Hello, I have not posted a message for a while, but often pop in on the forum to see what’s going on. I am SPMS and feel my mobility is deteriorating rapidly now and that attempting to manage with just a stick will not be enough much longer, with a wheelchair being on the horizon.
There are still no many things I would like to do and places to see. Close to the top of my bucket list is a visit to Venice, perhaps for 3-5 days. I know it is difficult - with the canals and waterways, bridges, cobbled streets and crowds, but I really would like to see it before it is too late.
I can walk a short distance with a lot of effort and a stick, but think I would have to get that wheelchair in order to see the sights properly.
Has anyone, who is at a similar stage with this xxxxxx disease, managed to get to Venice, see it properly and enjoy it? Tips welcome. We had a holiday to Bruges with Riviera Travel some years ago but I was nowhere near so bad then. I couldn’t do it with a normally mobile group now. Through google, I have found a company called Sage Travelling, who do travelling for the disabled. Has anyone any experience of them, please?
Hoping someone can help me get Venice ticked off the list!
Can’t help you with an answer but am interested in any replies. I’m similar to you with my MS and looking into a holiday with my daughter and wheelchair. Thinking of a cruise.
Holidays are so important. Something to look forward to and to escape from everyday life.
I’ve been to Venice twice and I don’t remember any cobbled streets. As I recall, they used paving slabs which were more or less even. Having said that, it’s not somewhere that would be easy to do with a wheelchair. Some streets are very narrow, the bridges have steps and the crowds in certain areas, like the Rialto Bridge, make it hard for a wheelchair user to get through.
If Venice is high on your bucket list and you’re prepared to cope with crowds and steps on bridges, go for it - especially if you’re planning to spend several days there. I only had a couple of days and loved it. Take your time and appreciate it. Bear in mind that the cafés on St. Mark’s Square are extremely expensive, especially if you sit outside, and you can get coffee and gelati that are just as good elsewhere in Venice. The cathedral in St. Mark’s Square is doable, but is best done very early in the day before the crowds arrive. I’m not sure whether the Doge’s Palace is accessible because we didn’t have time to visit it.
I’ve been to Venice in more able bodied days. The trouble is that due to all the canals, there are bridges everywhere. Many of them with steps over. You think of bridges being flat curves, but these are very very often steeper bridges which is why they use steps.
I’ve said to my OH before now that there is no way I’d go back to Venice as a wheelchair user. But to be honest it really depends on your specific level of disability. It might be that you can leave the wheelchair, manage to get over the bridges and continue on with wandering about.
The other way of getting about is via vaporetto, or water bus. These may actually be quite wheelchair friendly. You’d need to do some research yourself on this, but it may well be that it’s a good way round.
Equally, I’d be pleased to know if anyone has managed to ‘do’ Venice in a wheelchair. (As my OH is keen to go back if it’s doable!)
I’m going to Bruges via a mini cruise next month. I can’t take my leccy wheelchair due to weight restrictions on the coach. So itll be my self propelled and the wonderful Boudica’s Best Bev! She’ll have to have hearty breakfasts to shove me about.
This kind of shoving I don’t mind!
Watch out Bruges cobbles! I’m coming to flatten you!!!
Hello all. Thx for your replies. I’d still like to go and think I need to do some careful research first. Enjoy Bruges Polly. The beers, mussels and waffles were excellent and it is a picturesque and compact city. I think u will be ok getting round in a wheelchair there from what I remember.
We went to Venice several times when we had more mobility and money. Some of the vaporreti have disabled access.(like no. 1) What I noticed most of all were the wheelchair rack and pinion lifts on the more popular Rivas.
You could stay on the lido and the buses are disabled friendly. The doges palace is not. I took notes as you never know…