Fly to Vienna, it's 30 mins away in the car from Bratislava.

Edit: or about 15 on the train IIRC

And as its ryanair 'vienna' will be about 1/2 hour away from actual Vienna, so your pretty much there!

I find Ryanair flight costs vary from airport to airport depending on the timing of the local school holidays. I flip between East Midlands and Stansted and save a nice few quid. Bratislava to Vienna is a bit more than half an hour on the train but after Vienna you'll be very glad to arrive.

Someone else is now in charge of booking is flights - and Vienna looks like top tip, thanks all.

Ironically I once flew to Bratislava from Edinburgh (probably with Ryanair) because it was cheaper than flying to Vienna.

There's a bus that's cheap, though obviously the one I got was Bratislava Airport to Vienna City - but the reverse may exist.

I fly to Bratislava on 24th sept with Ryanair from Manchester. Cost us £51 each.

Ryanair Vienna is Bratislava( or it least it was 10 years ago flying from stansted).
You can set up a search on sky scanner to see if prices change.
Having done that search I can get fights but it does seem to be routing me via Dubai 😯