Amsterdam in a Wheelchair: Your Guide to the Best Entertainment

Exploring Amsterdam in a wheelchair is a fun and fulfilling adventure. The city might not be the best in terms of accessibility, but it’s definitely high up on the list. All the major attractions are accessible and plenty of places that offer some of the greatest entertainment in Europe are as well. You might have some issues with the public transport, but those can be mitigated easily.

How to Have Fun in Amsterdam in a Wheelchair: Where to Go and What to Do

1.    Visit all the museums (nearly)

Amsterdam is a perfect city for history lovers regardless of whether they use a wheelchair or not. The city’s treasure of history and culture is all accessible, so you will have no trouble admiring any of the museum exhibits. There are elevators and accessible facilities in each. But you might need to ask where they are exactly as sometimes they can be tricky to find.

There is one exception, however, and it’s one of the city’s highlights. The Anne Frank Museum is only partially accessible. That’s because the building was never meant to be a museum. Therefore, the stairways in the actual house are extremely steep. The modern part of the building, however, is wheelchair accessible and you can learn a lot about Anne Frank without actually going into the rooms. You can use a virtual reality headset to see the Secret Annex part of the museum.

2.    Plan and research your route in advance

Amsterdam has many wheelchair accessible streets and sidewalks. However, you shouldn’t forget that it’s a very old city. They didn’t build with wheelchairs in mind back in the 12^th century, so not all parts of the city are easy to navigate. Cobblestones and steep bridges are the most common issues.

However, you can explore a lot of the city and see its beauties if you plan your route in advance. Look into modern tourist services as they do create tours with wheelchairs in mind today. Strawberry Tours has excursions in Amsterdam that are wheelchair accessible and take one to the most interesting attractions in the city. You can also see the beauty of it through one of the many wheelchair-friendly canal boat tours. The trick is to plan ahead, so that your day isn’t ruined by facing trouble with getting around.

3.    Enjoy delicious meals

Amsterdam has hundreds of restaurants, and the majority of them are wheelchair accessible, according to The Fork. However, bear in mind that this doesn’t mean they have big and easily accessible toilets. This only means that you can actually get there in a wheelchair. That’s not always the case with Amsterdam cafes and restaurants which are often located in old buildings with narrow corridors and steep stairs.

You should look up reviews of the place online, preferably on forums where you can talk to other people with experience of traveling to Amsterdam in a wheelchair. You can also outright contact the place and ask important questions directly. In fact, take your time to do that as not all restaurants and cafes marked as ‘accessible’ actually are this way.

4.    Don’t miss out on the nightlife

Amsterdam is renowned for its nightlife, and you shouldn’t miss it simply because of some disability. Many of the best places for nightlife are fully accessible, like renowned Paradiso.

Overall, Amsterdam strives to be accessible, so you should have little trouble getting around through the modern parts of the city. The old parts aren’t wheelchair-friendly, but today even many of those are somewhat adapted.