We booked a VIP bus ticket, but in the end everyone who had a bus leaving Sapa to Ninh Binh between 9 and 10 pm was put on the same bus leaving at 9.25. The driver drove like a mad man and we arrived more than 2 hours earlier than planned in the middle of the night in Tam Coc (not good if there is no one there at the guesthouse yet). We did not make any toilet break during the 6 hours drive and the people from the bus were unbelievably rude - yelling at us when we were not fast enough entering the bus, slapping my feet with a flip flop, drawing the curtains and turning on the private light at my seat half an hour before we arrived, ... I had the feeling they were on drugs. No idea why they operate like that - and why the authorities are not doing anything against it. Never again.
We booked tickets from Sa Pa to Ninh Binh, departure was supposed to be at 12:20. We arrived at the indicated address at 12 and they told us to wait. At 12:30 we asked if the bus was delayed and they told us that it would depart at 1pm.
At 1:10pm they told us that the bus was broken and that we needed to wait until 4:30pm, in a different location.
Then the departure was actually at 4:40pm (delayed again), the "luxury sleeper bus" was very smelly (like a strong smell of feet mixed with cigarettes). The driver wasa not friendly at all, almost rude.
We were originally supposed to arrive in Ninh Binh at 9:20pm, but we arrived at 1am and we had to ask for a late check-in at the hotel.
Furthermore, the arrival stop in Nimh Binh is really far from the city center (there are no stop in town) so take this into consideration when booking the same route
In the schedule it said the bus was leaving at 21:45h. I was lucky to be there at 21, because the bus was leaving at 21:15h. Moreover, it was supposed to arrive to destination around 6:30am (even the worker in the office was telling us that)... at 3:30am we were told to get off the bus, so we couldn't plan to spend the night anywhere in advance and we had to knock some hostels doors to have a place to sleep.
LET US KNOW THE CORRECT SCHEDULES!
Same as all other terrible reviews. Stopped for hours mid route not sure what to do, but our luggage ended up on the roof which would have been disastrous if it had rained. Staff physically shoving you down the bus and shouting at you. Despite getting confirmation from the helpline that we were definitely getting dropped at ninh binh central hotel, ended up getting kicked out at tam coc bus station 1.5hrs before arrival time so 4.30am. I guess it got us from A to nearly B but it was far from pleasant, but we expected all of this from reading reviews which made it a little easier to deal with
ESTAFA. Tras llegar a la estación de buses y enseñar los dos tickets en clase vip nos dicen que tenemos que esperar al próximo bus. A los 10 minutos nos comentan que nos subamos en el bus que estaba allí. Literalmente metieron a mi pareja en el primer camastro (porque decir cabina se queda largo) y a mí me llevan entre gente que había tirada en el suelo del autobús a otro camastro que estaba ya ocupado. Me metieron a mí ahí y al hombre que estaba dentro en el suelo. El autobús iba plagado de gente por el suelo en condiciones deplorables. Las fotos de su página web distan bastante de la realidad.
Si quieres coger bus recomiendo la página de Bookaway y la compañía Sao Viet en cabina vip.
poor communication, had to change bus without bèing told why even though the bus also went to the same destination, over crowded people sleeping on the floor
The bus is the nicest one I've been on in vietnam. But we were given the run around at the station cause no one knew how to help us and eventually we were given tickets for a bus over a hour after our initial departure time.
ラオカイからニンビンへ, バス Limousine 24, Futa Ha Son (Futa Hà Sơn), 2025/08/18
Asian Bus Travel, Cat Ba Go Easy Limousine, G8 Sapa Open Tour, Grouptour, HK Buslines, Inter Bus Lines, King Express Bus, S Trip, Sapa Discovery Travel, Sapa Express, Trang An Limousine, Vietnam Railways
