VENICE: Wheelchair accessible Hotel and Transportation

If you’re traveling to Venice in a wheelchair, finding an accessible hotel and figuring out transportation can take some planning. Here’s what I experienced during my stay.

1. Hotel

I stayed at Hilton Garden Inn Venice.

Since we were three people traveling — me and my parents — I needed an accessible room along with accommodation for my parents. I initially requested that the hotel put an extra bed in the wheelchair-accessible room so that we could stay in one room.

However, after a lot of back and forth, the hotel told me that they could not put an extra bed in the accessible room. I therefore had to book two connecting rooms — one wheelchair-accessible room and one regular room for my parents.

This added quite a bit to the overall cost, but at least the accessible room itself worked well for me.

NOTE: I would highly recommend emailing the hotel, requesting the pictures of the Wheelchair Accessible room and roll-in shower before booking.

The accessible room

The room had a large king-size bed, which was comfortable for sleeping.

There wasn't a lot of extra space in the room, but there was enough space for my wheelchair to move around.

The bathroom had a roll-in shower with a square corner design. There was no glass enclosure, just shower curtains, which worked well. The shower area was a little short in length, but it was manageable.

The connecting room allowed my parents to stay right next to me.

Hotel connectivity — a caution

The hotel is on the mainland and not the main Venice has a connection with Bus No. 5, which goes toward Venice.

When going toward Venice, the bus stop is right next to the hotel. However, on the way back, the bus stop is on the other side of the divider, and there is no way for a wheelchair user to cross the divider.

This is something to keep in mind when planning your return journey.

Because of this, we used Bus 24H, which went to a different road uptil Pertini Vespucci bus stop. From there, I had to roll approximately 500 metres through a back alley to get back to the hotel. It was manageable, but it is something I had to account for.

2. Airport Transfers

For my airport transfers, I used wander-ability.com

They provided an accessible pickup from the airport to the hotel and a return transfer from the hotel to the airport.

The journey was only around 15–20 minutes, but the cost was €150 each way.

Because of the cost, my recommendation would be to contact other wheelchair-accessible transportation companies as well and compare prices before deciding.

3. Commute

To get from the hotel toward Venice, I used the buses mentioned above.

Once I reached Piazzale Roma (PL Roma) in Venice, I used the Vaporetto water bus to get around Venice.

I used the Vaporetto to visit St. Mark's Square, Murano and Burano.

I found the Vaporetto quite accessible. There is a gap between the boat and the docking station, but the Vaporetto staff were very helpful and would put a ramp in place to help with boarding.

I purchased a 48-hour pass, which was valid for both the Vaporetto and the bus.

Overall, using the buses to reach Venice and then the Vaporetto to get around made it possible for me to explore different parts of Venice in my wheelchair.

** Stay tuned for pictures from my trip. Follow my instagram for posts and reels from my trip.