Disabled Travellers in Romania

Disabled travellers thinking of a holiday in Romania might want to rethink their holiday plans; it really is as bad as that. Even Bucharest, the capital, is almost entirely off limits to those in wheelchairs, given that pavements - even when they are not blocked by parked cars - are uneven and impassable, and that public transport (except a few new trams and seven metro stations) is not equipped to deal with the disabled.

In fact, you will rarely see disabled people on Bucharest’s streets. While this is hardly Pyongyang (where the disabled are simply not allowed to live) many of the city’s disabled people choose to live with relatives in the countryside where the need to be mobile to fulfil basic daily tasks is less great.

One area where Romania does do well on the disabled traveller front is its hotels, almost all of which are equipped for those in wheelchairs. Some even have adapted rooms for the blind. The big, five-star hotels lead the way, but most establishments will be able to accommodate disabled guests. Indeed, those with more than a certain number of rooms, and all new build hotels, are now obliged to by law.

Museums in Romania have a mixed record when it comes to wheelchair access, and often even those which claim to be wheelchair friendly will have an unavoidable flight of stairs to be navigated somewhere.

Really, we can’t say it clearly enough: Romania is not the ideal destination for disabled travellers.