Russian accessible palaces

[scamper01]

We are going on the Eurodam in April to the Baltic. We plan to visit St. Petersburg for 2 days with a guide. How accessible is Peterhoff, Catherine's Palace, St. Nicholas Catherdral, Peter and Paul Fortress? Will my friend in a wheelchair be able to get into the first floor of these places? She can climb a few stairs, like 5 or 6 but that is all. The guide has been great about some information but it is nothing like asking someone who uses a wheelchair to describe the situation. Thanks

[kitty9]

From my experiences as a disabled cruiser, St Petersburg is probably the least accessible city in Europe. For many of the sites, it's a long way into the buildings and lots and lots of stairs and no elevators. One of the biggest problems is that the stairs can be steep and slippery and no handrails. I can climb a few stairs also, but only if there are handrails, and they just don't have them in historic buildings. Your friend can tour the outside areas and the gardens, which are beautiful, but getting into the palaces will be very difficult.

 

For Catherine's Palace, you have to go from the parking area and there are a number of outside staircases that have about 6 or 7 steps each. I don't remember totally, but I believe there are three or four sets of those stairs before you get even close to the palace. And then if you can enter on the North Side, which is known as the Carriage Courtyard, there are about 6 steps into the building, but they might not allow you to use an entrance at that area.

 

For Peterhof, it's stairs, stairs and more stairs. You could easily tour the Peterhof fountains and the main gardens in a wheelchair.

 

Peter and Paul Fortress is absolutely huge and again there are stairs, but not as many as other places. But again, no handrails on any of the stairs.

 

St Nicholas is going to be the easiest place to tour, and it's absolutely beautiful. I don't remember many stairs at all, so this should be perfect for you to tour.

[leoandhugh]

I suggest that you do a search on this board and type in something like St Petersburg Accessible tours. I remember reading on this board a thread about a tour company in St Petersburg that specializes in accessible tours.:)

[GRBlizz]

We did the Baltics last summer with my DH in a wheelchair. Our tour was with Denrus.

 

While it's true that St. Pete is not all that accessible, we did OK. Hermitage is accessible - they have lifts to get up the initial stairs (your guide needs to either know about them or ask), and then you can use elevators. I really recommend getting your tour guide to arrange an early admission, as the place is jam-packed and not easy for someone in a wheelchair to see everything.

 

Catherine's Palace does not allow wheelchairs. Period. I think it's because of the floors. My DH had to sit outside and wait for us, but he enjoyed strolling through the gardens.

 

We didn't do Peterhof, but we did the gardens there, and they were wonderful. We also did the bath house, but again, no wheelchairs allowed and the rest of us had to put "footies" on over their shoes.

 

We did St. Isaacs cathedral, and that was easy and lovely.

 

Church on the Spilled Blood was also accessible (one step) and was the highlight of our cruise. Make sure you leave some time to check out the bazaar there for souvenirs. There were a couple of items I really wish we had bought, but we didn't have enough time to shop and see if they were good values.

 

We enjoyed lunch at one of the "meat pie" places, and we also loved driving around, especially the drive out to Pushkin (Catherine's palace). We asked our driver to take us into a regular grocery store, and that was really interesting.

 

We skipped the Peter and Paul fortress, as we had seen enough "sights", and opted instead to go to the grovery store.

 

Any more questions, feel free to ask or email me. If you are doing Tallin, definitely message me, as there is a way for w/c people to see all of this GLORIOUS city, but the guides don't mention it and a w/c user might be inclined to skip it, which would be a shame.

[scamper01]

Yes we are going to Tallin. We plan to do it without a guide. Any and all suggestions are appreciated. Thanks

[leoandhugh]

The old parts of Talinn are very interesting but difficult with a wheelchair; it is all uphill to the old center from where the bus will leave you. The old streets are mainly cobblestone and therefore bumpy and the sidewalks are narrow with no sloped corners - more or less what you would expect to find in a medieval town like that. We found the best way to see it was to take a taxi, have him take us to the center, drop us off and we slowly made our way round. Many of the old buildings like the City Hall, the Cathedral are not accessible if you are fully wheelchair bound because there are several high steps up from the street level before you can enter the buildings proper. But don't be deterred; be adventuresome; there are several restaurants with tables outside where you can sit and have a beer or coffee and watch the passing scene. The newer suburbs are just plain ugly - typical Communist Russian with grey concrete and no style or taste.:)

[GRBlizz]

Yes we are going to Tallin. We plan to do it without a guide. Any and all suggestions are appreciated. Thanks

 

Here's the key: take a taxi from the dock to the top of the city (Upper Town), and have it let you off in front of the palace and that beautiful church. It shouldn't cost more than $15-20 US if that.

 

The sights at the top of the city are wonderful, so spend some time there. Then you can just wheel down the hill - just look at the map to see where the road is (because otherwise, you are stuck on narrow stone staircases).

 

Once in the lower town, it is a little tricky, as you have a choice of cobblestone streets or narrow sidewalks with rain grooves every 6 feet or so. But my DH (in the wheelchair) and I (the pusher) both felt it was worthwhile because Tallin was unlike any other city on our Baltic cruise.

 

Good luck!

 

Oh, yes - don't get any of the "usual" souvenirs at the stores along the way; there is a wonderful open market just outside the lower gates that has everything for less money than in the shops. Or even better, stop there on the way, see what they have, and then compare in town.