A quick search on wheelchair accessibility in Segovia, Spain will bring up…pretty much nothing (except this blog post, we hope!). We wondered if Segovia was perhaps too small of a destination to win the attention of most accessible travel bloggers. But alas, when we arrived, we realized the undeniable truth- Segovia isn’t very wheelchair accessible.
Nonetheless, it is possible to visit Segovia with a wheelchair and we’re here to show you how.
Ready?
Let’s roll.
Getting to Segovia
You can travel to Segovia by train, bus or car.
For the purpose of making your life as easy as possible, we recommend hiring a car. Yes, it’ll cost you more money. But, it’ll cut out having to travel over a back-breaking amount of cobblestone.
Let’s take a quick look at these three travel options.
Train
Segovia is served by the Renfe high-speed train. In just under 30 minutes, you’ll travel from Madrid (Chamartín Station) to Segovia.
Both the Chamartín and Segovia stations are wheelchair accessible, thanks to elevators that lead down to the train platforms. When booking your ticket, whether online or in person, you’ll need to indicate that you want an H-seat.
They ask wheelchair users to arrive at the train station 30 minutes before departure. They’ll provide you assistance with boarding.
Travel Tip: There are a few slow trains that travel between Madrid and Segovia. At about a third of the price and taking over three times as long to arrive, we only recommend the slow train if you’re on a tight budget.
Once you arrive at the Segovia train station, you’ll need to take either bus #11 or #12 to get into the center. We recommend bus #11 because it’ll drop you off directly at the aqueduct.
All public buses in Segovia are wheelchair accessible.
Bus
There are two advantages to taking the bus from Madrid to Segovia.
- The bus ticket is significantly cheaper.
- You can easily roll from the Segovia bus stop to the city center.
The bus ride will take around 1 hour, 20 minutes.
The Avanza bus company offers a number of buses adapted for wheelchair users. However, you must contact them at least 48 hours in advance to coordinate.
You can read more information about wheelchair accessibility on the Avanza buses here. If your high school Spanish skills are rusty, you’ll need to have a Spanish speaker help you.
Car
We love doing as the locals do and taking public transportation whenever it’s accessible and makes sense.
As we’ve already established, taking public transportation to Segovia is accessible. However, due to Segovia’s cobblestone streets, inclines, and narrow sidewalks in some areas, taking a car is by far the most sensible option.
The time it takes to drive from Madrid to Segovia will depend greatly on where you’re starting from within Madrid, the day of the week, and time of day. Nonetheless, you can expect it to take you around 1 – 1.5 hours.
Hang tight, because further into this post we’ll talk more about the advantages of touring Segovia by car.
Did you know? Segovia is commonly combined with a day trip to Ávila. We’ve put together a guide on wheelchair accessibility in Ávila to make planning easy for you.
Wheelchair Accessible restrooms in Segovia
Accessible restrooms are at the forefront of our minds when we travel to a new destination.
We found one accessible restroom during our time in Segovia. It’s located inside the tourist center at the Plaza del Azoguejo.
When you’re facing the front of the tourist center, the ramp is located on the left side.
General wheelchair accessibility in Segovia
Before we dive into the exciting wheelchair accessible things to do in Segovia, we first wanted to give you a visual of the types of terrain you can expect to encounter.
Some of these photos will give you hope, others will make you cringe.
Nonetheless, we want to make sure that you’re prepared for the types of cobblestone, inclines, and obstacles you may come across during your time in Segovia.
Just remember- we’re here to help you get the most out of your trip. We’ll be showing you how in the next section.
Wheelchair accessible sites in Segovia
Finally, the fun stuff!
Below are the wheelchair accessible sites we encountered in Segovia. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did.
Aqueduct & Plaza Azuguego
The aqueduct is by far Segovia’s biggest attraction. Running through the heart of the city, the Roman stone structure is nothing short of impressive.
Plaza Azuguego is the most popular place to view the aqueduct. It just so happens that this is where the aqueduct is the highest, at around 28 meters.
You’ll be able to get a good feel for how expansive the aqueduct is from Plaza Azuguego. However, if you’re looking to explore it further, when facing the aqueduct looking towards the road, there’s a cobblestone ramp to the right.
From there, you’ll be able to roll uphill along the aqueduct, getting some great views looking down at the plaza. We’re not going to beat around the bush here- it won’t be the most comfortable experience due to cobblestone. Also, manual wheelchair users may need assistance with the incline.
However, even if you only go 10 meters or so up the hill, you’ll get to enjoy an excellent viewpoint.
If you’re traveling with able-bodied companions, there are stairs to the left side of the plaza that they can climb. Here, they’ll get views level with the top of the aqueduct.
Psst…If Plaza Azuguego already sounds familiar to you, it’s because this is where the accessible restroom is located.
Segovia Cathedral
The Segovia Cathedral is another iconic site in Segovia and it offers excellent wheelchair accessibility.
Ramps lead into the cathedral and the entrance fee is waived for wheelchair users.
Once inside, you’ll get to enjoy exploring the cathedral on the flat, smooth ground level floor.
In addition to exploring the inside of the cathedral, there’s a large, outdoor patio you can visit, as well.
Getting to the patio involves popping over a ledge of a few inches. Once outside, a huge open space awaits your exploring. The patio is raised up from the ground, so it offers nice views of the surrounding buildings.
If you’re traveling with able-bodied companions, there’s the option for them to climb up to the bell tower while you continue exploring the cathedral or people-watch in the beautiful Plaza Mayor.
Plaza Mayor
Plaza Azuguego is famous for the aqueduct, but the pulse of Segovia is found at the Plaza Mayor.
The Segovia Cathedral sits on one side of the Plaza Mayor. The remainder of the plaza is surrounded by colorful, old buildings, restaurants, and street performers.
Plaza Mayor is primarily made up of cobblestone. However, strips of flatter material crisscross throughout the plaza. The strips are wide enough for wheelchairs, so we recommend using them to do your exploring.
A great wheelchair accessible aspect to Segovia is that there’s a pedestrian street connecting Plaza Mayor and Plaza Azuguego. The street has an almost entirely smooth surface and is set on only a mild incline.
Alcazar
We’re about to sound like a broken record, here, but it’s because there are so many iconic sites in Segovia.
Formerly serving as a fortress, palace, and prison during different periods of time, the Alcazar is now once of Segovia’s most popular attractions.
Wheelchair accessibility at Segovia’s Alcazar is decent.
Wheelchair users with a disability ID enter for free. Once inside, the ground floor is wheelchair accessible thanks to ramps. The terrain of the floor varies from large pieces of uneven stone to perfectly smooth tiles.
There are a few lookout points at the Alcazar that are only accessible by stairs. However, in a couple of the rooms, windows drop down to the floor, allowing wheelchair users a glimpse of what able-bodied people see from some of the lookout areas.
If you’re traveling with able-bodied companions, they can opt to climb to the top of the tower for these views over the city:
Segovia Museum
History lovers will want to make a beeline to the Segovia Museum. With its modern design, the Segovia Museum is entirely wheelchair accessible.
The Segovia Museum is located along a portion of the city wall, and there are accessible parking spaces at the entrance to it.
If you’ll be traveling with able-bodied companions, there’s a viewpoint in front of the museum they can visit. It only involves going up six stone steps, so it’s a quicker viewpoint detour compared to the other able-bodied viewpoints we’ve mentioned here.
City Wall
Part of what makes Segovia so beautiful is that the city is encompassed by walls. As such, exploring the walls is a popular thing to do.
We recommend driving around the perimeter of most of the walled city since there are areas that are very steep and cobblestone is practically everywhere. Plus, by being in a vehicle, you’ll have a higher vantage point for seeing the views.
That being said, there’s one area where we encourage you to explore by wheelchair and that’s along the wall between the Segovia Museum and Alcazar.
Not only is this portion of the wall relatively flat (although the cobblestone is unavoidable), but this area offers three lookout points that are accessible via sections of the wall that jut out. From this area, you’ll be able to enjoy views of both the Segovia Cathedral and Alcazar.
Jewish Quarter
We’ve put Segovia’s Jewish Quarter towards the bottom of this list because its wheelchair accessibility is mediocre at best.
No doubt, a notable effort was made to make the area accessible since there are ramps built into the staircases. However, the hilly topography of the area is unavoidable.
Most likely, when you arrive at the Jewish Quarter, you’ll be inclined to either explore the narrow cobblestone streets for a short amount of time or be content viewing them from a single spot.
Either way, we recommend going to the Jewish Quarter and taking a peek. It’s interesting to see the houses built on top of each other and imagining how life must have been there.
Suckling Dish
Vegans and Vegetarians, skip this section.
Most every destination has a dish it’s known for, and in Segovia, it’s suckling.
Suckling is an entire baby pig that’s consumed between two and six weeks of age. We didn’t try it, so we don’t have much to say here. However, based on the signs around town, there’s no shortage of restaurants where you can try suckling.
We traveled to Segovia in the winter and were shocked by how people dined outside like it was the middle of summer. Therefore, while many indoor portions of restaurants are inaccessible, you will have your pick of accessible outdoor restaurants to eat at.
Advantages of exploring Segovia by car
Now that we’ve talked about the beautiful places to see in Segovia, let’s loop back around to driving.
While Segovia offers a number of wheelchair accessible things to do, traveling between the sites involves anything from good exercise for the manual wheelchair user, to a back-throbbing amount of time traveling over cobblestone.
For this reason, taking a car between Segovia’s accessible sites will be far more comfortable.
But it doesn’t end there.
By taking a car, you’ll be able to explore parts of Segovia that are inaccessible without a vehicle due to narrow streets and steep hills.
Keep your window rolled down because picturesque photo opportunities will surround you!
Since you won’t be able to access the towers for views over the city, driving around the walled city will offer the next best views.
Thanks to one of our readers commenting on his experience, we we’re happy to say that wheelchair accessible parking in Segovia is better than when we visited. You’ll encounter accessible parking at the museum and Alcazar.
Conclusion: Wheelchair accessibility in Segovia
Even though Segovia isn’t naturally well designed for wheelchair accessibility, our goal in writing this post is to encourage you, not discourage you, from visiting there. Segovia is a stunning city and, in our opinion, offers just enough accessibility to make it worth the visit.
Have you traveled to Segovia with a wheelchair? Do you have questions about wheelchair accessibility in Segovia? Leave us a comment, we’d love to hear from you.
P.S.- Looking for other day trip options from Madrid? Head on over to our post on five accessible day trips from Madrid. Also, don’t forget to check out our guide on eleven accessible things to do in Madrid and the best markets in Madrid.
Update in April 2023: there are now designated disabled parking places right outside the Alcazar and the museum. Both were free when we visited.
We started the day by leaving our car outside the city centre, and took a taxi to the cathedral. From there it’s a nice easy gradient down to the aqueduct, over smooth paving. Later we drove into the old city and found the parking spots mentioned above.
It’s worth noting that the tourist information centre (and its accessible toilets) closes between 2-4pm.
Overall we found Segovia much more accessible than Toledo, and nicer!
Thank you so much for this update, John!