The Louvre at dusk
Photo by: Jan Jelnek (Stock Exchange)

Hello, hello!

Today on the Disabled Travelers blog, we continue our journey through the beautiful city of Paris.

There’s so much to experience here in the capital of France that I’ve decided to break things down a bit more than usual for our Paris access guides.

This time, we’ll be focused on accessibility in transportation; how to get around easily so you can take it all in and enjoy your visit.

If you’re like me, then mobility impaired access in public transportation is important to you, and I’m here to give you the inside scoop.

As astute readers have probably realized by now, I have, indeed, been to Paris. Much of the city is designed to be walkable, and that’s good news for wheelchair users. The tricky part is, with so much of the city retaining Old World-style cobblestones, pavement can be uneven and inhospitable in the less-modern sections. Though it’s a wonderful city to walk or roll, and you definitely get more of the local flavor that way, sooner or later you’ll want to know about your other options. Let’s take a look at some of them now.

The Paris Metro: Paris’ citywide train system is the second-most used of its kind, just behind its Moscow counterpart. Most trips through the city will require at least a few short hops on the Metro, which can slash your travel time. But how is it on accessibility? The official page on the topic isn’t much, and extended visits to the Metro should be avoided for most passengers who cannot stand. Users of automatic wheelchairs should also take a “pass” on the Metro. That said, many Metro stations throughout Paris are extensively equipped with accessibility features. Consult the Paris Metro map, available in both full- and wallet-size, to figure out the best route for you before you go.

At the time of this writing, only Metro Line 14 is fully accessible.

Buses: Many of Paris’ bus lines are accessible, and you’ll definitely want to choose one of these over the Metro where possible. More and more buses are being equipped with ramps and have ample space for a wheelchair user to be situated near the door for easy exit, though in most cases, you will have to face backwards and back into the space. For an excellent source, try this local transportation guide. From there, you can see routes and schedules, and plan your journey from end to end.

Taxis: Unlike the selection above, taxis are not administered by RATP, Paris’ transportation authority. For that reason, they can seem like the “lost” option, but no more! There are wheelchair accessible taxis in Paris, and they’re convenient and easy to use. There’s only one dilemma: to the best of my knowledge, the company behind it all, G7 Taxis, doesn’t offer any information in English on their website. You can, however, contact them by email to find out more about pre-reserving taxi service throughout the city. As is often the way in Paris, English-language assistance may be provided on contact or by arrangement.

Passerelles: Something should be said about the pedestrian bridges that crisscross Paris over the Seine. There are two in central Paris, both quite extensive. Though they present some challenges, they’re not as daunting as they might seem at first. Global Access News has two articles focusing on accessibility around the passerelles: one from 2003 and an update written in 2005. Merchants and others who spend their time on the passerelles are often more than happy to help you get around.

For our next go-around, we’ll be looking at places to stay in Paris. Our tour de France will continue on from there when we discuss accessible places to eat. Finally, we’ll discuss all the handicapped travel resources in the city that don’t quite fit anywhere else before we bid the city a fond adieu. Once again, au revoir and adventure on!

Si

Lazienski Palace, known as "The Palace on the Water", in Warsaw
Photo by: Robert Parzychowsk (Stock Exchange)

Howdy to all our loyal Disabled Traveler readers!

Last time around, we hit the streets to look at the best access guides for Krakow. As planned, we’re forging ahead to the majestic city of Warsaw, capital of Poland, to continue our journey.

As a reminder, this series is a little precursor to a trip I myself am taking in June, and I’ll be revisiting it to provide first-hand perspectives after I get back to the States.

For today, it’s on to the “phoenix city” to enjoy the wonders of Poland!

I’d like to begin by pointing out the helpful handicapped accessible information provided by Warsaw’s Fryderyk Chopin Airport. I’d also be remiss in my blogging duties if I didn’t mention Accessible Poland Tours, an established and trustworthy tour operator that exclusively provides customized itineraries for handicapped travelers. Accessible Poland visits Krakow, Warsaw, and many sights in the countryside, such as Auschwitz, which can be difficult to get to without help from local experts. The agency also maintains a Warsaw Without Barriers guide: it has overviews of public transport, museums, religious buildings, theatres, and restaurants. The English is a touch spotty, but don’t pass it up: it’s the best local guide online right now.

Warsaw is a city of theaters, which just happen to be among my favorite attractions of all. Though many of the thirty or so venues are housed in older or ancient buildings, a few have been retrofitted for disabled access. This includes the iconic Grand Theater, one of the most recognized symbols of Warsaw’s grandeur and perseverance. There are also splendid performances at the National Philharmonic, Roma Musical Theatre, and The Ester, Rachel and Ida Kaminska Jewish Theatre. In addition to wheelchair accessible seating, many of these fine institutions offer discount tickets to the disabled. If you’re looking for something a little spicier, Entertainment and Nightlife in Warsaw is for you. It lists several hot venues, some of which have disability access.

Now, on to the hotels! Something our American and European guests should keep in mind: the Polish zloty, still in use in the country, trades favorably with the dollar and Euro; even on a budget, it’s easy to find an affordable, feature-rich place to stay. The Radisson Blu Hotel Warsaw comes with my recommendation. With over 300 rooms, it offers four suites for disabled travelers and a huge number of amenities: like complimentary wireless Internet, a sauna, pet-friendly accommodations, and more.

Hotel Rialto is situated in Warsaw’s business district. It boasts close proximity to the Palace of Culture and Science, and can deliver Turkish and Finnish sauna treatments, as well as full-body massage. One room is adapted for wheelchair users, and the building and grounds are fully accessible. The Aramis Hotel also claims to have wheelchair accessible rooms and facilities, but doesn’t provide detailed information I could find. For full access to an extensive database of national hotels, click to StayPoland. It has a fair-sized compendium of information on attractions in the various cities, and includes accessibility info in search results, though not in the search function itself.

(On an interesting side-note, quite a large number of Polish hotels are pet-friendly, and that just means companion animals. I suspect, though I don’t know Polish laws on the subject, that most hotels welcome service dogs even if they don’t have specific features for handicapped guests.)

That’s it for Poland, and also the last leg of my trip that we haven’t covered yet on the ol’ blog. I’ll be reviewing London and Dublin quick-like in future posts to highlight new developments; and you’ll be hearing more about my voyage once it’s actually complete. Stay tuned for the Disabled Travelers News Round-Up for May, and plenty of new destinations and helpful tips. Adventure on!

Si

The Reichstag building in Berlin
Photo by: Matthias Choules (Stock Exchange)

Hello, everyone! Today is the first post in a series I’ll be doing with an eye toward my own upcoming trip, where I’ll be visiting London, Berlin, Stockholm, Krakow, and Dublin. Now, we’ve already covered London and Dublin in previous posts, of course (and they’re known to be two of my favorite destinations) but in the upcoming posts we’ll be looking at access guides and handicapped travel resources for the rest. Then, once I’m actually on my way, a second series of posts will highlight some of my journey. We begin in Berlin, a melting pot containing residents from over 200 nations.

Of course, air travel isn’t all it should be throughout Europe right now. Thanks to ongoing eruptions of an Icelandic volcano, dangerous ash has spread across the airspace in many countries, grounding plenty of flights! Hopefully, this will be resolved soon and Berlin’s three major airports will be back to work. Schofield, Tegel, and Templehof Airports are all located in the Berlin area, and have a joint accessible travel page. If you’re starting off from London, as I will be, you can avoid some air travel with how to travel by train from London to Europe.

Luckily for us, Berlin is one of the centers of the handicapped traveler movement in Europe. Come to Germany’s accessibility page is a valuable hub on accessible attractions, restaurants, accommodations, and more; but it’s hardly the only great resource around. Also swing by Sage Traveling’s Berlin Page for a recommended itinerary for disabled travelers and information on travel agents and tour operators, among others. Just about any topic you can think of is covered within several separate topic pages.

For a variety of tips on transportation and other topics, including facts for deaf and blind travelers, drop by Visit Berlin, which provides a lot of context on the city’s many integration and barrier-free design efforts. AngloInfo’s coverage of Berlin includes more on disabled transportation. Luckily, there seems to be a lot of good public transit, and the overview on AI is thorough enough to help with planning from the comfort of home.

As for hotels, there are plenty to choose from. Sage Traveling also offers a page on accessible hotels. Disability World has a description of a Berlin hotel run by disabled people, and Accessible Accommodations has more info on places to stay. Many upscale hotels, and even some hostels, throughout Berlin have accessible features: for a budget-conscious hostel option with an accessible room, try Baxpax, which offers three locations in the city. And don’t forget the new accessibility search functionality at Hotels.com!

Though no longer updated, Berlin Eating, a section of Gablinger Berlin Tours, discusses many dining spots and includes information on accessibility. Try “The Wheels Come Off” from the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper for a perspective from disabled rights’ lawyer John Horan, who went on a quest to see how well wheelchair travelers can really get around in this historic city. The answer? Mixed results, but several useful links!

Finally, a few of our favorite tour operators have service to Berlin. Visit World on Wheelz and Accessible Journeys, both of which have organized outstanding trips throughout Germany in the past and can always help to meet your special needs. I’ll be “going it alone” this trip, but these two companies come with high recommendations.

In our next post we’ll be moving on to the next leg of my trip: Stockholm. This is one place I’ve wanted to visit for many years, and I’m very excited! Stay tuned for access guides across Europe, and some insights and pics from me once my odyssey begins! Cheers, and adventure on!

Si

Prague in the early evening
Photo by: Michael Mogmil (Stock Exchange)

Hello, everybody! Since I’m in the middle of planning my own trip to Poland and its surroundings, I thought I would tap the old mailbag to talk about wheelchair travel in Prague. Known as the “Mother of Cities” in its native Czech, this city is saturated in its long history. Now, granted, a lot of ancient cities leave something to be desired when it comes to handicapped travelers; but it’s my job to make sure you can know before you go, and besides, we’ve been pleasantly surprised before – now is one of those times!

Prague is an international crossroads that’s attracted big-name guests like the International Olympic Committee and the International Astronomical Union. When visiting here, there are so many beautiful museums, castles, and cathedrals it’s hard to name them all. Luckily, Prague.Net offers a useful sights by wheelchair access guide. You can dig deep into the site for detailed descriptions of some of the attractions, and breathtaking, high-resolution photos. The same site also has a listing of wheelchair accessible public transport routes to make getting around that much easier.

Despite some complaints about the modernity of their transport facilities, the official travel site of the Czech Republic does not disappoint in its treatment of disabled guests. The country is now participating in a wide-scale disabled access project, and working to make its characteristic towers more accessible to people of all abilities. Prague’s tallest tower, as well as several others, already have wheelchair elevators and other useful accommodations. Prague Castle, St. Vitus Cathedral, and the Botanical Gardens and Zoo at Troje are also accessible to different degrees.

10 Reasons for the Disabled to Visit Czech Republic is an outstanding resource. In addition to all the information displayed above, it covers accommodations and transport, local UNESCO sites that offer access, access for concerts, theatres, and cinema, natural sites, and even sporting events. There’s enough information here to figure out exactly what you want to see, both in Prague and throughout the country, and it’s really obvious the government is making an effort to extend new opportunities to all.

The Prague Post is the Czech Republic’s English-language newspaper and offers a surprisingly broad range of news stories and information for the disabled. A quick search of the archives reveals fairly frequent stories about disabled rights and the growing handicapped organization in the country. Check out this article on access improvements on the country’s ubiquitous trams.

For more news on accessible hotels, restaurants, and attractions, stop by Prague Guide’s Travelers With Disabilities page. Traveliana, a site for Prague hotels and apartments, also has a guide to accessible accommodations. These offer wheelchair access, but for valuable info on specifics, you’ll have to contact the properties directly. A few properties do mention how many rooms they offer and what the features include, but many just have a range of icons that are meant to represent features – kind of baffling! Luckily, the site is available entirely in English.

That’s the story on Prague, but keep those questions and travel destinations coming, and we’ll keep the posts rolling on Disabled Travelers. Next up: wheelchair accessible national parks! See you then, and adventure on!

Si

A harbor in Monaco
Photo by: getye1 (Stock Exchange)

Howdy, all! Since wandering through the Pyrenees and discovering wheelchair accessible hotels in Andorra, I’ve decided to take up the challenge of working on some of the world’s smallest countries. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, we now have the power to learn more about these destinations than ever before, so why not? Monaco is our next stop: Monaco. Found on the Mediterranean in southwest Europe, Monaco is influenced by neighbors France and Italy, and is known for Formula One racing and frequent visits by American and European “high rollers” to the “Las Vegas of Europe”, Monte Carlo.

AngloInfo starts us off with facts on accessible transportation and more. This covers nearby airports as well as train service, ferries, car rental, and priority parking for disabled people. There is even a handicapped accessible beach catering wheelchair users and those with visual handicaps. It offers specially equipped wheelchairs for enjoying the surf and is open every day from June to September.

For that all-important personal perspective, Global Access News is there with Nice and Monaco, February 2008. The article discusses transportation, lodging, and travel between Monaco and Nice, a city in southern France that’s a common jumping-off point for those visiting the neighboring principality. Incidentally, since France and Monaco are so closely linked, you can actually visit the country through Accessible Journeys’ Accessible France Tour. One of the tour operator’s eleven-day package plans in France includes a full day in Monaco, and customized plans are also possible.

You’ll definitely want to consider basing yourself in France, as Monaco itself has some rough terrain and relatively few ramps. You can learn a lot about the country and ways to connect to it from Getting Around in Monaco, part of the unofficial web guide to the city-state. Though there is not much accessible information in the rest of the site, it does reveal that there are some disabled access facilities at beautiful Larvotto Beach on the Mediterranean. The website is also useful in its detailed discussions of attractions and annual festivities, such as the Grand Prix, Yacht Show, and Monaco’s cathedral and palace.

Even if you’re using France as a home base, it’s always good to know about accessible hotels in the area you’re visiting. Thanks to Monte Carlo and its hot gambling scene, there are lots of luxury hotels that pay a fair bit more attention to handicapped travelers than Monaco’s city planners did. Try Vista Palace Hotel Monaco for three wheelchair accessible rooms with bathroom facilities. There’s also the Carlo Alanya, which claims to be wheelchair-friendly and has beach access.

Stay tuned for the upcoming France series for even more information that can make your trips to Monaco and Andorra that much easier and more enjoyable. We’ll be scooting through some more “small countries” and also checking in with the ol’ mailbag in the next few posts. ’til then, adventure on!

Si

Snow-capped Andorran peaks
Photo by: hawkeye197 (Stock Exchange)

Good morning, folks! A little while ago when we did access guides for the Spanish and French Pyrenees I promised a post on accessible travel in the Principality of Andorra, but I honestly didn’t know if it would work out. After all, it’s a beautiful country, but there’s not a whole lot of it! But in such a small area, with only about 80,000 people (about nine times less than New York City!) I discovered two things I hadn’t counted on: remarkable diversity (local languages include Catalan, Spanish, French, and Portuguese) and a formidable number of accessible hotels. Let’s check it out!

AndorraMania is the main website you want to check out on this trip. It’s the Internet directory of Andorra and is very thorough! It includes hotels, apartments, and campsites with detailed information on each one. Though the search function is not especially helpful, many of the hotels have disabled access facilities; it’s just a matter of poking around a little. Since the information is available in all of the native languages as well as English, it’s much easier to navigate this than many of the other Andorran sites out there, which may only provide Spanish and French.

Here are some of the top choices I found for handicapped travelers:

Hotel IBIS: Near the center of the country; 6 disabled access rooms;

Petit Hotel: A smaller, three-star offering in the northeast; 1 disabled access room;

Hotel Carlton Plaza: A five-star hotel in the capital, it has spacious suites for wheelchair users.

Ski Plaza Hotel: A four-star hotel with 115 rooms total, and an unspecified number with wheelchair access;

And there are also some leads on accessible attractions in the country:

The National Automobile Museum: Offers a history of vehicles from 1880s-era steam engines to the modern era. The official site touts it as one of the most important collections in southern Europe, and it includes 60 vehicles, 80 motorbikes, and 100 bicycles. The museum offers “partial” disabled access.

The Rossel Forge: Built in the 1840s, Rossel Forge was one of the last functioning forges in Andorra at the time of its closure in 1876. It now serves as a museum that unveils the secrets of the modern iron ingot industry, with equipment demonstrations and an audiovisual tour. The facility has disabled access.

For more information on culture and goings-on in the principality, check out About Andorra, a public initiative to improve tourism and raise awareness about the country. Once again, the search functions provided throughout the site makes finding accessible restaurants and attractions a snap. With over 200 restaurants in the database, you can find over 100 that categorize themselves as offering disability-friendly dining. This includes French, Spanish, other European cuisine as well as pizzerias, family-style restaurants and many more, a huge variety to choose from for any gourmand.

More “small countries” to come on Disabled Travelers. Cheers – and adventure on!
Si

Charles Street Church in Baltimore, MarylandPhoto by: Jacqueline Munoz (Stock Exxchange)

Hello, and thanks for joining us today at the Disabled Travelers blog. By now, Spring has sprung pretty much wherever you are, and I for one am thankful for it. In this visit, we’ll be exploring access guides and vital info for handicapped travelers in the wonderful city of Baltimore, Maryland. Only a short journey from Washington D.C., Baltimore is famous for its Inner Harbor area and also boasts a great array of museums, concert halls, and other cultural staples to choose from. It also has a lively seaside atmosphere that offers world-class marinas and aquariums.

Whether you’re coming in from D.C. or flying in directly, you’ll want to know about Baltimore-Washington International Airport. There’s a good third-party source here, and the official accessibility page is here. Disability services include lift-equipped buses and public telephones set up to serve the deaf and hard-of-hearing. Once you’re out and about, the Maryland Transit Administration operates the local light rail service and is also involved with buses, trains, and subways. There’s a wide range of services for disabled riders, and that page also links you to vehicle-specific accessibility info throughout the transit system.

The real draw for travelers in Baltimore is the Inner Harbor. This is where many of the greatest restaurants, hotels, and attractions are found; but don’t think it’s “just” for tourists, as the locals are in on the act too. For an idea of what’s in store, just glance over the Inner Harbor page at Visit Baltimore. Dinner cruises through the harbor are popular. For wheelchair accessible cruise ships, check out the Inner Harbor Spirit. The Spirit is one of the best-known ships in the Inner Harbor, but any local hotel concierge can help you find out if a vessel is suitable for you.

The National Aquarium in Baltimore is one of the most wheelchair accessible, handicap-friendly attractions we’ve seen at Disabled Travelers. It does get extremely crowded, particularly on the weekend, so you might want to plan to visit early (it typically opens at 9 a.m.) but once you’ve mastered this little inconvenience, you’ll find the grounds and exhibits easy to navigate and enjoy. The Aquarium offers a full access guide and map as well as a brief overview. There are services for those with vision impairments, deaf guests, and visitors requiring mobility impaired access. This even includes specially trained tour guides and plenty of features like extensive Braille, assistive listening devices available on request, and much more.

Looking for high culture? Baltimore won’t disappoint you here either. The Baltimore Museum of Art is one of the region’s top institutions and has an amazing collection of paintings, sculptures, and other fine works dating from the 19th century to today. Like the National Aquarium, BMA welcomes its handicapped guests and offers assistive listening devices, ASL interpreters, sculpture touch tours; basically, any option you can think of to help you get the most of your day. The museum and its gardens are fully accessible to wheelchairs and have roll-in restroom facilities on the first floor.

If you’re willing to use mass transit, then basing yourself in Baltimore is a good way to stay out of the crowded, and sometimes less friendly, D.C. area. There are plenty of wheelchair accessible hotels in the Inner Harbor and throughout the city. If you love the waterfront, you’re sure to enjoy the Admiral Fell Inn Hotel. There’s also the Hilton Garden Inn, the Baltimore Hyatt Regency offering 28 accessible rooms, and Days Inn Baltimore, among many others.

Hope you enjoyed the Baltimore tour! Stay tuned for more in the DC area and beyond; and, as we always do, adventure on!

Si

The White House
Photo by: Angela Franklin (Stock Exchange)

Hello, good day, and welcome back to Disabled Travelers! For a little break from traveling far and wide, we provide a quick access guide to one of the most iconic destinations in the United States: Washington D.C., home to the White House, the Capitol, and way too many monuments to count. Rain or shine, the capital is visited by millions of tourists from around the world every year, all year around. And as you’d imagine from the land of the free and the home of the Americans With Disabilities Act, many of the nation’s most precious landmarks offer mobility impaired access and other assistance for handicapped travelers.

Now, probably the most troublesome part of any D.C. trip is mass transit. Even in the lower traffic seasons, the ridership of D.C.’s Metrorail system has increased dramatically in the last few years. That’s why our first link, from AbilityTrip, focuses so much on the local transportation scene. You’ll find information on accessible train, bus, and air transportation here, as well a few sources on equipment rental and emergency response. For wheelchair travel info on Metrorail itself, see the accessibility page for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. Also be aware of special paratransit services and other alternatives in case Metrorail isn’t suitable.

DisabilityGuide has a good general listing of accessible hotels in the D.C. area, which includes options in Maryland and Virginia. For real reviews by wheelchair users covering hotels, restaurants, and attractions, try The Traveling Wheelchair’s Washington D.C. page. You can also find out lots more about good dining options from that gourmet paradise, ActiveDiners, which never fails to come through with just what we need: listings and reviews for all kinds of accessible restaurants in D.C. For real info on accessible service with the flair of a print restaurant review, check them out.

Of course, you don’t go to Washington to eat: you go to see the amazing monuments, memorials, and architecture. Luckily, many of the most famous attractions offer plenty of up-front information about getting there and getting around. From the National Mall, you can get to a huge number of attractions … so huge, I’m actually going to make a list! (There’s a first time for everything!) These links go to accessibility pages where available.

Monuments and Memorials

Washington Monument

Lincoln Memorial (Note, interior is accessible via an elevator)

Thomas Jefferson Memorial

National World War II Memorial (Surrounding area is accessible, if a tiny bit narrow)

Landmarks and Museums

Arlington National Cemetery

The Smithsonian (disability info available through site’s search function)

The U.S. Capital

The White House

On a lighter note, one of my personal favorite attractions is Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, which you’ll be glad to know is fully accessible and offers wheelchairs on a “first come, first served” basis. I saw the one in London, but I’m sure the one in D.C. is just as amazing.

Since it’s April, I thought I should also mention the annual Cherry Blossom festival. Dating back almost 100 years to when the mayor of Tokyo provided beautiful Japanese cherry blossoms to the U.S. as a sign of friendship, the festival happens each year during the blooming season in March and April. It’s a spectacular sight, and one of the best reasons to choose spring for your visit to Washington D.C. For more, browse the official website of the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

Most trips to Washington also include surrounding destinations, so we’ll be looking at Baltimore and a few other sites in the D.C. metro area real soon. Until then, adventure on … and enjoy spring!
Si

A mountain lake in the French Pyrenees
Photo by: Carine de Maijer (Stock Exchange)

Welcome back to Disabled Travelers!

You know, every once in a while someone will give me an idea for a post that I literally never would have come up with on my own. Today is one of those days, as we venture through the Pyrenees, the mountain range that makes up the border between France and Spain.

These mountains have shaped the history of both their countries for thousands of years, but tourists worldwide are just now starting to re-discover the beauty of the Pyrenees and their surroundings – and with our Pyrenees access guide, we’ll be in on the secret too.

For a virtual explosion of accessible Pyrenees info, click on over to Barcelona & The Pyrenees Tour by Shlomit Grossman, whose husband Boaz is a paraplegic. The article is detailed and has a lot of great first-hand details on cities, towns, and attractions on the Spanish side of the range, giving hotels by name and facts about vehicle rental. Naturally, the Pyrenees are cold in the winter, so the tourist season for the area runs from about March to early October.

Remember that, while touring the Pyrenees region, you can stay on the French side (most of which is known collectively as Midi-Pyrenees) or the Spanish side. You could even stay on the Australian side, but that’s a whole different set of mountains by the same name, so don’t get confused when you’re looking for info! In France, Accessible Accommodation lists one wheelchair friendly farmhouse in southwestern France that features a pool and fully accessible grounds on three acres of prime, privately-owned land. The Vacances Campsite Index, which serves the Pyrenees area, has disability access as one of its search criteria.

On the Spanish side, the Pyrenees cut through several provinces, but iKnow Spain is a good place to start looking for places to stay; there’s also Costasur, which includes hotels and rental properties. The Hotel Continental Panticosta, conveniently located near the mountains, offers two handicapped accessible rooms. Though it’s mostly focused on Spain’s famous beaches and coastlines, the article Disabled Access Holidays in Spain can give you a good idea of what to expect and a peek at some of your other options in case you decide to go coastal, always a tempting prospect in Spain. La Casa Rural, a site showcasing rental properties in and near the hamlet of Argestugues, includes one house with disability access and many creature comforts in the heart of the unspoiled countryside.

There’s a good variety of thorough guides to Pyrenees tourism on the ‘net, quite a few of them including useful information for handicapped travelers. An excellent resource is Pyrenees Guide, which, in addition to categories covering just about anything you could imagine doing in the region, also has several hand-selected hotel listings that include disability-friendly features. Trip Advisor has information on tourism in Midi-Pyrenees. On the same note, Tourism Midi-Pyrenees is fairly comprehensive. Judging from the ‘net, though, it seems most folks opt to stay in Spain (or maybe they just post more about their visits to Spain; it’s hard to tell!)

It would be almost criminal to go all the way through a post about the Pyrenees without mentioning the tiny country of Andorra, just under 200 square miles, that lies nestled in the eastern Pyrenees mountains, sharing a border with both Spain and France. Though many, MANY times smaller than Rhode Island, Andorra thrives quite comfortably on its tourism industry – and I’ll be reporting on it in a future post. For now, that’s the end of our mountain excursion, but we’ll be talking again real soon: in Andorra, Spain, France, or who knows where! Adventure on!

Si

Lake Tahoe on a beautiful December morning
Photo by: Daniel West (Stock Exchange)

Morning, everybody! Today’s dip into the mailbag brings us to Lake Tahoe, one of the largest freshwater lakes in North America, and the largest high-altitude “alpine” lake. Bordering the states of California and Nevada, it is a popular destination for water sports, winter sports, and of course, gambling. The Tahoe area is home to a number of great wheelchair accessible hotels and resorts as well as several tour operators and event planners who can help visitors get the most from this natural treasure.

Northstar at Tahoe Resort is our first stop. With diverse activities including ice skating, mountain tours, village crafts, a spa and fitness center, and even geocaching, Northstar is one of the best selections for handicapped travelers. Check out its ADA Access page and you’ll see accessible parking lots, pathways, elevators, restrooms, and other amenities featured prominently. Dogs, including service animals, are welcome on the grounds and at many events.

At Zephyr Cove Resort, you can enjoy wheelchair access cruises around Lake Tahoe. The resort’s Tahoe Queen is recognized as the only authentic Mississippi-style paddlewheel ship on the lake, and the M.S. Dixie II has the distinction of being the largest vessel out there on Lake Tahoe, hands down. All cruises leave from the resort and have accessible accommodations. When you’re not taking in a splendid dinner cruise, you can also enjoy a variety of other features at the resort, such as its beautiful marina.

If you’d like to learn how to ski, but you’re just not sure you can, Heavenly Ski Resort of Lake Tahoe is for you. Heavenly offers a full range of adaptive ski training programs and services for the disabled. This includes instruction for the blind and those with disability of one leg, both legs, all extremities, and those with other special needs. Heavenly provides a full range of equipment to get you out on the slopes and confident about your ability to ski. There are also special classes for other first-time skiers.

A great handicapped organization operates around Lake Tahoe, the Tahoe Area Coordinating Council for the Disabled. As a nonprofit org, members provide complete access guides to services in the Tahoe Basin and Alpine County area. Their information includes accessible hotels, campgrounds, restaurants, businesses, conventions, and weddings. They also have monthly meetings and sponsor their own events and awards for businesses that go above and beyond in providing top-quality accessibility. Their site is about as close as you can get to an access guide for the shores of Lake Tahoe, and I’m sure they’d love to hear from you if you have any questions after browsing their pages.

Sierra at Tahoe is another outstanding option if you want a fully accessible ski resort that respects your abilities and needs. According to the site, it was selected “Most Friendly, Most Accommodating and Most Accessible” ski resort for 2005 from TACCD. Granted, it’s been a few years since then, but this is something they seem very proud of, so hopefully standards are still high!

If you ask me, Lake Tahoe is one of the most beautiful sights in the country, and this is just a slice of how accommodations on this lake’s pristine shores have expanded over the years. Just about any way you can think of to enjoy the lake is available to visitors of all abilities. So, as we close the mailbag for today’s visit, thanks for asking and for reading … and as always, adventure on!

Si