Disabled Travelers Australia Series: Adelaide
Posted August 3rd, 2010 in access guides, Accessible Travel, helpful information and Wheelchair Accessible Attractions
Grange Jetty, in Adelaide
Photo by: Matt Wall (Stock Exchange)
Welcome back to Disabled Travelers! We’re getting a good, close look at Australia; there are so many great cities and attractions that it’s easily become our longest series yet, even surpassing Paris.
Today, we provide access guides to Adelaide, the capital of South Australia.
Like many of the country’s most beautiful and accessible locales, it’s a coastal city, and is known for its orderly grid arrangement.
The city incorporates a whole heckuva lot of parks and the beautiful River Torrens on the nearby plains.
Central business districts in most major Australian cities have been the focus of accessibility projects for a while now, and handicapped travelers will usually find them easy to navigate; this is especially true in the relatively even and orderly city of Adelaide.
But there’s always the question of public transit, and for that, Public Transport in Adelaide is the place to go for route maps, accessibility information, and much more. I’ve linked directly to the page on accessible buses, but the deaf and others with special needs can find more information here as well. Also check out Public Transport Help for People With Disabilities, provided by the local government. One of their most useful pages is How to Book Accessible Taxis. The complete accessible taxi fleet in Adelaide includes 80 vehicles, with some vans that can accommodate several wheelchairs at a time. If that’s not quite enough, even more information on the taxis is available. Some other practical matters are covered in the official South Australia Accessible Travel page.
Speaking of “accommodations,” I’m sure we all recognize the super-useful and convenient Stayz.com, which has a selection of accessible hotels in Adelaide. The other half of this progressive pair is Eatability, providing a list of accessible restaurants. Though these two sites are unaffiliated with each other (and with Disabled Travelers, for that matter) I can’t recommend them enough, used in tandem, for a visit virtually anywhere in Australia. There are, as usual, some top-notch venues for every taste and budget. Naturally, there’s also AOL Travel’s listings.
What Disabled Travelers post would be complete without plenty of accessible attractions? You may want to drop by Apparelyzed and look at Itinerary for a Holiday in Adelaide, South Australia for some ideas. For one of the best-known annual bashes in the area, look at the Adelaide Festival; it’s gone by this year, but this’ll give you a good idea of what’s available for wheelchair users, the blind, and those deaf or hard of hearing. Looking for a tour operator to show you around? Try Easy Access Tours Adelaide. Last, but certainly not least, there is a very useful Access Adelaide Guide, part of the official city guide. This offers plenty of color maps to a full range of places of interest, and everything you need to know about the many services Adelaide provides.
Next time, it’s all the way to the north, and the city of Darwin! See you then, and adventure on!
Si
