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European Accessibility Ratings

  If you want to get a quick idea of how accessible a particular European city is, this is the best single page you will find anywhere on the internet. I have visited almost all of these cities myself, so this is truly an apples to apples comparison of European cities.

Because of the limitations of the web design software, I was unable to include all the columns on this page that I wanted to.

Be sure to download the full Accessibility Ratings table (.pdf) to get the full list of accessibility ratings. 

In addition to the columns you see on this page, the full table also has ratings on cobblestone severity, cobblestone abundance, presence of hills, proximity of sights to each other, presence of accessible public transportation, the amount of English spoken, as well as comments about the city. This is truly a gold mine of accessibility information!

To understand the how I made the ratings, check the Accessibility Rating System Explanation.

Dont forget to download the full table here!

* Click any of the column titles to sort by that column

Country Region City Overall Accessibility Quality of sights/town Quantity of sights Worth the effort
Czech Republic central Prague (Praha) 3 4 2 3
England south London 4 5 5 5
France Riviera (south) Eze la Village 2 2 0.5 1
France Provence (south) Les Baux 2 5 1 2
France Provence (south) Orange 3 4 0.5 3
France Provence (south) Arles 3 3 1 3
France Normandy (north) Rouen 3 3 1 3
France Normandy (north) Caen 4 3 1 3
France Riviera (south) Nice 4 3 2 3
France Normandy (north) Bayeux 4 3 2 3
France Provence (south) Avignon 3 3 2 3
France Loire Valley (central) Tours 4 4 2 3
France Provence (south) Vaison la Romaine 3 3 0.5 3
France Provence (south) Isle sur la Sorge 4 5 0.5 4
France Provence (south) Pont du Gard 5 5 0.5 4
France northeast Paris 4 5 5 4
Germany northwest St. Goar 2 3 0.5 2
Germany west Bacharach 3 2 0.5 2
Germany east Dresden 3 3 1 3
Germany Polish border (east) Goerlitz (Görlitz) 3 3 1 3
Germany Romantic Road (central) Rothenburg 2 5 1 3
Germany northwest Cologne (Köln) 4 3 1 3
Germany Bavaria (south) Munich 4 4 3 4
Germany northeast Berlin 5 5 4 5
Greece mainland Athens 3 4 4 3
Greece island Santorini 3 4 2 3
Ireland east coast Dublin 3 4 3 4
Italy northwest Milan (Milano) 3 3 1 3
Italy northeast Venice 3 5 3 3
Italy central Florence (Firenze) 3 5 3 3
Italy central Rome (Roma) 3 5 5 3
Italy northwest Cinque Terra 1 4 2 1
Monaco southeast corner of France Monte Carlo 3 4 2 3
Netherlands central Amsterdam 4 4 3 4
Spain southeast Granada 3 2 0.5 2
Spain central Toledo 2 3 1 2
Spain northeast Barcelona 3 4 2 3
Spain central Madrid 3 4 3 3
Spain south Seville (Sevilla) 4 3 1 3
Turkey northwest Istanbul 3 5 4 3

Download full table

Accessibility Rating Explanation

Smoothness (Cobblestone Abundance)
– No Cobblestones anywhere
– Limited Cobblestones
– Cobblestones only in old part of city. Much of cobblestone areas have an accessible sidewalk or bike path
– Cobblestones almost everywhere
– Cobblestones everywhere

Smoothness (Cobblestone Severity)
– Flat Pavement
– Mild cobblestones, no chance of tipping over
– Bumpy enough for feet to fall off footplate but low chance of tipping over
– High chance of tipping over if not going slow
– No rolling, Each push only goes as far as the push, otherwise need to stay in a wheelie the whole time (particularly when going downhill)

Flatness (Hills)
– Completely flat
– Slight incline
– May need to rest in some places
– Definitely need to rest
– Too steep to go up without tipping over

Proximity of sights to each other
– Only 1 sight
– All major sights within 400 yds of each other
– All major sights within 1 mile of each other,
– Major sights cannot be covered in a day, they are apart but can be divided into groups,
– Major sights are miles apart, definitely need transportation

Accessible Public Transportation
– Subways completely accessible
– Most buses, trams, and subway stations accessible
– A few buses, trams, and subway stations are accessible, taxis are available
– Taxis are the only tranportation available
– No subway, trams, or taxis (generally this only occurs in very small towns)

English Spoken
– Everyone speaks English
– Most people at hotels, taxis, restaurants, and museums speak English
– English spoken primarily at hotels and tourist spots
– A few people in town speak English
– Nobody speaks English

Overall Accessibility
In this section, I take into account all of the accessibility ratings listed above to come up with a single Overall Accessibility rating. 5 is very accessible and 1 is not accessible.

Quality of sights/town
This is absolutely subjective and is takes into account the following factors: art sights, historical sights, ambience, & uniqueness. A rating of 5 goes to the best / most unique destinations in Europe, and a rating of 1 has nothing noteworthy to see.

Quantity of sights
This is an estimate of the number of days needed to see the town. It assumes that you are okay with leaving the hotel before 10 am and spending the day seeing sights, doing walking tours, or having lunch on a town square. I would consider this to be somewhat of a minimum; if you generally move at a slow pace you can take extra time.

5 – Need more than a week to see all the major sights
4 – Can see all the major sights in 5 to 7 days
3 – Can see all the major sights in 3 or 4 days
2 – Can see all the major sights in 1 or 2 days
1 – Can see all the major sights in less than a day

Worth the Effort
This column may very well be the best single type of information on the entire website. It is my effort based on all my travels to prioritize what I would have visited if I had to do it all over again. If you are in a wheelchair or have another significant mobility issue and are trying to take your first trip to Europe, I would select one of the cities with a rating of 5. I would avoid cities with a rating of 2 or 1 until you have taken a few trips to Europe.

Also See: List of cities that have Accessibility Reviews

 

Sage Traveling has performed accessibility reviews of Athens, Berlin, Bruges, Dublin,
Edinburgh, Florence, Istanbul, London, Normandy, Paris, Rome, Venice, and more…

 

 

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