Sagetraveling.com/accessibility-reviews.

From Cape Town, your direct flight options to Europe are fairly limited. Air France to Paris and KLM to Amsterdam are two of the direct routings on offer, along with British Airways to London and Lufthansa and SAA to Munich. If you fly via Joburg your options widen but you’d have two stopovers on all airlines as they will fly via their home airports or hubs.

John Sage of Sage Travel has visited over 90 European cities in his wheelchair conducting accessibility research and their website is full of information for you. See

He rates Berlin as the most wheelchairfriendly city in Europe, after London.

The German capital is fairly flat with good pavements and ramps in the inner city.

Many of Berlin’s tourist highlights are all within walking distance of each other, making it easier for disabled people as well. The public transportation system is also generally accessible.

A key factor in Europe is of course old cities, with either cobblestones or setts, but because Berlin was so heavily bombed during World War 2 there are far fewer of them here. Also, many hotels and museums are modern and designed to accommodate wheelchairs.

To avoid the connecting flight on to the UK, you could consider taking a train from Berlin to London. European stations and trains cater well for wheelchairs.

Barcelona in Spain is another city which Sage rates highly accessible.

We are hoping to travel to St Petersburg and perhaps Vienna and Prague around the middle of this year.However, a friend was told recently it is very difficult for a South African to get a Russian visa. What is your advice?

There is no reason why a Russian visa would be any more difficult to obtain than the Schengen visa you will need for the other countries, in fact it could be easier.

Russian visas are simple to obtain. Once you make a booking with a tour operator or hotel they will produce an official letter of invitation.

This invitation is submitted with a few personal details and, if granted, the visa is issued within five days.

Single-entry visas start from about R1 200, depending on how quickly you want it processed and the type of visa.

Applications must be completed online at visa.kdmid.ru and printed out for submission to the consular office of the embassy.

The embassy is at 316 Brooks Street, Menlo Park, Pretoria, and there is a consulate at Norton Rose House, 8 Riebeek Street in Cape Town.

ISTOCK My wife and I are planning a tripfrom Cape Town to Scotland.We would like to stop off somewhere interesting in Europe on our way. We’ve been to Amsterdam and have no desire to go to Paris.My wife is wheelchair bound so the fewer connecting flights and schlepping around airports the better.Do you have any suggestions?