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Left Bank Accessible Hotels

Finding Left Bank accessible hotels is not an easy task. Hotels in the Left Bank are generally housed in old neo-Classical buildings built in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. These buildings were built before there were any building codes or considerations about access for people with mobility issues. Consequently, there are few accessible hotels in the Left Bank. Most hotels in the Left Bank have at least one step at the entrance. Many have two or three steps to enter the building. After getting in the building, you may encounter challenges getting to the hotel rooms. There may be steps in the lobby. Sometimes there are no rooms on the ground floor and no elevator to the upper floors with hotel rooms. If there is an elevator, it may have been installed decades after the building was originally built. When this happens, many times the elevator shaft is in the middle of a circular staircase which results in the elevator to be too small for a wheelchair. If you are looking for larger hotels, you can find them at my wheelchair accessible hotels near the Louvre page.

The hotel rooms in Left Bank accessible hotels generally have narrow doors into the bathroom. Occasionally when a hotel has been remodeled, they have created one or two disabled rooms to make it accessible. The rooms in these accessible Paris hotels will have wider bathroom doors and more space to maneuver in the bathroom. Some of them will have roll-in showers for wheelchair users. The bathrooms with roll-in showers may or may not have a stool or chair to sit on in the shower. Sometimes they will have grab bars in the shower, and sometimes they won’t. There may be grab bars near the toilet, but you should make sure they are on the side closest to the wall. Some hotels have grab bars on both sides of the toilets. If you are in a wheelchair, check to make sure the sink has enough room to fit your knees underneath it.

One way to find out this information is to call the hotels. There are a few challenges with finding out accessibility information this way. The first is that the person answering your call may not speak English well. While they may be quite familiar with phrases such as “how many nights” and “for how many people”, they may not be familiar with phrases like “grab bars”, “wheelchair user”, and “accessible entrance”. Additionally, staff members may not know exactly what the handicapped room looks like. On several occasions, I have visited hotels and the staff member working at the reception desk has been unable to answer questions about grab bars and whether or not a wheelchair can fit on both sides of the bed.

Another option to evaluate Left Bank accessible hotels is to send an email with your questions. This method also has challenges. Staff receiving emails typically want to respond in the easiest way possible. If you ask too many questions or ask questions that that they don’t have the answers for, you may not get any response at all. If you do receive a response back, the level of detail will vary according to the culture. My experience has been that Germans are the most detail-oriented and are the most likely to respond. They understand why someone may want to know which side of the bed a wheelchair can fit on and how steep a ramp is. Many other cultures are much less-detailed oriented and much less likely to provide adequate answers. Responses in European countries like France and Greece may be closer to single sentence responses that the hotel is fully accessible to wheelchair users.

The easiest way to find out accessibility information on hotels in this area is at SageTraveling.com. After spending numerous hours researching disabled hotels in Paris Left Bank, I found only 3 hotels with roll-in showers in the Latin Quarter area. In the summer of 2010, I visited all of them, took pictures, and wrote up descriptions of the hotels. You can find them on SageTraveling.com. I tried to provide all the information that disabled and elderly travelers need to choose a hotel. I described the entrance to building and whether or not it had a ramp or level access. I took pictures of the restaurant or breakfast room. I described the neighborhood around the hotel and whether or not it was quiet, had cobblestones, and was flat. I researched transportation options including nearby handicapped parking, proximity of accessible bus stops, and distances to Metro stations with elevators.

You can also find information on tourist sights and getting around Paris at my Paris disabled access page. Hopefully my descriptions help you to have a great accessible vacation in Paris!

 

Read more:

Paris Accessible Travel – main page
   Pros and Cons of Paris Disabled Access
   13 Wheelchair Accessible Travel Tips for Paris France
   11 Keys to Success for Paris Disabled Travel
   Getting Around Paris with a Disability
   Wheelchair Access at the Eiffel Tower
   Notre Dame Wheelchair Accessibility
   Orsay Museum Disabled Access
   Handicapped Access at the Louvre Museum
   Marmottan Monet Museum Accessibility
   Versailles Palace Disabled Access
   Travel Insurance for Disabled Travelers
   Paris Accessible Travel Packages
Accessible Walking and Driving Tours in Paris
   Accessible Paris Dinner Cruise on the Seine River
   Accessible Paris Boat Tour on the Seine River
   Highlights of Paris Accessible Driving Tour
   Panoramic Paris Wheelchair Accessible Driving Tour
   Classic Paris Accessible Walking Tour
   Essential Paris Accessible Guided Tour
   Wheelchair Accessible Tour of Paris Latin Quarter
   Wheelchair Accessible Guided Tour of the Louvre Museum
   Jewish Paris Accessible Private Tour in Marais
   Versailles Accessible Driving Tour from Paris
   Monet’s Giverny Accessible Driving Tour
   Giverny & Versailles Wheelchair Accessible Tour
Accessible Hotels in Paris
   Paris Disabled Hotel Rooms near the Louvre Museum
   Paris Roll-in Shower Hotel Rooms near Louvre Museum
   Handicapped Hotel Rooms in Paris 1st Arrondissement
   Accessible Hotel Rooms in Central Paris
   Disabled Hotel Room in Paris for Families
   Wheelchair Accessible Rooms in Paris Left Bank
   Paris Left Bank Hotel with Roll-in Shower
   Left Bank Handicapped Accessible Hotel Rooms
   Disabled Hotel Rooms near Eiffel Tower
   Handicapped Accessible Hotel near Eiffel Tower
Paris Accessibility Guide by John Sage
Paris Trip Planning by Sage Traveling – Travel with Ease!

 

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