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Venice without a wheel chair


Fisherwoman
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Without a wheelchair or scooter, which in itself in Venice is difficult, a tour by water only would be the option. I think you need to be more specific as to how much walking is too much. Venice is not a taxi or tourbus city. It's a walkers town. Lots of bridges with steps. EM

Edited by Essiesmom
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Before I had limited mobility, I took my eleven year old granddaughter on a European trip. We took a gondola tour through the canals, which we both enjoyed. On the plus side, we were lucky enough to be in the gondola with the vocalist. The tour included the gondola ride and and adequate free time in the plaza to see sites and have lunch on our own.

I believe there are now ferries to take you to various locations in Venice.

Have a wonderful,

Betty

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I have a friend who is not able to walk long distances. She would like a tour with little or no walking. She's on P & O and they won't help her. Does anyone know of a tour operator that accepts people that can't walk far?

 

We deal with some mobility limitations, and they can vary depending upon the "environment" (degree of difficult walking, heat/humidity/etc.) and just the daily physical condition.

 

Please note first that I don't think we (me, actually) are as limited as what you seem to be dealing with.

 

In Venice (as elsewhere, but obviously Venice presents extra challenges), we arrange with private tours and arrange up front for any transportation issues, be they opportunities to rest [which is why group tours often don't work well], as well as extra use of vehicles.

 

At one point on one day of the Venice trip, for whatever reason, I suddently just could not go further. Not good in such a locale. Our guide made sure that I was "okay", and had DH stay with me. She also asked if after I rested, could I walk to "over there" and pointed.

 

She called a water taxi, and arranged for it to come to that particular spot, and a while later, we were all being whisked back to our hotel, which had a dock.

 

She also arranged in some buildings for us to use what turned out to be carefully hidden elevators. In some cases, the staff needed to unlock doors.

But what amazed us was at the top of one major building (up about 3 floors, not a tower), there was a ... large group of wheelchair tourists :)

 

So a lot of that IS possible with planning, as is the case with many things.

You might want to do an online search for wheelchair tours of Venice, and contact them for help, or even join in!

 

Good luck!

 

ETA: And we did make use of the water taxis throughout our stay. Made a huge difference.

 

GC

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If it’s a day tour from the p&o ship she could take the Alilaguna water bus from the cruise ship pier around and back to the pier without getting off I think. https://www.alilaguna.it/en/lines/lines-map

This would be the blue line. It does go via St Marks square, and if she can walk 200 metres or so, then she could walk up to the square. The only seats in the square are in expensive cafes, but I personally think they are worth it for the break and the atmosphere. She could then just go back to the cruise terminal, though the trip across the lagoon to the airport is interesting if you have the time.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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When I was first in Venice I was using a rollator and the last time had "graduated" to a travelscoot scooter. Both times I googled "accessible venice" and followed the routes they suggested. At the sides of the bridges they include on their routes are ramps which are popular with moms pushing strollers and delivery men with hand trucks. However these can be very helpful. The water buses were also welcome. We went throughout the city on them. We did not use water taxi service as the seats were too low for me to rise from easily. This is the map I used http://archive.comune.venezia.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/EN/IDPagina/1318%20

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  • 4 weeks later...

My husband has balance problems and the last time we were in Venice, he had a very hard time getting on and off the water taxis without falling. I have heard there are a few hotels you can get to from the airport without using a water taxi, which is what we will do if we ever cruise from Venice again.

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  • 4 weeks later...

My husband uses a mobility scooter and we generally use the vaporettos for almost all of our traveling in Venice and, in fact, were there last month. They do not require stepping down into a boat as water taxis and gondolas do, which often entails navigating steep stairs without handrails.

 

The best seat in town is found in the front of a vaporetto. Go to the terminal at Piazzelle Roma, which can be reached from the cruise port by taxi or the new people mover. Disabled passengers and an escort can purchase tickets good for two hours (I'm not sure exactly the amount of time) for around 1.50 euros. During this time you can transfer to other vaporettos. We purchase three each and they lasted for a day. Much less expensive than a day pass.

 

Back to the "tour". Routes 1 and 3 take you down the Grand Canal. Wait until you get a boat with seats in front (not all of them do), then go for one of the front seats. You will have an amazing view of the Grand Canal and you can get off if anything looks interesting, though I would first enjoy the view clear down to San Marco at least.

 

We also toured the Doges Palace and San Marco with a wonderful guide. They do make some concessions for those with mobility challenges (elevators in the Doges Palace and a special wheelchair entrance at San Marco), but it still entails a lot of walking.

 

With the scooter we knew that crossing bridges would be difficult or impossible so we found a good map that showed where the canals were and figured out which sites we could visit. With careful planning we were able to get lost in back alleys and generally enjoy the sights and sounds of Venice. I would, however, consider renting a scooter or wheelchair on the ship to make the visit more enjoyable.

 

As far as hotels, Santa Chiara is in a great location, right off Piazelle Roma, where taxis and buses can go. There are no steps to get to it and it's next to the vaporetto terminal. They say they have accessible rooms, although we stayed in a nice room overlooking the Grand Canal and it worked fine.

 

Kate

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