Centred on its charming and miniature old town, the historic city of Bratislava combines Austro-Hungarian palaces with formidable gothic churches, and bustling European café culture with endless streams of frothy Slavic beer. Across the Danube, or peppering the new town, visitors can lose themselves in a sea of industrial-chic streets, punctuated by lingering spectres of the country’s communist past.

No trip here could be complete without touring the cobbled streets of the medieval city, winding beneath the Sigismund Gate on the castle hill and spying out the surreal human statues that peep out from drains and alleyways all around the bustling Main Square. Don’t be surprised if you happen upon concealed Roman ruins lurking between the churches either, or simply lose yourself in the myriad museums as well as a performance by the Slovak Philharmonic.

And, as any Bratislava tourist guide will tell you, there’s even more to see beyond the city’s boundaries, with guests enjoying easy access to everything from Devin Castle and its concomitant fir forests, to the powdery ski slopes of Liptov and the UNESCO-attested palaces at Lednice-Valtice just to the north.