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When it comes to travelling, it’s vital that everything goes as smoothly as possible, and that you can get the most out of your journey. 

Everybody is unique, and when it comes to travelling with a disability, there can be additional factors to consider. 

From hidden disability awareness to mobility assistance, there are multiple ways travel can be improved for people with a disability.

Taking Europe’s capital cities and evaluating them from a traveller’s perspective, we’ve determined which are the most accessible for tourists. 

Luxembourg

Luxembourg - Europe’s Most Accessible City

Luxembourg ranks top of the European capital accessibility shortlist, after being evaluated on varying criteria affecting both tourists and citizens.

Previously, Luxembourg won third prize at the Access City Award 2018, after it actively raised awareness of various disabilities to reduce the stigma associated with them. It overhauled its public transport system so as to make the city as accessible as possible to everyone.

The Luxembourg authorities coined the term “specific needs” in order to focus less on people’s weaknesses, and they approached accessibility with the philosophy of “design for all” to ensure that everyone can live and visit comfortably. The city has multiple relevant organisations involved in decision-making processes, ensuring that as many people as possible are represented and involved.

Luxembourg has the highest percentage of accessible rooms with wheelchair access and also ranks within the top 3 cities for attractions with wheelchair access.

infographic of cities

Europe’s most accessible cities ranked

infographic for Europe’s most accessible cities ranked

Brought to you by our life insurance experts. 

Methodology

We looked at accommodation, airports, awards, attractions and available information from official sites.

Note: some cities were excluded due to a lack of accurate available data, such as Andorra la Vella, Nicosia, Vaduz, Monaco, San Marino and Podgorica.

Accommodation
Percentage of listings that had accessible rooms with wheelchair access, according to TripAdvisor.

Attractions
Percentage of tourist attractions at Get Your Guide which is wheelchair accessible.

Airports
Does the city’s major airport’s website have detailed information for disability and wheelchair access, as well as special assistance and mobility assistance?

(There may have been sites with accessibility pages buried deep, but if we weren’t able to find them after a thorough search we deemed it wouldn’t be helpful to tourists.)

Access City
Whether the city been the recipient of a top three ranking in the Access City Awards, who recognise exemplary effort in making cities more accessible for all. 

Tourism Website
We assessed, or tried to assess, whether the official city tourism website offered clear and detailed information of efforts to make the city more accessible for all, according to their official tourism website.

Disclaimer
All figures & data correct as of June 2019. A full list of sources and data can be viewed here.

Note:                                                                                                                                                                                             When the word accessible is used, it is referring (but not limited to) the improvement of the lives of: people living with visual impairment or blind people, people who are hard of hearing or deaf, people with speech or communication disabilities, people with learning disabilities, wheelchair users or people with a physical disability, people with emotional disabilities, people with a cognitive/developmental disability, people with a temporary disability and survivors (People living with a specific disability). Within the context of travel, it is also important to consider the necessity of travel companions and accommodating them properly.