle, Levoca, and the snow-capped High Tatras Mountains. This is a good base for seeing the region since it’s not far from those major attractions, there are hot springs complexes nearby, and there’s a cool electric train going between the mountain towns that’s €7 for 24 hours. It has some of the best views out the windows that you could ask for. 

We were about a 15-minute walk from the train station at our Garni Hotel Tatramonti, but super close to where most of the restaurants and bars are. It was a great base for being able to walk out the door and get to where we wanted to go on foot, and if we had been into shopping, there were plenty of options — with a mall even — except for Sunday when the whole city was a ghost town. When there was someone at the front desk, he was helpful and helped people with their luggage, but most of the time, the space was empty. 

There was always someone around in the cafe, though, which was a bar at night and a nice breakfast spot in the morning, with an array of continental things laid out and a few included hot menu items we could order. One other interesting quirk: the hotel has its own indoor miniature golf course! I can’t say I’ve seen that before. 

Check rates for Garni Hotel Tatramonti online at Expedia, Booking.com, or Agoda

A Lovely B&B in Trencin

I said goodbye to my group in Poprad as we all went our separate ways, and I took the train to Trencin, a pretty castle city with a historic center that mostly managed to avoid having any structures replaced by the ugly Soviet blocky buildings you find further out. The impressive high castle looms over it all, though it was closed to entry both days I was there. I didn’t see anyone else who seemed to be a foreign tourist when I was there, but that’s admittedly harder to figure out in Europe until you hear them talking. 

I was a bit concerned about the B&B hotel I had picked near the train station when I had to walk past a few warehouses and a car wash to get to it, but then the blocks turned more residential, and my room at Penzion Tiberia ended up being the nicest one of my trip. For €64 per night, I got a full-on suite with a separate living room, a desk, a mini fridge, an electric teapot, and lots of space. The owner spoke English and laid out a great breakfast spread. 

Check rates for Penzion Tiberia online at Booking.com or Agoda.

Back in Time in Trnava

I wanted to try out a service called Rove Miles, where you can earn 10X or 15X points on every booking, points that you can use there or transfer out to hotel/airline partners. So I had a smaller pool of choices in my next stop of Trnava than I would have through a regular booking service: they don’t seem to include many cheapies. I found a deal with Hotel Spectrum, though, a 10-minute walk from the center, but a big high-rise hotel with plenty of space in the rooms. 

The carpet looked like it was last replaced when the Sputnik launched, and room amenities were minimal, but a good elevator whisked me up to one with a view from the balcony, and the friendly check-in person spoke English. The Wi-Fi worked quite well in my room and in the lobby, and the breakfast buffet had a lot of hot items. At €57, this was probably the best value of my trip, despite the vaguely Soviet feel to the place amidst apartment blocks from that era. 

Check rates for Hotel Spectrum online at Expedia, Booking.com, Agoda, or Hotels.com.

Overall, Slovakia hotels feel like a decent value, but not so great that I ever went, “Wow, I found a great deal!” Part of that is because the dollar’s exchange rate has been sliding down since January of 2025, making everything in Europe feel more expensive if you’re coming from the USA.

The very top hotels aren’t very expensive by international standards, though, as the high end is not very high even in Bratislava, so if you can cash in loyalty points or splurge for a 4- or 5-star place in Slovakia, you’ll end up in nicer rooms with more amenities, and you may actually get some shampoo to use. Just don’t expect a washcloth, and you’ll still end up with two twin beds pushed together to make a “king,” with two separate duvets. 

Slovakia hotels article and photos by Tim Leffel, a travel writer and occasional tour leader who paid for all these stays and was not hosted in the country on this trip. (He was ages ago at Golden Royal Hotel in Kosice, reviewed previously.)