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Coach drive through Tatra Mountains
I am planning the journey from Warsaw ending in Prague. I am concerned about the drive through the Tatra mountains as I suffer from motion sickness (just green for a day or two) even though I wear an ear patch. Can anyone please tell me about the length and difficulty of this trek? Thank you so much!
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The itinerary looks similar to a trip I did in 2017 called Central Europe. I don't recall any precarious mountain driving situations in the mountains. Entering Krakow and Budapest, I don't see any areas of switchbacks - https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Kraków,+Poland/Budapest,+Hungary/@48.5958344,18.1423599,8z/data=!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x471644c0354e18d1:0xb46bb6b576478abf!2m2!1d19.9449799!2d50.0646501!1m5!1m1!1s0x4741c334d1d4cfc9:0x400c4290c1e1160!2m2!1d19.040235!2d47.497912!3e0!5m1!1e4
Beautiful area. You will enjoy the ride.
Isabelle,
Google is your friend in this case. BKMD's link will show you the route on Google Maps. If you zoom in slightly on any portion of the route and drag the little yellow man onto the blue line (route) you will enter the "Street View" mode where you can see up close what any section of the road looks like. (Note: this area has been extensively "3D mapped" by Google, so you need to be careful where you drop the little yellow man- zoom in until you are sure you are on the correct road.
)
You can even "drive" and view the entire route by just clicking the faint white arrows (note the rate of advance is slow and can require a lot of clicking if you want to go far!
) or by returning the the map view and dragging the yellow man further down the road. You can rotate the view 360° at any point to check out what is around you and can also reverse direction. I do this all the time and have even used it to check out walking tours in places like Florence, Venice, etc. that have been extensively mapped by Google and there are blue line pathways. I recently used it to plan a trek in Petra! It is a fantastic tool!
I just picked a random spot the Tatra Mountains segment of Hwy E77 for the Street View screen grab below. While it has only two lanes, the road is smooth, in excellent condition, and fairly straight. I did not see any sharp bends, hairpin turns, or switch-backs like you see in the Dolomites of Italy on the Ultimate Alps tour. While I didn't "travel" the entire route, the sections I did travel looked nice and it appears there were modern rest stops with restaurants and restrooms along the way. You should have no problems.
I think AlanS is going through trip planning withdrawal, now that he's returned from Egypt.
Dear Alan, thank you so much for this incredible response. I will definitely take advantage of your work and "experience" the drive from the comfort of my home! I am so grateful!
Alan, I just finished reading your response, and I am so relieved that this will be doable. I had serious doubts about taking this journey, and I am thrilled to know that the route is not full of hairpin turns and sharp inclines.
Thank you BKMD! I am so glad to have the link you sent, and, along with Alan's tutorial, I will take advantage of this and get to know the route, so I can relax about the drive. My daughter had me buy these ridiculous-looking anti-motion sickness glasses on Amazon which I will also try before the trip to see if they work. It's embarrassing to be so limited with motion sickness, but, unfortunately, it's a real thing that puts a real damper on the ability to enjoy a trip. Thank you, again!
Isabelle:
I sympathize with you regarding motion sickness. I do fine, however, my husband suffers terribly from motion sickness and whenever we have to travel, especially on a plane or bus, it takes him 1-2 days to recover. It does put a damper on travel and he has tried all types of different pills. I don't think he has tried an ear patch. He is a real "trouper" though and gets thru the day, but it is hard on him. Let me know if the anti-motion sickness glasses work. The only time he is ok is when he is driving so we have been taking alot of road trips. We both love to travel and while I enjoy road trips and it has worked well during Covid, at some point, I would like to return to overseas travel.
Let us know how your Sunday "drive" through the Tatras turns out!
Seriously, it is a wonderful tool. It takes some experimenting before you get good at it, but it really works great. If you carefully position the yellow "walking man," you can, rotate, zoom in, and read most roadside signs.
Here is what my Petra trek looked like. I did it virtually with Google Maps many times last year before doing it for real this past March. The blue lines to the right of the visitor center are roads while almost everything to the left are trails in the archaeological site. Except for the short stem trail to the right of the main Petra location marker (on the main trail) and the small loop trail to the right of the "toilets," I did it all- I trekked the main trail from the visitor center to and through the siq to the Treasury, through the Street of Facades into the main basin to the Basin Restaurant (Toilets) with the Tauck group. Then I trekked slightly less traveled trails up to the Monastery and down, then returned to the Treasury via the Wadi al-Farasa Trail (southern loop), up the High Place of Sacrifice Trail, to the Haut-lieu du Sacrifice (High Place of Sacrifice
) at the top of Jebel al-Madhbah, the mountain above the Treasury, and finally back down to the Street of Facades near the Treasury and back to the Visitor Center.
Google did their magic with the large, heavy, 3D mapping system mounted to the back of a (strong?!) hiker!!
You might be surprised how many locations around the world have been 3D mapped by Google.
The second screen grab was taken from the last section of trail (steps) leading to the Monastery reveal! In the last screen grab, done along the Wadi al-Farasa trail, I rotated the view backwards to the left to capture the Renaissance Tomb facade, interpretive sign, and the ever-present vendor tent.
I did it for real in March, but did it again today, but virtually from the comfort of my easy chair!!!
It is a great way to kill an afternoon! 
**AlanS **- Like I said in a different thread, based on your comment,
"I did it virtually with Google Maps many times last year before doing it for real this past March."
I again question your comment about you being 'slightly' OCD.
Well, at least I didn't map out my photo stops and views ahead of time . . . . well, maybe just a few!
Like this one of the fallen tomb facade along the Wadi al-Farasa trail. The photo didn't quite come out like I wanted, but just something about it spoke to me. Like a few other sites on this tour, it sort of reminded me of the Percy Bysshe Shelley poem "Ozymandias", so I wanted to be sure I knew where it was and could find it easily!
We just returned from this trip on Friday, and I see familiar faces have already weighed in! The drive through the mountains does not have switchbacks or steep inclines, but you’ll spend a good part of the day on the coach. We departed the hotel at 7:30 am and arrived in Budapest at 4:30 pm, with an hour for lunch and rest stops. Let me know if you have other questions/concerns!