I need information on wheelchair travel to Poland including to Auschwitz?
A college student who uses a wheelchair wants to go with an educational group on a trip to Poland including to Auschwitz. He will need accessible transportation, hotels and access to sites. All I have been able to find is an accessible hotel in Warsaw. I have accessed many sites on travel for persons with disabilities.
Poland - 2 Answers
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1 :
You should research hotels in Krakow, about 30-45 min away from Auschwitz. Krakow is the biggest tourist trap in Poland, try http://www.krakow.pl/en/. Have a great trip!!!
2 :
http://www.poland-tourism.pl/note.asp?ld=EN&tf=PL&tp=&gc=PL&wd=&oi=desc/PL00000000000620 They should be able to help you. However, don't count for much - Poland isn't a wheelchair-friendly enviroment, and althouh people are likely to go to great lenghts to help a disabled person (povided you ask them to), there are still a lot of architectonical barriers. The Oswiecim (where Auschwitz Museum is located) is accessible either by train, or by bus. Long-range buses in Poland are definitely not wheelchair-friendly, neither your typical cruise buses are. Trains - the short-range suburban trains have wide access doors, the regular carriages have more conventional, narrow doors. However, if the station's platform is a low one (a common sight outside of main cities), it's completely impossible for a person on wheelchair to get out of a train on his/her own. Even with a high platform, I don't think it would be easy, if possible at all. Still, you're going as a group, so I suppose there would be possible to get other group members to help the person on the wheelchair. Also, as for the train, you can ask for train personnel's help. When I was wisiting Oswiecim by train, the station had a low platform. However, this was over 10 years ago. As for the Museum at Auschwitz, most places will be not accessible for a wheelchair. The original barracks of the concentation camp had no wheelchair ramps when I was there 4 years ago, and i doubt whether it would change. After all, the Museum is going to great lenghts to keep everything as close to the original impression as they can, and originally there were no ramps.
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