4 of Europe’s Most Accessible Cities for People With Disabilities

Generally speaking, travelling with a disability is easier than ever before. In many areas throughout the world there has been a concerted effort over the past few decades to prioritise accessibility features during the process of town and city planning.

Many private and publicly owned companies have also made great progress in improving the experience for travellers who are disabled.

From the process of booking accessible hotel rooms online to exploring busy cities using public transport, it’s fair to say that the general travel experience these days is much more accommodating than in previous times.

There are numerous useful guides online offering travel tips for individuals with a disability, such as this blog post by sciprogress.com. 

One thing that all the good guides suggest, just like that one, is that effective pre-planning is essential and one crucial aspect of this process is choosing the right destination to visit.

If you have a disability and a trip to Europe is on your travel wish list, then there are many fantastic destinations to consider which have exemplary accessibility features. In the next few slides you will see four of the best examples.

Dublin’s Luas System is renowned as being one of the best public transport systems in the whole of Europe in terms of accessibility which makes navigating this beautiful city seemingly effortless.

The Luas (which is the Irish word for speed) is a tram network which operates in and around the city centre.

Unlike some rail systems in other cities, the Luas has step-free access to the platforms at every station and the tram cars themselves are also wheelchair accessible.

Many of Dublin’s most popular tourist attractions are also extremely accessible, including the world-famous Guinness Brewery museum and the National Gallery of Ireland.

Another city boasting a very accessible public transportation system is Barcelona. In this beautiful Spanish city you will discover that all the public buses are accessible.

The Barcelona Metro system, for the most part, is also fully accessible. The majority of stations have elevators and ramps to allow passengers to easily access the trains.

In the city itself, you will notice that Barcelona generally has far fewer cobbled streets than some of its European counterparts such as Paris and Bruges. This makes exploring the city in a wheelchair far easier than many other popular destinations in the continent.

In a country renowned for its efficiency, it will come as no surprise that the capital of Germany is an extremely accessible travel destination. The public buses and tram system in Berlin are both completely accessible, whereas the major metro rail systems (U-Bahn and S-Bahn) have many stations which can also be considered as fully accessibly.

Berlin is a very flat city compared to many other popular urban destinations in Europe, therefore this is a great location to consider for wheelchair users.

Many of the most popular attractions in Berlin have been refurbished over the years to better accommodate disabled tourists.

Examples include the Bode Museum, which features a wheelchair lift, as well as the Riechstag building, which is accessible throughout, including the rooftop and dome areas.

Last but not least is London, home of the world’s oldest underground train system, locally known as ‘The Tube’ The underground first opened in 1863 and its safe to say that it wouldn’t have been very accessible back then!

Over the years though it has been extended and developed numerous times and now it boasts over 60 stations which have step-free access.

London’s public buses are all completely accessible as are the world famous London taxis.

In terms of tourist attractions, London also has a huge variety of places to consider that have put effective measures in place to ensure every visitor has a welcoming and comfortable experience.

The Coca Cola London Eye, for example, has capsules that have been specially designed to accommodate wheelchair users.

The British Museum has also been refurbished over the years to improve its accessibility features. It is now has step-free access throughout the majority of the museum and wheelchairs are also available to hire.

So there you have it, four excellent examples of European cities that are leading the way when it comes to accessibility. One thing that all of these cities have in common is that they have exceptional transport systems in place to allow visitors to easily get around, regardless of their disability.