Prague, Bratislava, and Vienna at Christmas – Wheelchair Travel Tips

Exploring Europe during the holiday season is a magical experience, and cities like Prague, Bratislava, and Vienna truly come alive with festive charm. For wheelchair users, navigating these historic destinations can present unique challenges, but with the right tips and preparation, an accessible holiday adventure is within reach. This guide highlights essential wheelchair travel tips for experiencing the enchanting Christmas markets, stunning architecture, and seasonal festivities these cities have to offer. Discover how to make your winter journey through Central Europe both memorable and accessible.

We decided to hit the Christmas markets and landed on Prague, Bratislava and Vienna as they were geographically close to each other so we could see all of them in a week. 

Prague

We spent three days in Prague, flying from Atlanta by way of Paris (CDG).  The connection was tight and security there is very disorganized. As of December 2024, be sure to separate out your 3 oz liquids in clear plastic bags to help facilitate the process!

We stayed in the Hotel Maximillian, which is a boutique hotel located in the Jewish Quarter and just a couple blocks from the Old Town Square.  It was a lovely and funky hotel with great accessibility.  The only issue was that they did not have a decent shower chair.  We provided this feedback so hopefully they will have one soon!  Be sure to ask.  Our reservation included breakfast, which was wonderful.  We had also arranged transportation from the hotel, but you can just use Uber – it would be much less expensive.

Prague is hilly in places and full of rounded cobblestones.  Robert used both his Smart Drive and his Free Wheel, and it was a jarring experience.  He regretted not having brought his Firefly as it was a lot of work.

Many of the places we went were accessible with easy entry or at most one step:

• The Christmas markets were mostly food and drink (highly recommend trying the Trdelnik (Chimney Cake). They are sold in various stalls – be sure to watch how they’re made and have them with ice cream!  Christmas punch is sold everywhere as well as worth trying multiple flavors.
• The Museum of Communism was a fascinating look at the history of Czechoslovakia through the lens of the years under communism. Entry was a little difficult – a security guard took us around the block, through a parking garage, up an elevator, and through a maze of hallways to enter.  Once we were inside, all but the gift shop was accessible.
• The Vltava River runs through the city, and one of the famous landmarks is the Charles Bridge, which is one of the oldest stone bridges in Europe. It is a pedestrian bridge, full of vendors and great for people-watching.  It is flanked on both sides by the Old Town Bridge Tower and the Lesser Town Bridge Tower.  The towers can be climbed, but they are not accessible.  However, the architecture and detail are very beautiful.
• We spent the majority of our time in Josefov, which is the Jewish quarter. This area is full of history and synagogues.  You can purchase a tourist pass but be aware that it includes all of the synagogues and the cemetery.  Unfortunately, only two of the synagogues and the cemetery are accessible.  They don’t seem to have specific prices for the disabled, but when we asked, we were given a highly reduced rate that was good for three days.
• The Spanish Synagogue is a marvel of Moorish architecture, with an elevator that will ensure that you don’t miss anything!
• The Maisel Synagogue contains an interesting exhibition of Jews in Europe from the 10th to the 18th

We used Google Maps to get around which worked great for the most part, but we got turned around a few times!  Using it along with an old school paper map might have helped us to be more efficient.

After three days, we headed to Vienna.  We went to the Prague Main Train Station and booked our tickets through Rail Ninja.  I did not see anywhere on the site to ensure wheelchair assistance, and when we got to the train station, they told us that we should have booked it 24-hours in advance.  They were able to accommodate us, but I would recommend contacting Customer Service through the site to find out exactly what you need to do.

The Main Train Station is very large, and there is wheelchair access into the ground level.  However, there is only one outside elevator down to the main part of the train station, and it was not functioning.  I found a cleaning lady and motioned to her that it was broken.  She found a man who looked like Santa Claus – he took us on a journey by the freight elevator and through the bowels of the train station.  It actually ended up being one of the highlights of the trip and we made it to our train!

Bratislava

We went to Vienna from Prague and spent one night.  We left the majority of our luggage at the hotel, then took the train to Bratislava

When we initially arrived in Vienna, we went to the information desk at the train station to find out what we needed to do to arrange for wheelchair assistance for the Bratislava trip.  They were not very helpful and gave us phone number, which ended up being the main phone number for the train station.  We also bought tickets for Bratislava the next day but were told again that we had to call that number.  A hotel employee tried to call and got voice mail.  When we arrived back at the station, we were told again that we needed to have provided notice.  Fortunately, Robert was able to get onto the train with only a little push from Laura Lea, so it was not necessary.  Just know that it is very confusing, and we never did figure out how to actually arrange assistance.

Arrival in Bratislava required a small step down from the train, which Robert was able to manage.  When we arrived, we asked how to book assistance for the return trip and were told that they couldn’t help us, and we had to call some phone number.  As there was a train every hour and we had gotten frustrated with the lack of assistance, we just decided to wing it on the way back.

In using Google maps, we saw that we could walk from the train station to our hotel in about 45 minutes, so we chose to do that rather than taking transportation.  There was a wide walking path that went literally from the train station to the hotel!  It did require going over a couple of bridges which had ramps, but they were steep.  While it was a nice journey to get there, it was difficult, and we opted to take Uber on our return.

We stayed at the Park Inn by Radisson Danube.  It was located right on the Danube, just blocks from beautiful Old Town.  The hotel was very nice and had everything we needed from an accessibility standpoint – spacious roll-in shower with not one but two shower chairs as well as a lot of space to move around in the room itself.  10/10!

Old Town has cobblestones, but they have squared corners and are not as difficult to navigate as the rounded ones that are found in Prague.  It is a very touristy place, but we enjoyed our time there.  The Christmas Market was large and great for people-watching and drinking Christmas punch!  In addition to the market, we went to the Old Town Hall, which had a wonderful museum chronicling Slovak history.  Robert got a highly reduced rate and Laura Lea got in for free.  Most of the museum was accessible with the exception of the bell tower.

We had dinner at Koliba Kamzík and tried some delicious Slovak food.

On our return to Vienna, we took an Uber to the train station, and Robert was able to board the train up a step with a push from Laura Lea.

Vienna

Vienna is one of the most accessible cities we have ever visited.  The public transportation network is extensive, and it is almost 100% accessible.  We had not done our homework prior to visiting so were not aware of this, so we took Uber from the airport our hotel.  If we go back, we will take the subway instead as it’s much cheaper and very easy to navigate!

We stayed at the Radisson Red Vienna.  It was very comfortable and accessible with a great bathroom.  Our stay included breakfast which was extensive and gave us the fortitude that we needed each day!  As a bonus, there was a subway station literally steps from the hotel entrance.

While there, we discovered an app called Ivie Vienna.  This app contained all of the major sights to see as well as their accessibility features.  As we were only there for three days we had to plan carefully, and this app helped us to do this as we could select the places we wanted to go and see just those places on a map.  We were able to group things together that were geographically close to each other, and we used Google Maps to navigate.  We used the subway as well as the tram and had great experiences.  We never had need for the bus but understood that it was also accessible.  The subway had easy ingress and egress.  For the tram, the driver came out and lowered the ramp, and then Robert pushed a special button before our stop so that the driver knew to come out and lower it again.

We went to multiple Christmas markets.  With one exception they were all pretty much the same – food, Christmas punch, and a lot of mass-produced items for sale.  The exception was the Art Advent Christmas Market at Karlspatz.  We highly recommend this one as it was quality hand-made items.  Some other highlights included:

• Sigmund Freud Museum – Former home and office of both Freud and his daughter. Fully accessible with an elevator.
• Museum of Military History – Fascinating look at Austrian military history for the last several hundred years. Not to be missed is the car that Archduke Franz Ferdinand was in when he was shot, initiating World War I.  Fully accessible with an elevator.
• Furniture Museum – We went to this museum as there was an exhibit on Hedy Lamar that we were particularly interested in. While this temporary exhibit was fascinating, the broader museum ended up being one of the highlights of our visit!  It provides an amazing walk through history through the lens of about 400 years of furniture.  Highly recommend!  Fully accessible.

We took the train to the airport for our trip home through Paris.  When boarding the plane, Air France took Robert’s Smart Drive and said that we could not take it on board – they put it below with his wheelchair.  After this happened we googled and found that there is a certificate to help facilitate this – SmartDrive Airline Passenger – IATA Certificate (CURRENT).pdf.  We had never had an issue in the past, but we have always flown on Delta.  Unfortunately, it was so damaged that it is not worth fixing – be sure to make sure the airline is aware that it needs to go on board and use the certificate if needed!

Overall, this was an amazing trip and we would definitely do it again!