A day trip to Nitra is a good option above all for the groups staying in Bratislava. We recommend to combine Nitra with another hidden gem of Slovakia, “a little Rome of Slovakia” the city of Trnava.
Nitra is located just 90 km from Slovakian capital Bratislava and you can get there comfortably all the way along the high way. The journey by bus takes about 1 hour – 1h15 minutes depending on the traffic. Nitra is located at the base of Zobor Hill (588 m) which is just one of the hills surrounding the city of Nitra.
Nitra is considered one of the oldest Slovakian cities and first Slavic remains are dated here from 6th century. First Slavic kingdom was named after hir ruler Pribyna, who had his headquarters and castle in Nitra. He also built in Nitra the first church in 826 – 827. Afterwards prince Pribina was expelled by the ruler of other Slavic kingdom Great Moravia – Mojmir I. In Nitra was invested a non-ruling prince Rastislav. In 846 when Rastislav became the ruler of the Great Moravian Empire invited St. Cyril & Method, now the patrons of Slovakia & Europe. They invented the first Slavic alphabet – Hlaholika, the predecessor of modern Russian/ Serbian/ Bulgarian alphabet. They translated also the bible into the Slavic language.
After the break up of Great Moravian Empire, Slovakia & Nitra become a part of Hungarian Kingdom. Nitra became a dutchy ruled by the dukes of Arpad dynasty – Bela, Geza and Ladislas. The dutchy ceased to exist at the end of 11th century. We can divide Nitra into 2 parts, the more modern Lower town and historical Upper town. Nitra is a center of Nitra Region, seat of 3 universities with the biggest Slovakian fair infrastructure – Agrokomplex. Due to proximity to Bratislava and beautiful historical city center a day trip from Bratislava to Nitra is a good idea.
The main dominant of the Nitra is the city castle with St. Emeram cathedral. Nitra castle is also a seat of Nitra archbishop. St. Emeram cathedral is dated back to 12. century. Now after the many reconstructions the St. Emeram cathedral is built in baroque style. The upper town was originally isolated enclosed settlement consisting mainly of sacral buildings e.g. a church with monastery, seminaries, canon houses and houses of wealthy burghers. The main communicational axis leads along the street which starts at the passageway of the County Hall and runs towards the castle and which is flanked with the most important buildings of the town.
The dominant feature of lower town of Nitra is city theatre of Andrej Bagar, one of the leading theatres of Slovakia. The building of the theatre is from 1992 and it is one of the biggest theatres of country.
As we have mentioned Nitra is the oldest Slovakian city with beautiful historical upper town definitely worth of visit . In addition whilst enjoying a day trip to Nitra to Bratislava it is worth to try also traditional peculiarity of Nitra – the mead. In link below you can watch our short video from. Nitra. We can not forget to mention also the church of St. Michael Archangel from 11th century one of the oldest buildings of Slovakia, located in Nitra suburbs – Drazovce.
