Short Tour in Venice for mobility challenged person

There are no cars, so walking is pretty much it. You can take a vaporetto, which is a boat bus, but there are very few seats and most people are forced to stand. You could also take a private water taxi to take you around, but that will be pricy and you will only see the canals. Maybe your best bet is to find a walking tour that you can do on your own with a book. Then it would be at your husband's pace and he can rest as he needs to. I don't have Rick's Venice book, but maybe someone with the book can confirm if there are walking tours in it. Be advised that the many bridges in Venice typically have stairs, so a wheelchair won't be that helpful.

Hot, breezy and dry. Thanks all. I will get a guide book, purchase a vaporetto (sp) ticket and use the people mover from the port. I'll save the money for a gondola ride.

Janet, here's the answer to your problems - a boat tour. Context Travels is an organization that constantly gets the highest praise here and on other boards. Go to this link to see their Venice By Boat tour info Happy travels.

Janet - Here is a link from the city of Venice with accessible itineraries. The Marciana one is the San Marco area. http://www.comune.venezia.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/EN/IDPagina/1381 The vaporetto system is fairly friendly. Getting on and off is mostly flat. The boat and the landing barge are almost always on the same level with no gap. The landing barges are ramped and usually not much of an angle.

The vaporettos have seats dedicated for seniors, disabled, pregnant women. You can often get a seat there. These seats are on the front row of the inside seating. I found that walking in Venice was mostly hindered by crossing the numerous bridges. They have steps. If you have vaporetto passes you can exit the vaporetto at various places, walk around as much as you want without crossing bridges, then catch another vaporetto and repeat. I suggest taking a cane that has a seat. One of these devices can help when there is no bench for sitting. Also, when crossing bridges one may make the stairs easier. There are plenty of cafes, restaurants, etc. Take the time to sit, rest, and have a cafe or meal. Venice is even possible in a wheelchair. Workers on the vaporetto help with wheelchairs (I've seen this) and some of the piazzas are accessible from vap. stops. It may require a little research. Many hotels can be reached without crossing a bridge. Many cannot.

Thank you all and especially Ron for the link. We have the cane with the seat, however convincing him to take it has been a two-year battle. Thank goodness there are no problems with steps. Those he can negotiate slowly, but well. Inclines are worse. You folks are wonderful!

I am looking at boat tours for the late afternoon of our arrival and then we will do a walking tour the next morning. We arrive at VCE at 11:30 and have to get to the ship. The ship overnights in Venice and sails on the next afternoon at 2 PM. I am seriously thinking of purchasing a hired car to pick us up at the airport and take us to the ship. We will have luggage so we'll look like tourists and I believe that a taxi will start at €60 plus additional fees for "entry" and luggage and the hired car will be about $110 US. I thought a boat or gondola tour in the late afternoon of our arrival day would be great and we could be off the ship early in the morning, take the people mover from the berth at Marittima to Piazelle Roma where we would pick up the #1 Vaporetta to Piazza San Marco and spend most of the morning wandering there and in the museums with maybe a brief foray into some small streets (with a MAP). I think that this would be the best way for us to see what our limited time will allow. The problem is that I cannot find hardly any boat tours in the late afternoon on 10/15. The private tours run but they are quite dear, like over €300 for 2 people. I think that the #1 Vaporetta will show us much of the Grand Canal on the way to San Marco. We could get a gondola tour on 10/15 but we'd have to find the starting place, so the Vaporetta tickets should help with that. I'll purchase two 12 hour Vaporetta passes, two museum passes and one toilet ticket (I know I'll need it) online. The museum passes will keep us from standing in line. I think we will be able to make it back to the ship by 1 PM. What do y'all think of the plans?

Janet, Context Travel is a remarkable group offering walking tours (private and very small group). Search internet for Context Venice. I've used them many times, and all experiences have been great. Their customer service folks are very good (both in US and in Europe). I'd suggest you give them a call. They may be able to customize something for you. I've traveled with mobility-challenged relatives, so I know the issues. I don't remember many cobblestoned areas in Venice (in fact, none are occurring to me, although I'd guess they exist). And your husband may be able to cope with the bridges; there are steps on many, but the bridges are generally very short so the inclines are also short. However, on some routes, the number of bridges could be challenging. If your husband is willing, either a walker with a seat or a cane with a seat would be a good idea. Probably the latter would be better, since walkers would be challenging on stepped bridges. And if he's not willing to take either of those, I'd at least take a collapsible cane for balance on challenging surfaces and in vaporettos. I saw the vaporetto staff helping those who were disabled, and most were attentive. Riding at off hours would be good. I'd also expend the effort needed to get accomidations with an elevator. It takes some hunting, but the stairs can be pretty challenging when someone is tired.