Venice when you can't manage bridges
Facts checked on October 11, 2026
For people who can’t manage steps, including wheelchair users. The city council counts 121 islands in Venice, joined by 435 bridges; the way around them is the water bus. This page lists what the operators themselves say: fares and boarding on the boats, which parts of the city they reach, St Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace, and help when you arrive.
Some of the council’s accessibility pages haven’t been updated for years. Where a fact comes from one, we say when it was last updated, so check it before you go.
Comune di Venezia: Venezia Accessibile (in Italian, last updated 2016)
Not covered yet
The airport buses and Alilaguna boats, water taxis, the accessible gondola (its website didn’t open securely when we checked), hotels, and the churches and museums away from St Mark’s Square. We only write what we have read on an operator’s own pages.
The water bus
ACTV runs the water buses (vaporetti). For wheelchair users it is the way around the bridges.
- €1.50 fare: wheelchair users and holders of the EU Disability Card pay €1.50 for 75 minutes from validation. It covers all ACTV water buses except routes 16, 19 and Casino, and not the Alilaguna boats. A wheelchair user’s companion travels free, and so does the companion of an EU Disability Card holder whose card has the companion symbol on the back.
- Priority gates: at the main stops, including Piazzale Roma, Ferrovia (the railway station), Rialto, San Zaccaria, Lido, Murano Faro and Burano, the turnstiles have red “Priority” gates. Wheelchair users go through the exit corridor and press the call button to let the staff know they are there.
- Rialto in the evening: from 8.19pm to the end of service, wheelchair users can board at Rialto A or B instead of C or D by calling the free number 800 845 065 at least 20 minutes before, and can get off at A or B by asking the crew for an extra stop.
- What you can bring on board: powered wheelchairs, and manual wheelchairs with a removable wheel, if they are approved for travel on public transport and fit the wheelchair space. Mobility scooters are not allowed on the boats unless they meet the same conditions.
- Car ferries: from 1 October 2026, as a trial, one car per trip with a CUDE disabled parking badge, carrying a wheelchair user or an EU Disability Card holder, gets priority on ferry lines 11 and 17, after booked vehicles. Be at the ticket office at least 20 minutes before departure and queue in the lane for booked vehicles.
- Information: ACTV’s DIME call centre, +39 041 041.
AVM/ACTV: Venice urban services (fares)
ACTV: Priority boarding (in Italian)
ACTV: Accessible mobility (in Italian)
ACTV: General conditions of carriage, section 4 (in Italian)
High water. The council says every water-bus landing stage is accessible, but that at exceptionally high water the access ramps become too steep (page last updated June 2019).
Comune di Venezia: Public transport (in Italian, last updated 2019)
Which parts of the city you can reach
The council says almost 70% of the city is accessible to people with motor disabilities, because the water buses reach the main sights. Its accessibility map colours each area: green where a vaporetto stops, light green where a smaller motorboat stops or an “assisted” bridge leads, and white where public transport doesn’t reach. The map is in Italian and English, and dates from October 2017.
No stairlifts on the bridges. The council removed the stairlifts from Venice’s bridges in 2010 because they didn’t work reliably.
The council also publishes 14 barrier-free walking routes for wheelchair users (last updated July 2019): St Mark’s area, Rialto, Santa Margherita, Frari, Santo Stefano, Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Murano, Burano with Torcello and Mazzorbo, Castello Est, Ca’ d’Oro, Santa Marta, Rialto Mercato, Cannaregio Ovest and Zattere.
Comune di Venezia: Mobility (in Italian, pages updated October 2017)
Comune di Venezia: Map of accessible Venice (map in Italian and English, 2017)
Comune di Venezia: Which bridges have stairlifts? (in Italian)
Comune di Venezia: Barrier-free routes (in Italian, last updated 2019)
St Mark’s Square
Getting there. The council’s route for St Mark’s area (last updated July 2019) takes water-bus line 1 or 2 from Piazzale Roma or Ferrovia to San Marco Vallaresso. From the stop, the step-free way into the square is along Calle Larga Ascensione to Bacino Orseolo, then Calle Salvadago. The arcade under the Ala Napoleonica is three steps above the square.
St Mark’s Basilica
- Free entry for people with disabilities and their companions: show your disability documents to the attendant at the entrance doors, and the staff will take you to the most suitable entrance.
- The museum upstairs has a lift and a stairlift.
- For services and prayer, wheelchair users enter by the Porta dei Fiori, on the left side, which has a ramp. Ask the staff there.
Basilica di San Marco: Accessibility (in Italian)
The council’s 2019 route adds that the original mosaic floor is uneven and sloping, the Pala d’Oro is up four steep steps, the Treasury has steps at its entrance, and the outdoor balcony with the horses is not accessible.
Comune di Venezia: Route, St Mark’s area (in Italian, last updated 2019)
The Doge’s Palace
- The regular visit is fully accessible, with a lift and accessible toilets on the ground floor. The Secret Itineraries tour, the Prisons and the Armoury are not accessible.
- Free entry for disabled people with a helper.
Doge’s Palace: Services and accessibility
Doge’s Palace: Visitor information (tickets)
The council’s 2019 route adds that the visitors’ entrance, the Porta del Frumento on the waterfront side, has a 15 cm step, and that you can enter instead by the Porta della Carta, next to the Basilica.
Around the square
From the same 2019 route: the Museo Correr has a lift entrance in Calle Salvadago, used with the staff, and accessible toilets on the first floor. The Campanile has a lift inside, but you reach it up four steps of 17 cm and one of 14 cm, so ask the staff for help. The Torre dell’Orologio is not accessible.
Comune di Venezia: Route, St Mark’s area (in Italian, last updated 2019)
Arriving
By train. Venezia Santa Lucia has a Sala Blu office, the rail network’s assistance service, on platform 14. Assistance is free: staff meet you, help you on and off the train with a platform lift or ramp, and take you to the exit. Book by phone on +39 02 32 32 32 (from mobiles and abroad) or 800 90 60 60 (free from Italian landlines), every day from 6.45am to 9.30pm, or by email to salablu.venezia@rfi.it. Between two large stations, Santa Lucia needs an hour’s notice for trains between 7.45am and 10.30pm, and 12 hours at night; if your other station is a smaller one, allow at least 12 working hours. Wheelchairs on board can be up to 70 cm wide, 120 cm long and 250 kg with the passenger.
By air. Assistance at Marco Polo airport is free. Request it through your airline when you book, or at least 48 hours before departure. On arrival, staff assist you from the plane to the call points, which include docks 2 and 13 at the airport’s marina. Holders of a CUDE disabled parking badge park free in the reserved spaces.
Venice Airport: Passengers with disabilities and reduced mobility
The People Mover. On the People Mover between Tronchetto and Piazzale Roma, wheelchair users reach the platforms by lift. Each car takes one wheelchair.
ACTV: General conditions of carriage, section 4 (in Italian)
The access fee
In 2026, day visitors paid a fee to enter the historic city on set days. That trial ended: since 27 July 2026 the fee no longer applies, and the council has not yet decided on later years. In 2026, people with disabilities and anyone accompanying them were exempt by showing the European Disability Card; without the card, they had to request the exemption or submit a declaration.
Venezia Unica: Venice Access Fee
Before you go
- Bring your EU Disability Card if you have one, or your disability documents: the €1.50 water-bus fare and free entry at the Basilica depend on them.
- Book train assistance with Sala Blu, or airport assistance through your airline at least 48 hours ahead.
- Plan by water bus: check the council’s map for the areas the boats reach.
- In the evening at Rialto, call 800 845 065 at least 20 minutes before to board at stop A or B.
- Expect steep ramps at the landing stages when the water is exceptionally high.
Check Venice against your own needs
This guide is general. Step-Free can check a trip against how you get around: how far you can walk, how many steps you can manage, and what must be in place.