What should a traveler verify before booking an accessible heritage-city trip?

Heritage cities sell "accessible old towns" as a slogan; accessibility is actually a chain of 50 links, and the trip works only if every link you need is checked individually. Start with standards, because words differ by country: in the US the ADA sets measurable criteria (an accessible route, clear door openings of 32 inches); EU rules and national laws vary more, and "accessible" on a booking platform may mean one step and a grab rail. The verification habit that defeats the vagueness is to ask for measurements and photographs — door clear widths, shower type (roll-in versus tub with seat), bed height, lift dimensions — and to book the specific room category, confirmed by the property in writing, rather than an accessible-on-request note.

Then audit the sights individually, because heritage access is a patchwork of ingenuity: Athens fitted the Acropolis with a lift (replaced with a modern accessible route in 2020) and tactile models; Rome's Colosseum has lifts between levels; Venice — 118 islands and some 400 bridges — publishes official step-free itineraries using the accessible vaporetto network and the limited set of bridge ramps and lifts, which is exactly the kind of authority document to plan from (the Comune's Venice Accessible pages and the European Network for Accessible Tourism, ENAT, maintain such resources). Terrain is the third audit: historic centres run on cobbles, setts and gradients that defeat small front casters — map your actual walking routes, not the hotel's distance claim. Fourth, transport end-to-end: step-free stations on your specific lines (Barcelona's metro is among Europe's most accessible, with lifts at the overwhelming majority of stations — verify your stops, not the average), bookable accessible taxis, and the airport assistance reservation (in the EU, assistance is a legal right under Regulation 1107/2006, booked through the airline at least 48 hours ahead). The traveler who verifies these 4 layers travels; the one who trusts the slogan gambles.

The failure point is rarely the famous sight — it is the unglamorous meter: the café toilet downstairs, the museum's accessible entrance at the back (closed on Mondays), the "step-free" station whose lift is under repair that month. The fix used by experienced travelers is the pre-trip email drill: ask each key venue one specific question a month ahead and keep the replies; venues answer precisely when asked precisely, and the replies themselves become your access documents at the door.

• Measurements over adjectives — Door widths, shower type, lift size, confirmed in writing for the actual room
• Sights one by one — Each headline venue's own access page and entrance location checked, not the city's general claim
• Assistance booked by the clock — Airline and station assistance reserved 48+ hours ahead, with the booking references kept offline

Equipment is the layer that strands people furthest from home. A powered wheelchair travels as regulated cargo: spare lithium batteries may not go in the hold at all, cells rated between 101 and 160 watt-hours need the carrier's approval and are capped at 2 per passenger, and anything above 160 watt-hours is refused in cabin and hold alike — so the chair's watt-hour rating belongs on the booking file beside the seat request. Breakdown is the second exposure, because a damaged chair in a city whose dealer network you do not know can end the trip rather than complicate it; US travel-health guidance prices a medical evacuation within North America at about USD 25,000 and one from a remote location at more than USD 250,000, and notes that the decision to evacuate rests with the insurer rather than the traveler. Third, heritage access is maintained rather than permanent: a fitted lift, a ramp or the single accessible toilet in a monument can be out of service for a month with no warning beyond a sign on the door.

Before booking, build the four-layer checklist for your city — property, sights, terrain, transport — and do not pay until each layer has a named confirmation.