bus ride

Hi, kschrmack, first, I have no idea. Howover, I share your concerns about mountainous drives. What I usually do is go on my laptop, pull up Google Maps, request directions from point A to point B, and the look at the Street View (to do that, just click on the little yellow person in the lower right hand corner). The maps will change and show bright blue lines. You can click on each blue line and ti will show you what the actual scenery looks like.

That said, it can be tedious, so one other option I would suggest is to use AI. Gemini by Google is the easiest. Just go to Google Search, click on AI mode, then ask your question. I would suggest asking something like this:

I will be traveling from Zakopane, Poland to Poprad, Slovenia by bus. I do not like heights and would like to make sure that the roads are not too scary for me. Please let me know if this is something I need to worry about.

You should get an answer almost immediately. I recently did this for my upcoming trip as we will be driving through mountains in Norway. And AI actually routed me through places that were not too high or with too many tight hairpin turns. It worked out very well.

FlixBus has a direct Zakopane to Poprad bus with 4 stops; the trip is just under 2 hrs. Mardee's suggestions to Google your street views is perfect. You can look at your views between each stop, but it looks like you clear the mountains between the 2nd & 3rd stop.
I took a FlixBus from Kraków to Žilina, also in Slovakia last year. The ride was fine, roads good.

I am unclear if you are concerned about the road and the bus or if you have a personal aversion to mountain roads in general?

I have been on parts of the route and on several other routes in the same general area; and I peeked at Google Streetview which was pretty consistent with my experience. Overwhelmingly “Good” good lane width, “Good” pavement, “Good” markings. I can’t speak to how heavy the traffic is.

Thanks to the EU, the days of the Wild West (or maybe Wild East) are pretty much over. Most everything on major roadways are now built and maintained to the same minimum standards; which are pretty good.

Guessing 5 minutes per stop and doing some math will tell you that the average speed of the bus is no more than 40mph so these guys aren’t racing down the road.

Then I asked AI for a list of the major accidents on the route. None.

I did a few looks for anything that might be frightening to anyone with issues with height, and I didn’t notice any, but I presume, depending on your threshold for such things there are a few. I am claustrophobic to near panic in crowded shopping centers, so I get it.

Thank you so much for the info. I will look into your suggestions.