When the time came for me to leave Prague, I had a tough decision to make. Either I could do as so many of my fellow travellers seemed to be doing and head to the posh, art history-filled city of Vienna, or I could veer to the east and see a city I knew virtually nothing about, Bratislava, Slovakia.

This would be the penultimate stop before I was set to meet my friend in Croatia, so visiting both cities on such a time crunch would have been impractical.

So, let me ask you, when you find yourself with the freedom to book a stay in either a city you know a lot about, or one you know nothing, which would you choose? Spoiler alert, I chose the latter.

For whatever reason, Bratislava was calling my name. After traipsing many European cities that were absolutely on the tourist trail, I wanted to carve out my own adventure, do something different, go to the cheapest destination in arm’s reach.

Cause if we’re being honest here, going to Vienna would have cost me double what I spent in Bratislava.

So, um, maybe later, thanks.

But that’s not to say Bratislava cheaped me out on experience. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

From the moment I stepped off my train and onto the worn pavement in the city, I was into all that Bratislava had to offer. Between discovering its interesting history and discovering its colorful personality to walking the medieval cobblestone streets and hanging out on a patch of grass by the Danube, Bratislava was the escape I didn’t know I needed.

From the moment I first stepped off the train in Bratislava, what caught me the most was the contrast of fabulously colored buildings that have been touched by troubled times. Although Slovakia hasn’t seen a war since WWII, they did go through the Velvet Revolution which ended in a separation from the Czech Republic.