How handicapped accessible is Europe (as compared to the US)? Do most tourist facilities have elevators, ramps, etc? What about trains?

On a scale of 1 to 10, with USA a 10, Europe ranks about a 2 for disabled access. The better countries from my observations appear to be England, Scandinavia, and possibly Holland and Germany, but if you are planning to do it, planning will be the operative word. <BR>A lot of medium priced hotels don't even have an elevator, and of those that do, they are often too small for a wheelchair. <BR>Trains are hard, but the main stations will provide help, given advance requests of about 24 hours, but not comparable to assistance given by airlines. <BR>To do it in comfort 5 star hotels are just about obligatory. <BR>Don't even think about Italy or even France.

At the Metro stops here in Brussels they have signs in French Dutch and Brail that say 'please help them' with a disabled logo of a person in a wheelchair. Elevators and ramps are rare in the transport systems design 40 years ago. Busses and trams are making progress with wider doors and riding lower so as to be level with the platforms. <BR> <BR>Newer buildings have ramps as do sidewalks. <BR> <BR>The same is true from what we have seen in France, Germany and the Netherlands. <BR> <BR>There are certain cities that may be easier.Flat, canal cities like Brugge, Belgium and Venice might be good. Also cities where the major sites are all close like Florence might be easier. <BR> <BR>In general, if someone is in a wheelchair, I would recommend traveling in Europe with a friend with strong legs. <BR> <BR>I hope this helps. <BR> <BR>Jerry

Fodors <BR> <BR>Access in Bruges is satisfactory, but in Venice is a problem: every fifty yards there's a little canal bridge with five steps up and five down. If you can get on and off the waterbusses then you can see a great deal from on board, and can stop at each landing stage to look at anything within bridge-free distance. I can't remember whether waterbusses are accessible can Mr Finkenkeller help us ? If not, you could put the question to the Venice Tourist Infoemation Office, and ask them, too, about small hotels with lifts or ground floor bedrooms (such bedrooms do exist in central Venice. A decent one is by the Arsenale landing stage). <BR> <BR>For two cities I know where there's some advice. For London <BR>http://cgi.chicago.tribune.com:80/tr...6,9909050135,0 <BR>And an excellent book, "Access in London" by Gordon Couch and others, ISBN 1 89916318-2, eight pounds in Britain. <BR>And for Paris http://www.geocities.com/Paris/1502/...litylinks.html <BR> <BR>Do most tourist facilities have elevators, ramps, etc? In London about three quarters do. By 2004, by law, all will. In Scandinavia I should say all do. In central Europe such provision is rare or absent. <BR> <BR>What about trains? In London all surburban and distant trains have wheelchair access, including access to many small tations, but you must phone 48 hours ahead of travel. If you ring 0345 58 59 60 (which is 0044 345 58 59 50) and give your journey, they'll tell you which company phone number to ring to fix to travel. Relevant rips are Waterloo to anmd frpom Windsor and Hampton Court, and Greenwich to Cannon Street (but not London to Greenwich). There are lifts and full access on the Docklands Light Railway and the Jubilee Line Extension, but those are in east London, in areas that few tourists want to reach. London black taxis all take wheelchairs (and people say the cabbies are kind), but they're expensive, around five pounds a trip. And the bad news is that the whole of the "old" tube system, the lines that existed 15 years ago, has no wheelchair access, and hardly any busses have it. <BR> <BR>German and Austrian rail and metro (S-Bahn) take wheelchairs, either unannounced, or booked by phone 48 hours ahead. They tend to have lifts all over the place. <BR> <BR>I'm sorry I can make no comparisons with the States. Please write if I can help further. Welcome to Europe. <BR> <BR>Ben Haines, London <BR> <BR>

I've done quite a lot of wheelchair pushing in the past 20 years, and trust me, Venice (and Florence) would be a nightmare for both steps, and uneven pavements alone. <BR>Coupled with that because of the crowds for 8/9 months of the year, the only thing the person in the wheelchair would see is a million backsides of the people in front. As for the waterbusses, there is barely enough room most of the time to stand up and breath, let alone access a wheelchair, unless you were lucky enough to have really considerate people around you, and this does'nt usually happen in Venice. As for Italian taxi drivers - well, don't get me started. Like I said before, don't even think about it.

Mr Albury speaks from experience, I from guesswoirk. Please listen to him. <BR> <BR>Ben Haines