San Juan accessibility

[TwinMamainMN]

I have read many places that San Juan is very walkable and easy to DIY. We will be traveling with our 3 kids (14, 14 and 10). Our 14-year-old daughter uses a wheelchair for long/community distances but can transfer and walk shorter distances with forearm crutches.

 

We would like to go to El Morro and San Cristobal, walk along the San Juan City Wall and wander the streets of Old Town and shop. I don't expect her to be able to explore either fort in depth.. She will be satisfied with seeing the buildings and enjoying the views.

 

Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated.

[FOPMan]

Old Town is quite walkable but rollability is a whole other issue. 

 

To get into old town from where the ship’s dock, you have to go up a pretty steep hill that doesn’t have great sidewalks or curb cuts. Much of the street is cobblestone, with poor/no curb cuts in many places. 

 

The forts are actually pretty accessible.

[TwinMamainMN]

55 minutes ago, FOPMan said:

Old Town is quite walkable but rollability is a whole other issue. 

 

To get into old town from where the ship’s dock, you have to go up a pretty steep hill that doesn’t have great sidewalks or curb cuts. Much of the street is cobblestone, with poor/no curb cuts in many places. 

 

The forts are actually pretty accessible.

That's just fine. Daddy can push the WC. 😂

 

Do you know about the City Wall?

[Benthayer Gonbak]

We did a tour to the fort and then did a church etc on the way back. They put us in a smaller van so they could take us up the hills!  The fort has 3 levels.  They go down.with the first st of stairs being steps on both sides on a ramp that was used to move cannons.  There were no handrails.  Hubby agreed to carry the walker so I walked the steps  ..  the guide was scared to death about me falling and the steps are even or level etc.  i chose not to go down the next level as I could see most of everything and I still needed to climb out!  On the way back up hubby realized the the ramp was even more of a pain as it was too high to carry the rollator at normal carry height.  We still joke about not recognizing that flaw! 
 

when we eft there we walked through some buildings I think were government offices, not positive.  There were several places where there were 3-4  steps to account for the grade.  Only a few had walk arounds.  The other couple on the tour had a guy they hired to push her chair.  We signaled each other to the fewest steps.  When we got to the church there were lots of steps.  The woman in the wheelchair was able to walk them as was i.  Getting down  was a bit harder. She couldn’t walk down them by herself and wasn’t waiting.  Hubby gave her an elbow to hang onto.  I started down slowly and hubby went back for my rollator.  Her pusher had carried the wheelchair down.

 

Would I do some of that area sgain?  Yes, but I now have a power chair that will climb those slopes.  
 

for what it is worth, there is a curb cut near the fort but at that time the road was in poor shape to use it.  
 

good luck, if you are willing to stop along the way I’d think you could succeed.