Hello -- my husband and I are hoping to travel with his mother to Vienna next Christmas, something my MIL has always dreamed of doing. His mother has COPD and limited mobility. I'm thinking that if we take it slow, she will be able to do this. We just came back from Greece and the toilets in almost all restaurants were done windy steep stairs. What are they like in Vienna? How is general accessibility? We're willing to assist in whatever way possible to make this easier, but if there's a LOT of stairs, this will be difficult.
Posted by
London, United Kingdom
4684 posts
You may have similar problems with toilets in restaurants and cafes. Almost all U-Bahn stations have elevators, but it can sometimes be difficult to find which entrance has the elevator at street level. Some trams are low-floor, but there are many older high-floor trams still in operation with steps up from the pavement. The policy is to have at least some low-floor trams on every route, and when stops have electronic announcement boards there will be a symbol to show if the next tram is accessible or not.
Museums and historic buildings vary in how well they are adapted to disabled people, you'll need to check individually. Also be very careful about checking with hotels to see if they have elevators and are otherwise accessible.
Vienna as a whole is flat in parts but some areas have steep gradients in the streets, especially to the west of the city centre and in particular around the Naschmarkt.
Posted by
Charm City USA
183 posts
The city has a guide for accessibility:
https://www.wien.info/en/travel-info/accessible-vienna
That might be a good resource.
Lots of places in old buildings have the same windy stair situation, but there are plenty of choices that will be fine. I think if you make reservations and ask if they are wheelchair accessible, you will be able to find good choices for her.
The Vienna transit system was the first in the world to be fully accessible, although it is true that in some U-bahn stations, the elevators had to be retrofitted in and can be tucked in a corner. The trams are a mixed fleet, but during the day the frequency is so high that there is usually not much of a wait for a low floor tram (the 'next one'). All the buses are low floor.
The big museums have stairs, but they also have wheelchair lifts or ramps, somewhere.
Hope this helps!
Posted by
Vienna, Austria
5389 posts
As someone who has spent a better part of 4 years pushing a kid in a stroller all over Vienna, I have to say that Vienna is exceptionally friendly to those with mobility issues. The entire public transport system is wheelchair accessible - clearly labeled with arrows, etc. There are really no truly "old" buildings anymore in Vienna, so to have deep winding stairs is very uncommon. The city is also relatively flat and curbs are sloped so crossing streets is easy. I really don't think you'll have any issues.
Posted by
Idaho, USA
7303 posts
Vienna is such a lovely city; I hope this trip will work for you. One thought- try to stay in a centrally located hotel. We splurged at this city and stayed across from St. Stephens. Since the location was so central, we never used a toilet at restaurants, etc. during our 5 days there except when we were at the Schonnbrunn Palace.