We are considering a long day trip with a tour company to take us from Rome-Sorrento-the Coast-Pompeii-Rome. One of our group easily gets motion sickness in cars (even if in front). Will this be a miserable experience for that group member? He could skip this excursion if so.
Thank you.
Naples to Positano was pretty curvy. You drive slow though, so that helps. I guess it would be up to him. You could surely find a video of the drive on YouTube and have him watch it to see what he thinks. I only get a little carsick and it was manageable for me. I didn't even use any Dramamine. But his comfort level will clearly be different.
Marcie, we had to use a private shuttle from Sorrento to Naples for an early flight and I had a very difficult time with motion sickness. I'm pretty sure that Sorrento to the Amalfi isn't any better, as far as curvy roads.
I didn't have any trouble with Rome to Naples, Naples to Sorrento or Sorrento to Pompeii by train. Would it be possible for your group to split up and a couple of you do Rome-Naples-Pompeii by train and the rest take the motorized tour that includes the coast? That tour is more than I'd personally want to squeeze into a day anyway, and may be more for some others of your traveling companions as well. It would be nice for your friend with the weak stomach to have the option of at least Pompeii if that's high on his must-see list?
Going on to Sorrento by train is also an option for the 2nd group if they hit Pompeii early...which is highly advised during the warmer months anyway. Again, it would be a longer day than I would enjoy but definitely not impossible. Having dealt with motion sickness all of my life, I sympathize with your companion!
Of course the whole point of an organized tour is to have the arrangements done for you. But your friend could (if comfortable with independent travel) stay at Pompeii, or visit Herculaneum (by local Circumvesuviana train and foot) while you all go to the Amalfi Coast. The van or bus could pick them up on the way back to Rome.
Note that this is a VERY ambitious day trip from Rome. There will be an annoying amount of time on the vehicle, and not enough "free time" at the sites. Before I paid for this, I would ask how much time in Pompeii. That's because most independent travelers spend 2-4 hours in Pompeii, and we often read posts from those who enjoyed the entire day. We didn't see Pompeii until our third time in Italy, and we slept in Sorrento.
The highway from Rome to Sorrento is pretty ordinary. It's from Sorrento to the Amalfi Coast that's curvy, and as noted, slow. At least there's lots of sky and fresh air, and the road is well paved. The car has to stop when traffic bogs down as busses arrange to pass each other a curves where the two-lane road isn't wide enough.
I have some trouble with motion sickness-I don't consider it that bad. The road from Positano to Sorrento on the bus was bad for me. I felt miserable and thought I was going to have to get off before my stop. I would not do that ride again myself.
It's a regular freeway (mostly straight with few very wide curves) all the way from Rome to Castellammare, between Pompeii and Sorrento. Castellammare is where you exit the freeway to go to Sorrento. From there to Sorrento there are a few km on a two lane highway which has some curves, but not too bad. It's a short stretch.
From Sorrento to Amalfi, through Positano, the road is very curvy.
I can tell you when we were heading to Sorrento from Amalfi on the bus, there was some poor soul sitting at the back of the bus who was either having motion sickness or was hung over. There was retching involved. Hopefully your friend has something they can take to help alleviate car sickness...
We just did this exact itinerary last week.
Oddly enough, the road was extremely bumpy while getting out of Rome for about 45 minutes and was easy to tolerate at the Amalfi Coast.
I know people seem to comment about the ambitious nature of this plan, and that was intimidating for me initially. However, once we buckled down and decided to make it happen, we were all so very happy we did! I highly recommend this, assuming everyone in your party is healthy and can tolerate long days.
Good luck and enjoy!
I haven't done the Sorrento side, but my friend threw up on the Amalfi-Salerno bus.....not awesome....
