By John Sage

More mountainous than most Caribbean islands, Grenada disabled access is not very good.  Hilly terrain, narrow sidewalks, and no accessible public transportation may present challenges to disabled visitors.

Unlike San Juan, Key West, and Nassau, all tourist attractions are located outside the small town of St. George (where the cruise dock is located) so disabled cruise passengers will need to book private transportation.

I gave Grenada disabled access a 3 Star Sage Accessibility Rating because it has a step-free cruise dock and a ramped entrance to exit the cruise port.  It did not get a higher accessibility rating because there are no wheelchair accessible taxis and most of the attractions require transportation to reach them because they are found far away from the cruise port .

View Grenada Wheelchair Accessible Shore Excursions

Best Aspects of Grenada Disabled Access

No cruise tenders – There is a long cruise pier in Grenada that can accommodate 2 cruise ships.  Because Grenada is not yet a very popular cruise destination, there are rarely more than 2 cruise ships in port.  Contact your travel agent to confirm whether or not your ships will be docking on your date of arrival.

Step-free cruise pier and cruise port exit – As long as you’ve booked a ship that has a ramp instead of stairs at the exit, you should have no problems with disabled access at the Grenada cruise port. The pier is high above the water (shown on the left) so it doesn’t require a steep ramp like at the Aruba cruise port.  The exit at the Grenada cruise terminal has a ramp leading into the parking lot (shown on the right).

Accessible wildlife interaction opportunities – Who doesn’t love interacting with Grenada monkeys?  I know I do!  (picture of me on the right)

Some of the most fascinating 20th century history of any Caribbean island – No visit to Grenada is complete without learning about the US invasion in 1983.  There weren’t many Cold War military conflicts in the Americas, and this small island was the site of one of them.  If you have mobility issues, you should book a Grenada guided tour that uses step-free routes.

Easy to discover the island’s history and its spectacular nature in a single day – Grenada is a fairly small island.  Driving from the southwest part of the island (where the airport is located that prompted the Cold War invasion) to the opposite end of the island in the north east only takes about an hour.  Obviously there are plenty of interesting places to stop along the way so it will take you longer than one hour!

Worst Aspects of Grenada Disabled Access

Small wheelchair accessible area near cruise dock – The town of St. George (where the cruise ships dock) is much smaller than other Caribbean cruise port towns.  Because steep hills and poor sidewalk accessibility block many routes, disabled cruise passengers can only visit a small part of the island by walking or rolling from the cruise port.  The stairs and narrow Sendall Tunnel (shown below) that most people use should be avoided by disabled visitors.

No accessible Grenada walking tours – The attractions in Grenada are not within walking distance of the cruise port so you won’t find many tour guides offering guided walking tours.  The map below shows the very few streets that are within walking/rolling distance of the Grenada cruise port.

Mountainous terrain and extremely steep streets – Grenada wheelchair access has some of the steepest terrain that I’ve encountered in the Caribbean.  It is much hillier than other Caribbean islands like Aruba, Bonaire, Cayman, and St. Thomas. Steep streets and stair into restaurants will present challenges to disabled visitors.

Fort George requires advanced notice for disabled access – One of the main attractions in Grenada is the historic Fort George.  Wheelchair access is possible, but only if you give advanced notification.

Grand Etang National Park and Concord Waterfalls are not wheelchair friendly – Grenada disabled access is not only poor at the historic sites, it’s also poor at the nature sites.  Grand Etang National Park and Concord Waterfalls are two of the most popular tourist attractions in Grenada, and they both present serious challenges to wheelchair users.

Narrow sidewalks where they exist – Sidewalks are present in some parts of the island.  Many of the sidewalks along the highway are narrow and can end abruptly (example photo shown on the right).

No accessible public transportation on the island – There are no large buses on the island…instead they use minibuses for public transportation.  We are not aware of any public buses with wheelchair access.

No wheelchair accessible taxis on the island – Similar to Grenada’s public transportation, private taxis are also not a good option for full-time wheelchair users.  There are no Grenada wheelchair accessible taxis that we are aware of.

View Grenada Wheelchair Accessible Shore Excursions