As Europe once more prepares itself for the tourism season, many people are afforded the luxury of simply jumping on a plane and flying to exotic destinations. However, those with physical disabilities or impairments opt to plan ahead more, all too aware of the struggles they face if the country they want to travel to is ill-prepared for those that have mobility issues.
With this highly important issue in mind, UpCounsel launched an investigation into the suitability of each European nation for disabled travellers. Using two filtering tools, UpCounsel scraped data on toilets, cafes, pubs and bars, restaurants, and public transport, with every item on the list classified as accessible. Then UpCounsel then added the accessible and non-accessible results together and compared them, with the results proving noteworthy…
The results:
| Transport accessibility score/10 | Toilets accessibility score /10 | Pubs/Bars accessibility score/10 | Cafes accessibility score/10 | Restaurants accessibility score/10 | Final disability-friendly score (/10) | |
| United Kingdom | 8.7 | 8.0 | 6.5 | 4.7 | 4.2 | 7.3 |
| Spain | 8.6 | 7.5 | 6.3 | 3.9 | 5.2 | 7.1 |
| Italy | 7.8 | 6.6 | 6.6 | 5.5 | 6.3 | 6.8 |
| Ireland | 6.6 | 7.7 | 6.5 | 5.2 | 5.0 | 6.6 |
| Switzerland | 8.3 | 6.5 | 5.6 | 3.4 | 4.3 | 6.4 |
| France | 6.0 | 7.0 | 6.4 | 4.0 | 5.3 | 6.1 |
| Denmark | 8.8 | 6.7 | 3.3 | 2.0 | 3.1 | 6.1 |
| Portugal | 7.9 | 5.7 | 5.6 | 3.3 | 4.4 | 6 |
| The Netherlands | 6.6 | 5.9 | 6.1 | 3.6 | 6.1 | 5.9 |
| Turkey | 8.6 | 5.7 | 4.4 | 1.7 | 3.6 | 5.8 |
| Poland | 7.9 | 6.3 | 3.7 | 1.6 | 2.3 | 5.6 |
| Norway | 5.4 | 7.6 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 4.5 | 5.6 |
| Austria | 6.2 | 6.7 | 3.6 | 2.4 | 3.6 | 5.4 |
| Sweden | 6.9 | .06 | 4.5 | 1.7 | 3.3 | 5.4 |
| Germany | 6.3 | 6.7 | 3.7 | 2.2 | 3.0 | 5.3 |
| Finland | 8.2 | 3.7 | 4.1 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 5.1 |
| Belgium | 4.5 | 5.8 | 5.3 | 2.6 | 4.9 | 4.9 |
| Greece | 5 | 4.3 | 5.2 | 2.8 | 5 | 4.5 |
| Hungary | 4.3 | 4.7 | 3.1 | 1.5 | 2.7 | 3.8 |
| Slovakia | 3.6 | 4 | 3.2 | 1.8 | 3 | 3.4 |
| Romania | 4 | 2 | 2.9 | 1.3 | 2.4 | 2.7 |
Where does Poland finish?
Poland – 5.6/10, eleventh place
Poland isn’t immediately thought of as a holiday destination, but with warm summers, low costs and a fascinating culture, the eastern European nation of Poland proves a great holiday time and time again. For disabled people, it’s slightly harder to holiday in the country. Data has revealed that, whilst public transit for disabled people is relatively good (8th place in the EU), every other ranked section scores poorly. For disabled public toilets, Poland comes 11th, and for bars it’s 15th. For disabled access to cafes, Poland scores 19th out of 21 EU nations, and for restaurant access Poland unfortunately comes 21st out of 21, the lowest score. Clearly there’s hope, but some infrastructure changes need to adapt to attract disabled holidaymakers.
The top three
The UK – 7.3/10
The United Kingdom prevails as the most accessible nation to physically disabled people. Diving into the data, we see that of all European nations, the UK ranks top in quantity of public toilets with disabled access, which means you can enjoy sightseeing around the country and not have to worry when nature calls. The UK also scored admirably in the pub accessibility and transport accessibility sections, coming a close second both times.
However, there’s still work to be done for equality, as the UK ranked a lowly 13th in restaurant access for the disabled. Cumulative scores combined, the UK comes first place in Europe with a score of 7.3/10.
Spain – 7.1/10
Whilst not specifically being the best in Europe in any category for disabled people, Spain scored consistently high for all categories, their overall score of 7.1/10 reflecting that. Geographically the second largest nation in the EU, the country straddles both the Atlantic and Mediterranean oceans and with a third place finish for accessible public transport, disabled travelers can explore the nation with ease.
Italy – 6.8/10
In third place is the gorgeous nation of Italy. Beautiful lakes, classic cities and even white sandy beaches means Italy often comes on top of people’s holiday wishlist. As UpCounsel have discovered, Italy is a great location for disabled people to holiday too! The country scored particularly strongly in all three eatery sections, coming in first for accessible pubs and bars, cafes, and restaurants! However, Italy also comes ninth in both accessible public transport and accessible toilets, highlighting that there’s still infrastructure progress to be made.
Who scored the lowest?
Romania – 2.7/10
Data reveals that the Eastern nation of Romania has by far the worst accessibility for disabled people in Europe, with a combined score of an extremely disappointing 2.7/10. Romania came dead last in three out of five categories, with accessibility of restaurants and public transport coming second-to-last . The worst of these results is with regard to accessible public toilets, for which Romania scores just 2/10. This is almost two full points away from its nearest rival, Finland. Disabled travellers will struggle in Romania in every aspect, from taking the bus to finding an accessible cafe.
