Wheelchair Accessibility of Radisson Blu (Lucerne, Switzerland)

This review of the wheelchair accessibility of the Radisson Blu in Lucerne, Switzerland is from Summer 2022.

We chose to stay at the Radisson Blu because it was 1) close to the train station and 2) close to the heart of the city. It worked very well as a base of operations to explore Lucerne itself, Bernese Oberland, and Zurich. I had issues with the shower, but we ultimately made it work by using an alternate shower.

I contacted the hotel via e-mail well in advance of our stay. They confirmed my scooter would fit in their elevators, that my room had a roll-in shower, and on what floors accessible rooms were located. The e-mail for the hotel is reservations.lucerne@radissonblu.com.

Location

The hotel was .3 mile from the train station, which was about a 6-10 minute walk/scoot. The route was picturesque along the water, and appeared safe even at off times. We could also reach the Kapellbrucke (.6 miles) and explore the historic downtown (~1 mile) in under 20 minutes.

The sidewalks were wide and had pretty good curb cuts–a few were steep, but doable. There was also a bike lane that went for most of the way between the hotel and the train station. Or I could take the waterfront path, which was not always paved but had packed down gravel.

Tip: There is also a skybridge that connects the hotel to a parking structure at the train station. This route did not save us time, was not well-used (i.e., eerily quiet), and involved going down a steep driveway at the parking structure. I recommend not using it.

The Entrance and Lobby

The turnstyle entrance was likely big enough for the scooter, but I opted to use the side door. There was a drainage trough that ran in front of the doors–it was a slight dip but it was fairly wide. It was traversible, but I found it better to go over it straight on instead of at an angle.

There was not an accessible counter, but I could go to the side of the desk to talk to the staff. The staff was also willing to come out from behind the counter and talk to me in front of it.

The elevators were big enough for my scooter, my wife, and our baggage.

The Room

The room did not have a power door to enter it. but the pull weight was tolerable. The living area was quite large, and had ample turning places. The beds were ~22-24″ high and were very comfortable–we slept hard and deep every night. The only problem was in the bathroom. The toilet had just enough room for my scooter to pull up next to it–it was tight but doable.

But the shower had a glass wall that made it impossible for me to turn into the shower–it was just too tight.

The staff were accommodating and let us try out different rooms, including a suite. They all had similar issues with the shower.

Our solution was to use the shower in the workout room. It was a huge (8′ x 20′) roll-in shower–it was a communal shower room with two overhead showers and two handheld sprayers. We were allowed after hours access to it, which made it unlikely that anyone would come in while I was showering (for further precaution, my wife read a book outside the bathroom door to warn off anyone trying to enter). It was inconvenient but ultimately worked well, even with the water temperature fluctuating fairly wildly (maybe from not being used very often?).