Brussels

I visited Brussels in my powerchair (Whill C2). I am an ambulant wheelchair user. The city is beautiful and interesting and we had a wonderful time and did a lot in our 4.5 days. I am very glad we went, despite the access challenges. The main challenges as a powerchair user were: Pavements - The pavements around the historic centre are cobbled and bumpy. The dropped curbs and usually 1 inch high or have steep slopes. I did managed in my Whill C2 but with a lot of bumping and the occasional push. Eating and shopping - This was the most challenging aspect of the visit. I found that almost all the eateries and shops had large steps at the entrance and no ramps. Even the ones listed as wheelchair accessible on google were not. In the summer you can sit outside at pavement tables with level access. There are also lots of takeaway windows for waffles and fries. I did not see any accessible toilets in eateries. I am ambulant so my husband lifted my chair in and out of places and I could use the standard toilets. We stayed in Novotel off Grand Place. This has level access and lifts but no adapted rooms. Our room was spacious and I had no problem getting my chair through the door. To book we called the booking agents and they talked direct to the hotel to check the access. We then booked online.

There don't seem to be any dropped curbs in Brussels which makes it very difficult to cross the street. Some of the museums we wanted to visit were also difficult to access However, we did find several very good restaurants which were accessible

Spent a few days in Brussels as part of a small European trip. Brussels is probably the least accessible place I've been to. We stayed in the Hilton hotel which was OK. As mentioned in other reviews, lowered pavements are a hit and miss, sometimes with one end of a pavement, or one side of a crossing being lowered, and the other end or side isn't. I spent a lot of time doubling back, and having to do stretches on roads. The older part of Brussels has a lot of cobbles, which my electric chair copes well with but this would be problematic in a manual wheelchair. A lot of restraunts had very high or multiple steps, and no ramps, and unfortunately the weather wasn't good enough to sit outside. There was a glass covered 'street' that I forget the name of, with restaurants where you could sit outside/inside, which saved the day. We visited Antwerp and Bruge while there and both were significantly more accessible. So stay in one of those places and skip Brussels