Handicapped Accessible Travel to Rome – What are the most important items that you should focus on when planning handicapped accessible travel to Rome?  You could spend endless hours trying to understand every aspect of accessibility at every location you are going to visit.  Before you go into that much effort, be sure to concentrate on the Keys to a Successful Handicapped Trip to Roma Italy provided below.

1. Rome Handicap Hotels for Electric Wheelchair Users – Because there are few accessible public transportation options (and accessible taxis are expensive), tourists using an electric wheelchair or a mobility scooter should stay in one of the wheelchair accessible hotels in the center of town.  If you stay in the middle of town, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, the Vatican, the Capitoline Museums, Trajan’s Market, the Coliseum, and the Roman Forum are within a 3 km (2 mile) radius. 

2. Rome Accessible Hotels for Manual Wheelchair Users – The center of town has cobblestones virtually everywhere, and they are of a more severe nature than many other European cities.  Manual wheelchair users that have difficulty with cobblestones may want to stay in one of the flat, smooth neighborhoods slightly outside of the city center.  Although you may need to take a taxi to get to the tourist attractions, you’ll have a far easier time getting to accessible restaurants and accessible shopping near the hotel.

3. Take an Accessible Guided Tour in Rome – An accessible walking tour in the city center is an excellent way to see some of the top attractions in Rome and get a history overview of the city.  The accessible tours typically visit Campo de Fiori, Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps.

4. Don’t miss the Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museums, and St. Peter’s Basilica – I know this is completely obvious, but every now and then I talk to someone who is rushing through Rome and they pass on these sights.  Vatican City contains some of the best Renaissance art and architecture in the world, and disabled visitors to the Vatican should take at least a half day to visit the 3 parts of the Vatican.  A picture of the wheelchair lift to get to the Sistine Chapel is shown on the right.

5. Plan your daily itineraries to include wheelchair accessible restaurants – A visit to Rome is not entirely about ancient ruins and art…you also need to make time to experience the local culture.  The food in Rome is magnificent.  Make sure that your sightseeing schedule puts you near accessible restaurants at lunch and dinner time.

6. See the Trevi Fountain after dark – The Trevi Fountain is great during the day and even better at night.  It’s always open so use your days to visit museums and churches that are closed in the evenings.

7. Plan a downhill route – Rome is hilly so manual wheelchair users and other Rome handicapped tourists will have a much more enjoyable trip by carefully planning their route. The tourist attractions can be strung together so that tourists can spend all day on flat ground or rolling downhill.

8. Make time for shopping in one of the accessible shopping neighborhoods – Many shops in Rome have a step or two at the entrance so you don’t want to spend a lot of time on your vacation searching for handicap accessible Rome shopping.  Do the research beforehand so you can wear yourself out browsing the shopping racks rather than pushing up the street.

9. The 3 parts of Rome – Even if your stay in Rome is a short one, be sure to make time to visit tourist sights that cover the 3 main areas of interest: Ancient Rome, Renaissance Rome, and the Vatican.  They can almost be divided geographically as well and a minimum of 3 days will be time well spent on your accessible Italian holiday.

10. See magnificent art in the church it was designed for – Most of the Renaissance Art that we see during our lifetime hangs on a wall in a museum.  While in Rome, be sure to visit some of the churches and chapels that have housed the art since it was created centuries ago.

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