Easy to navigate (on foot) countries / cities?

dinanic,
We have been to about 80% of the countries in Europe. The infrastructure is excellent in the countries in Northern and Western Europe, especially Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia. It is relatively good in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Chechia. Eastern Europe is much improved from 30 years ago when the Berlin Wall fell, but be a bit more of concern for Balkan countries.

Since autos drive on the left in the UK and Ireland, just remember before crossing streets remember where the flow of traffic is coming.

will you please share the things you enjoy doing while on your journey? I believe forum members will be able to help define destinations meeting your criteria while also focused upon sating your preferences.

Thank you so much. My kids haven’t been to Europe and I haven’t been since before having children. We like history and culture and love the water and any water based activities (boating etc). Since my older son is disabled we need to go at a slow pace, can’t do anything hiking or biking related and can’t go places where distance vision is required. I have my list of places I want to go, and I’m not afraid of transportation and infrastructure, it’s really navigation on foot that concerns me. I was thinking of Lisbon and started to do a lot of research and quickly discovered how horrible the sidewalks are, so I’m taking that off my list. Thank you for your input!

I just picked up this book (haven't started it yet) from amazon that might interest you called Easy-Walking Europe: Tips and Suggested Tours for the (Somewhat) Mobility Impaired by Elizabeth Bingham . My sister has some challenges with walking for long periods of time, so i thought it might have some good tips.

There are issues off ill repair, and there are issues of challenging terrain that just cannot be conquered with smooth, gradual slopes on sidewalks--two rather different things.

Just as a general comment, I'd say the less affluent of the former Iron Curtain countries (Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine--probably also Serbia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Kosovo and North Macedonia, though I've seen little or nothing of them) are more likely to have troublesome city sidewalks.

Within other countries, more touristy (typically more affluent) cities may have more money to spend on things like sidewalk maintenance. So places you've heard of may be less problematic than off-the-beaten-path places.

Then you have terrain issues. Steep towns with cobbles to walk on (medieval centers sometimes have no sidewalks, so you're walking in the cobbled street) can be really troublesome even for folks with normal vision, especially on wet days. Two I can remember struggling with were St-Emilion in southwestern France and Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Similarly, towns built on hillsides with stepped lanes rather than streets are a challenge: one such example is Taormina in Sicily, but I think I encountered that sort of thing in some small Greek towns as well. Even in less extreme situations you sometimes run into sloping sidewalks with some shallow steps showing up every 3 to 6 feet or so.

Would Venice be a problem with its hump-backed bridges?

And would sheer hilliness be an issue even if pavements are lacking steps and are well-maintained? Larger hilly cities like Rome (maybe Lisbon, but that trip was a long time ago) could perhaps be managed with heavier-than-usual use of buses. Buses will not usually be a viable option in a place called a "hill town", so great caution should be exercised in choosing to visit such places.

It might be easier for the forum to help you if you proposed places you were interested in (at least regions if not individual cities and towns) and we could react to them. I really think there are tons of places that would be manageable.

Silly comment from someone whose horrible native vision is reasonably well-corrected but who has extremely poor balance: Not rushing is key. I have fallen flat on my face in Budapest and Leon, and flat on my back in Berlin. I've wandered around with grotesquely-bent eyeglasses (until a kind optician fixed them for me) and a black eye. All because I tend to hurry so I can see more.

I saw your comment about Lisbon and I’m hoping someone else will chime in, but I don’t remember Lisbon being that difficult to navigate. We made use of their trams and funiculars, as well as the HOHO bus and were able to get to all the major sites without a lot of walking, but also without sacrificing the experience. We were part of a tour and one of the other tour members was legally blind and used a cane. He walked with the group from our hotel, Avenida Palace, to the funicular up to Bairro Alto and walked around there, if the gives an idea of what is possible.

Nice, France has a lovely broad flat promenade with a spectacular view of the Mediterranean. The Promenade des Anglais in Nice would be a possibility. Also in the French Riviera, Cannes has a flat relatively smooth area to walk on the Blvd de la Croisette. If you avoid the Old Town areas of European cities with the cobblestones you will probably be okay. Another possibility would be Stresa, Italy. Marbella, Spain has a beautiful smooth promenade walk along the sea also.

One place we found easy without a lot of stumbling pitfalls was Lyon, France. You have the added benefit of the best place to dine in France.

You'd do well in most of the cities in Western Europe. My wife's mobility challenged and we've found most cities to have handicapped sidewalk crossings, etc. now.

The London Tube stations, for example, are perhaps half handicapped accessible. Some are all steps, but many have elevators, etc. The handicapped stations are noted on their internet website.

We were recently in Berlin and Dresden, and much of Berlin has handicapped sidewalks, etc. But sometimes we'd have to jump a curb. And we ran up on a brand new Underground station without handicapped facilities--just escalators. Dresden sidewalks are now for the handicapped, but those pavers in the city's town square is a rough ride.

My wife and I have learned to travel with an electric folding scooter. When she rides, I tow her rolling suitcase and I have a backpack suitcase. We require zero assistance on our trips.

Thank you all for your feedback. I’m not worried so much about stairs, hills, bridges, curbs etc since he can anticipate those with a cane and vocal parents, it’s more about uneven cobblestones, broken up side walks and walkways that are in poor condition (like New Orleans, which I just returned from!). I was starting down a path of Lisbon and Porto and it was suggested that may be suboptimal for him, so I am now looking for other options. I truly appreciate all of your feedback and will research all of these! And thank you for that book suggestion - I will buy that!

Look at cities or countries that are flat, like Berlin, or perhaps in Belgium or the Netherlands.

I'd be worried about the bicycle riders in Amsterdam too.

Any thoughts on Cascais and / or Comporta and / or Algarve? I know lisbon wasn’t recommended but wondering about these other areas? Thanks!

Madrid and Barcelona have tons of well maintained pedestrian-only streets. Both have great subways, too (some stairs are usually involved). El Retiro is a very nice park and its paths are carefully graded. The beaches in Barcelona have superb sidewalks. It's fair to say the Gothic Quarter is also smooth-strolling.

A more general tip is that you can use Google Street View to tour any city virtually. For example, here's the intersection of Las Huertas and Echegaray in Madrid, which is about halfway from Retiro to Puerta del Sol. Drag and rotate the image to orient yourself, then click on it to advance, or use the map at the bottom of the page to reposition yourself.

And here's a link directly to a path in El Retiro. Google mapped the whole park, so you and your son can walk all around it virtually to get an idea of what it'd be like in person.

If you like, you can use Street View to preview the entire walk from that park to the royal palace, all pretty much car-free and nicely maintained. I'd suggest Las Huertas (in the first link I posted) and Carretas to Puerta del Sol, then Arenal. Here's a shot of Arenal, further along the route.

Here's an example of a sidewalk along the beach in Barcelona. (If the weather is nice and depending on the day of the week, there will be a lot more people!)

The sidewalks in Eixample are very good, too. Diagonal isn't car-free but it's nice for a stroll. Obviously, there's La Rambla. Parc Güell might even be OK. It would be worthwhile to take a cab to the main entrance if you go there. Montserrat might be OK, too. Right now the funicular is broken, but you can still go to the monastery, and if you're feeling adventurous even hike up to the top. It's even footing the whole way, if quite steep at the very end.

I'm lucky to have good vision and I'm an old rock climber, so I usually don't spend a lot of time thinking about the quality of sidewalks when I travel. But considering your criteria, of all the places I've been, Spanish cities fit the bill. You didn't mention pedestrian-only streets, but even if your son is perfectly capable of negotiating vehicular traffic, pedestrian-only streets seem to receive better and more frequent maintenance than regular sidewalks, so it might be worth considering places that highly prioritize them. I think sidewalks in Spanish cities also benefit from a mild climate that's easier on infrastructure, and a culture that greatly values walking for the sake of recreation.

Please share the list of places where you desire to go. During our journeys we strive to obtain a blend of experiences involving taste, sound, aromas along with sights. With your son I am contemplating how to best explore taste, sound and odors. Examples: Barcelona is attending indoor concerts at the Palau Music https://www.palaumusica.cat/en, while present in many cities we enjoy the variety of tastes available in local markets and the flower shows found throughout England are joy for our nostrils. So as you peruse the places you desire to attend we suggest doing google searches, along with making specific requests on each subject within the appropriate country forum, to determine opportunities to explore taste, sound and aromas.
BTW: what time of the year are you planning your visit?

Thank you. Here is the list of places I am considering. This year I am limited because I have to fly a specific airline due to a credit:

This year - last week of June into first week of July (1 week)
-Lisbon and Porto
-Cascais and / or Comporta and / or Algarve (2 of the 3)
-Amsterdam
-Malta

Future:
-Munich + lake region in or near southern Germany or Black Forest
-Budapest + Lake Balaton
-Krakow + ??

-Amalfi coast (prob wouldn’t do with my virtually impaired child)
-Sicily

I’ve been to Madrid, South of Spain, Rome and London so would prefer not to go back to these places.

My family enjoys a slower pace yet access to activities and we love the water, which is why we try to pair cities with a destination on the water when we can.

Thanks again everybody!

Barcelona.
HUGE menu of opportunities plus great beaches with excellent timing for use during your late June arrival. You can pick an apartment to stay and unpack once to ease the stress of your journey. Please post on the Spain forum your travel needs and family member restrictions, I am going to enjoy reading all the responses you shall receive from the members of my favorite RS forum. We have been to Barcelona five times during the past 18 years and shall continue to visit as the opportunities are so vast. Also take deep dives into google searches for your research. Transport is easy, people are friendly and you can purchase tickets to major events on line to avoid standing in lines. You can also request special services for your son for a number of the destinations when you order on line. If this becomes your choice then please PM me.
Good Luck!