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Grundlsee rudolf11 cdominik soder

Handicapped travel on the lake

All people are welcome aboard our historic boats, regardless of impairment or disability. The traditional build of our vessels can limit us in some ways but we will always do everything possible to accommodate any kind of assistance that is required. We have had some challenging situations in the past and have almost always managed to provide to the needs of all our disabled guests.

If you are travelling with an impairment or disabled person(s) we have some detailed information for you here. Any questions or feedback can be directed to ahoi@schifffahrt-grundlsee.at.

1

Boarding our boats

Wal­king aids and zim­mer frames are easi­ly taken aboard our Grundl­see ves­sels. Howe­ver some of our boats are easier for peo­p­le with wal­king dif­fi­cul­ties than others.

- The inte­ri­or of the MS Rudolf can only be rea­ched by a set of short stairs. The upper deck its­elf is easi­ly acces­si­ble wit­hout stairs.

- The MS Traun is the most wea­ther­pro­ofed ves­sel in our fleet due to its lar­ge awning, which is easi­ly acces­sed wit­hout any steps. 

In the last few years floa­ting jet­ties have been built next to See­ho­tel Grundl­see and on the Gößl landing dock. This is a con­sidera­ble advan­ta­ge for loa­ding and unloa­ding pas­sen­gers with wal­king disa­bi­li­ties as it is always pos­si­ble to embark direct­ly onto the deck of the boat. Depen­ding on the water level, the gang­way may be on a slight incline.

At the Pavil­lon landing dock the­re can be a rather lar­ge height dif­fe­rence depen­ding on the water level. The­r­e­for this landing dock may not be sui­ta­ble for peo­p­le with wal­king disa­bi­li­ties or wheel­chair users.

2

Space for wheelchairs

The MS Traun offers pro­tec­tion from the ele­ments but only has space for a con­ven­tio­nal style wheel­chair. Lar­ger elec­tric wheel­chairs will nor­mal­ly not be able to pass through the nar­row pas­sa­ge­way which is unfort­u­na­te­ly only 74cm wide. This is an unfort­u­na­te pit­fall of their older, more tra­di­tio­nal design.

On the open deck of the MS Rudolf we have room for 2 – 3 wheel­chairs but unfort­u­na­te­ly this is wit­hout any cover from rain or sun so it may not be sui­ta­ble on bad wea­ther days. The pas­sa­ge­way is wider and allows for elec­tric wheelchairs.

3

The self-experiment

A class from the Rot­ten­mann Trai­ning Cent­re for Social Pro­fes­si­ons joi­n­ed us for a trip on the MS Rudolf in order to con­duct an expe­ri­ment. They wan­ted to find out how sui­ta­ble a boating trip with Schiff­fahrt Grundl­see is for peo­p­le with disa­bi­li­ties. They brought one guest with crut­ches, ano­ther with a wal­king frame and one in a wheel­chair to test the ease of access for all the landing docks and the MS Rudolf Here is a video with seve­ral tips that they made in 2019 regar­ding their experiment:

4

Reservation for wheelchair users

If you are depen­dent on a wheel­chair, we recom­mend a short, non-bin­ding regis­tra­ti­on, by tele­pho­ne or e‑mail. This way we can accom­mo­da­te you the best way pos­si­ble when you arrive!

5

Accompanying / assistance dogs

Dogs are always wel­co­me along on the Grundl­see boat trip, this also appli­es of cour­se to the free trans­port of com­pa­n­ion dogs. Assis­tance dogs are exempt from the muz­zle and leash obligation.

6

Plätten on Lake Toplitzsee

The lar­ge step requi­red to board the Plät­te” boats makes them unfort­u­na­te­ly quite unsui­ta­ble for wheel­chairs. Howe­ver, if a wheel­chair-bound guest would like to tem­po­r­a­ri­ly lea­ve the chair behind to join for the tour over Toplitz­see, they are of cour­se most wel­co­me! The boat trip takes about 10 – 15min each way with a 20minute pau­se at the other end. The big water­fall is visi­ble even from the boat so its always wort­hwhile to visit!

No matter what kind of request or concern you may have - we are at your full disposal for all of your questions or inquires!