A friend of mine visited London and Paris many years ago and wants to return to Europe. Only now he has trouble walking more than 3 or 4 blocks before he has to sit and rest (bad knees and hips.)
Can anyone think of a city or place in Europe where a lot of walking is not needed to see the main sites? (no hills). Or a place where public transportation can take him to all the major sites?
Don't most major cities have hop on / hop off buses that take you to all the sights? Then your friend could get off when he feels up to walking and get back on later. This might be the best solution, as long as he can climb the winding little staircase that goes to the top level of the bus!
Other than this, from my experience, I'd recommend Florence where most major sites are near each other in center of town.
Perhaps Amsterdam. It's completely flat. Although not that compact, the tram service will get you within a block or two of just about any site.
The hop on-off buses don't always get close to the sights, and you have to wait to hop on the next bus.
You could investigate a daily or multi-day bus pass. The downside is traveling in peak times when there may be only standing room.
Some cities have adequate benches where you can rest a bit, otherwise there is the sidewalk cafe option.
In Italy, taxis are cheap.
What cities does your friend have in mind? Medium-size cities are probably your best bet.
I'd suggest Budapest. Lots of good sights easy to walk to depending on where you stay and trams to get you to the sights on the hills. I found it very easy to walk, not so many cobbles.
That's a very limited amount of walking, and I think it would be tough to find a large city that works without heavy reliance on taxis (which might be my plan). The most popular destinations tend to be the historic ones, and old cities were often built on hills, or at least their oldest monuments were. I guess a key factor is how important it is to go somewhere with a lot of specific sights to see, as opposed to areas where it's more about the beauty of the total environment (Berlin vs. Switzerland, for example).
I'd think about areas that are flat, cities that are small (without lots of spread-out sites), and highly scenic areas where local train, bus or boat trips are sights in themselves, with no walking required. You can stay in one of the flat valley towns in the Alto Adige (Bressanone, Bolzano) and take gorgeous daily trips into the Dolomites, for example. I sometimes hop on a bus, ride to the end of the line, and immediately return. Virtually no walking at all.
Also consider that countries like Italy and Spain have a lot churches scattered throughout their historic districts. Many of them are open throughout the day and have no entry fees. They are good resting spots.
Trams usually sit lower to the ground than buses and are thus easier to get on. They are better for the mobility-challenged than subways, whose stations can be rather widely scattered and/or require a lot of walking within the stations.
Edinburgh. Most all of the city's top attractions are along a single street "royal mile". It's not flat, but if he books a hotel right on the mile and starts at the top (Edinburgh Castle) its all downhill to Holyrood Palace.
Dublin is relatively flat, compact and has a decent bus system (public transit) along with a Hop-On/Hop-Off. Lots of pubs and restaurants in many of the central neighborhoods so if he must sit down and rest, it won't be hard to find someplace. Easy to book day trips out of the city by coach via the local TI office, and DART light rail can get him to places like Howth quickly and cheaply if he wants to do something on his own. If it's a longer trip, he can connect via rail to Galway (also fairly compact and flat). From Galway there are many opportunities to take day trips by coach buses to places like Cliffs of Moher, Aran Islands (lot of minivan drivers waiting at ferry dock to give tours of the main island), Connemara, etc.
Agree Amsterdam is also a decent option; however, it is important for him to stay in a hotel that has a reliable elevator as the steep staircases in many older buildings in Amsterdam are not good for someone who has bad knees/hip.
Antwerp and Bruges are other good options where most main sightseeing opportunities are in areas close to each other and it's mostly flat. Again, book a hotel with an elevator as older buildings in Belgium are often similar to the Netherlands with steep staircases.
If sticking to public transit, use buses or trams to get around. While there are certainly cities with terrific subway coverage (e.g., Paris, London), the amount of stairs and long walks through tunnels in the large stations to connect to other lines aren't ideal for your friend. He may also consider taxis or Uber given his mobility issues. Will he be bringing along a folding rollator with a seat? That might be helpful keeping balanced and giving him a place to quickly sit down if there are no available seats nearby.
Thanks all.
I had suggested Dublin as the HOHO buses go to most of the major sites and there are plenty of hotels on the line.
Amsterdam is also a good idea because there are both HOHO buses and boats.
Berlin might be a third option.
Cambridge has excellent restaurants and great street food, benches or college walls everywhere to sit, everything is very compact, with world class sites and history.
Plenty good.
The sights in Berlin are really spread out, I walked miles every day, but the trams and buses there are great.
Berlin was the first one that came to my mind. Much as I love Edinburgh, I don't think I would recommend it for anyone with walking issues. While a lot of the sights are along the Royal Mile, the hills, the cobble stones and more would be challenging.
Smaller cities with flat terrain. Florence, Bruges and Antwerp are great suggestions IMO. I would add Maastricht (NL) Mainz (DE, near FRA airport) Trier (DE) and Krakow (PL)
I remember having to go up/down over bridges a lot in Amsterdam. Maybe a combination of The Hague (day trip to Amsterdam, Delft) and Ghent (day trip to Bruges, Brussels).
Dublin sounds good. You can't go 3-4 blocks without finding a pub to sit in, and a pint will erase a lot of the pain ☺
Budapest/Vienna would probably be good too. Vienna has lots of parks with lots of benches, and in fact lots of places to sit for a few minutes just about anywhere, easy to get around by tram. It's been a few years since I was in Budapest, but the only part I recall that would be difficult is the Buda Castle side, and it's easy enough to get up and down without many stairs and seemed to be pretty level once you're there.
I can't think of anywhere in Italy that I wasn't walking up several hundred steps a day. . . .
Since he wants to go to more than one small place, he decided that Dublin and the rest of Ireland is his choice. (It also helps that he's part Irish.) The thought of a Guinness or two didn't hurt as well as the fact they speak English.
Thank you all for your suggestions.
Salzburg stand out to me as very compact and not too hilly in the center. If you go up to the castle, there's a funicular that does the climbing for you, then the castle is mostly flat.
I concur that Salzburg's old city center is very compact, with short walks to its main sites. You can also use the horse drawn carriages to get around.
If he does Dublin, he might also want to look into Glasgow. THey have the best HOHO buses I think I've ever used. They truly do run every 10 minutes and drop off close to the sites. Most of the stops are right in front of the attractions.
Also, I repeat myself with this, but you husband and his travel buddy use a cane that folds into a seat. That way they're never stuck without a place to sit, especially if there is a wait. Don't get a cheap on
One other option might be to hire a guide with a car.
It would be a good idea to get one of those rolling walkers with a fold-down seat. If you have to wait in line for any attraction or transport, you just go up to the front and ask if you can have priority.
The only real problem would be going to the loo - most of them are either up or down rather steep stairways. Some restaurants and pubs do have one reserved in the seating area for disabled people, but you might have to ask for it.
An option in Italy is Lucca. I don't like it much compared to other hill towns, because it's flat. For someone with difficulty getting around, Lucca might be ideal. Venice is fairly compact and flat. Like Amsterdam, however, there are bridges you might have to go up and over, depending on what you want to get to. I don't recall boarding a Vaporetto being difficult, but I might not have noticed.
