Northern Italy with a scooter

Written by Eli Kaneti The trip was in the composition of a couple + 2 (14,14), when my wife has difficulty walking due to muscular dystrophy and gets around with a (folding) scooter.

She can walk slowly and climb stairs if she has to, but it's not ideal. We helped her walk where needed and lifted the scooter when needed, so take that into account.

Flights - El Al to Milan. We informed them in advance about the scooter and they made sure to help get on and off the plane and helped taking and returning the scooter. It worked great and they were very kind.

Vehicle - because of the scooter I wanted to guarantee a big trunk, so I ordered a manual Passat station wagon category from Europcar. At the counter, they initially offered us a Focus station wagon, but after I insisted that it was indeed a station wagon, but in a smaller category, they gave us a Peugeot 5008 automatic. A large upgraded and great car with lots of space. The scooter and two large bags fit easily.

We traveled for two weeks, of which one week in the Dolomites and the second week in Lake Garda. I will not detail every day of the trip but will focus on the places we were and their level of accessibility. On the one hand, we made an accessible route, but on the other hand, it was important to also include attractions for children. Apartments/hotels You should check in advance with the hotel/apartment if they are accessible in terms of stairs and if there is an elevator. It is not always clear before booking. We made contact and confirmed with the place (except for the last night where we messed up and didn't check and precisely where the place, a small and cute Agroturismo, was not accessible (even though it was excellent in almost every other way).

The first night, we landed in the evening and stayed the night in a hotel adjacent to Malpensa airport - idea hotel. The hotel is reasonable for one night, accessible and by chance (it was not booked in advance and we don't need it) we got a room accessible to the disabled including a seating facility in the shower and elevated toilets adapted for the disabled.

From there we went to the Dolomites but we decided to split the trip into two days driving in Izzi. On the way we stopped at Lakes Ledro and Idro. Both are beautiful. Lake Idro, accessible by reaching the lake. Access to the water is less wheelchair accessible due to the sand and stones, but the path comes close and there is an accessible boardwalk along the lake. We did a paddle boat cruise there and it was great.

At Lake Ledro we walked along the southern bank path. A gravel path that the scooter passed with some effort. After that we saw that there is a more accessible path along the northern bank, paved right along the lake, parallel to the road.

We spent a night in the Molveno lake area. We slept in a hotel called Hotel Castel Mani - fifteen minutes south of Molvano, a family hotel on a cliff with a stunning view of the entire valley. Molvano lake itself is charming in its beauty. The lake has an accessible beach with paved paths. By the lake, there is access to the Pradel cable car, which actually consists of two stages of a cable car. In the first cable car, the workers stopped the cable car to raise the scooter. They may also have a wheelchair ramp. We didn't check. Above the paths are gravel paths that require effort for a scooter. There is an amazing view of the lake there and it is worth going up to be impressed. The second cable car is a ski cable car not suitable for going up with a scooter or wheelchair and up unpaved and inaccessible paths. Then we slept in the town of Selva in the Val Gardena valley and hiked the whole area. We stayed at the Hotel Garni dolomieu - an excellent spa hotel with an indoor pool with steps to enter the pool (not a ladder).

We visited the town of Ortisei and were on the Seceda cable car, which again consists of two cable cars. The first cable car is accessible, we were offered a ramp to get on the car. The second cable car has a gap in the carriage and requires someone to help a little. The second cable car is large and designed for many people standing. Upon reaching the top, a breath taking view with gravel paths for walking. It was possible with the scooter to go around only in the compound in front of the entrance, the other paths around are actually inaccessible.

Ortisei is a cute town that has no problem getting around. Lake Dobbiaco, a beautiful and less touristic lake. You can go around with the scooter on the path around the lake but not reach the water line if you want to reach the beach intended for bathing (freezing water by the way). The paths near the bathing beach become less accessible and the bathing beach is less organized. Lake Braies - an amazingly beautiful lake but very touristy. There are several parking lots and in the busy months (July and August) entry to the parking lot is only by reservation unless you arrive before 9 AM or after 4:00 PM. Arriving at the lake on foot from parking lot p4 (closest to the lake) the path splits both to the right and to the left. Most people turn left towards the boat rental, but in terms of accessibility it is recommended to turn right towards the restaurant where the path is more accessible and you can even start a bit of the path around the lake. Most of the path around the lake is not accessible at all. The boat rental is also not accessible and requires going up the stairs and across to a floating dock on the water. The Charlotte Horse Riding horse farm - the parking is about 200-250 m away from the farm itself. The path to the farm is a partially accessible dirt and gravel path, we managed to get there with a little effort from the scooter. I think it is better to ask them for permission to enter with the vehicle. My wife didn't get on a horse. From there we continued to Mount Marmolada, the highest mountain in the area - you can't hike there, but it is an ascent with cable cars to the top and from there a view of the entire area. The place is completely accessible except for the possibility to leave the balcony at the end of the second cable car to the mountain itself, which most people don't do either. There are 3 cable cars to the top. There is no problem to ride the scooter into the cable car (a large cable car for several dozen people standing). Upstairs (at the end of the third cable car) there is an elevator that takes you up to the upper balcony or down to the lower balcony where there was still snow! Unfortunately, while we were there, the elevator was not working and there are quite a few stairs to go up and down, but we were told that it was temporary..... You can partially take in the view there from the windows.

Meran 2000 - an attraction area adjacent to the town of Meran. We came for the mountain sledding (which is not accessible). Arrival via an accessible cable car to the top of the mountain where you can walk around without a problem. Mountain passes in the Dolomites. There are several crossings that you can simply drive through or stop with your car and take a hike or cable car. We just drove and stopped a bit for the view, the trips there are not accessible but the view is stunning. We have been to several, including the Sela Pass and the Pordoi Pass, but the most impressive in our eyes was the Gardena Pass, an amazing view.

We also did the ziplines at the Adrenaline X-Treme Adventures park and rafting at Avisio. Both are recommended and fun attractions for children, but not accessible.

In the Lake Garda area we slept in a secluded apartment in a town above Bardolino. An apartment called BELVEDERE CERIEL with a view overlooking the lake.

We visited Sigurta Park south of Lake Garda - we rented a golf cart and toured the park along the marked route. A cute and accessible park. Adjacent there is a small town called Borghetto. A cute town but we ran out within an hour. Towns in the Garda area - we were in the towns of Bardolino, Sirmione, Riva del Garda and Lemona sul Garda (not consecutively but during the week). Basically, the towns are accessible for walking around except for a few points here and there. In Sirmione, we encountered the problem that the short way to the bathing beach in the lake is not accessible and requires a flight of stairs. With us, my wife went down them, but for those who can't, you can simply make a larger turn from the west through the alleys, the road eventually reaches the beach. Lake Tenno - not accessible at all, there are dozens of steps to go down. Those who cannot go down, can admire the beautiful lake from above. Gardaland amusement park - by presenting a disabled card, you get a shorter queue for the whole family (but only if the disabled person joins the ride). It should be noted that they have a pre-closed list of facilities that are suitable for different types of disability and only to which the disabled may go. To get an entrance ticket for the disabled, you have to stand in a separate line at the entrance to the park. Even though my wife is not in the category, they put her in the category of needing an escort on their initiative and thus she got a free ticket. (We were refunded even though we bought a "regular" disabled card at almost full price in advance). In addition, another nice thing is that if you navigate using the park's app, it asks every time if you are interested in an accessible route without stairs. Caneva world water park - as expected the facilities themselves are not accessible at all, except for the wave pool. Movie land park - a cute amusement park on the theme of Hollywood movies, with several accessible facilities. There are no discounts in either.

Venice - was undoubtedly our biggest challenge. We knew this in advance and were debating whether to travel there, but we still chose to try what was possible. Let's start from the end. Most of the city is inaccessible. The city networked with bridges, the vast majority of which are inaccessible and there are quite a few steps. With a short Google search you can find the map of the accessible bridges (there are about eight of them in the whole city, while we only came across two) but it doesn't help too much. My wife did get off the scooter from time to time and go up the stairs, but some of the bridges are not easy. The entrance to the city from the parking lot is also not accessible. What we did was park the car at the train station in Mestre and from there get to the city (10 minutes drive), from where there is an accessible entrance to the city. From there there is an accessible entrance to the city. There we took a water bus directly to St. Mark's Square and walked around it as much as we could. We also arrived at Moreno Island, but it turns out that there are several water bus lines that arrive and we mistakenly chose line 7 which reached the other bank of the Glass Museum, which required crossing the bridge. On the way back, it turned out that there are stations of other lines on the same bank as the museum. in general, the water buses are accessible and have mobile ramps that they place for wheelchairs to pass.

For a wheelchair/scooter, they do not sell a daily travel ticket, but they do sell one-way tickets for the disabled + a companion that are valid for 75 minutes at a significant discount (for some reason, our one-way ticket is valid for the whole day...). On the last evening of the trip we got caught in a hail storm near Lake Garda while in the car, when the hail the size of tennis balls knocked the car and shattered the windshield with glass scattering in the car. A bit scary experience but we got out safely.

Hope it helps those who need it. Enjoy, beautiful Italy.