L
Louise We arrived on time and were told to wait there in which we did for over 10 minutes when a taxi arrived to our big bus. We were only made aware that we had to switch buses at Hanoi when we arrived and were accused of being late after being dropped by the taxi that was arranged for us. When we arrived at Hanoi no one could help us get our second bus to Sapa. Your ticket office was closed and we had to get another company to help us. Finally we got put on a bus in which we had to swap twice before arriving in Ninh Binh. When we arrived in Ninh Binh we were greeted by a very rude taxi driver who made fun of us and laughed when he thought we expected him to help us with our bags. We had no issue with helping ourselves but the driver constantly ushered us to open the car boot ourselves. Again we don’t mind doing this ourselves but this is the first time a taxi driver has never offered to help with bags or simply open a door for us. We felt very uncomfortable with him and couldn’t help but feel like he was mocking us.
Minibüs Van + VIP Bus, Grouptour (Công ty du lịch quốc tế Grouptour), 21 May 2024
ML
Maria LIf you want a night of hell , pick this bus.
Minibüs Van + VIP Bus, Grouptour (Công ty du lịch quốc tế Grouptour), 21 May 2024
C
Caroline Staff at pick up point were not helpful at all, I asked when we arrived if we were still due to leave at 10.30am to which the lady said yes. We didn’t end up leaving until 11.30am with no explanation, we kept having to find staff to ask what was happening and being told “soon, soon”
On the bus the staff also were not friendly, we were given no tickets and had no idea where we should sit and were ignored completely with no eye contact.
My seat did not recline and both mine and my partners usb port did not work.
We did however arrive only a little after our given arrival time and the ride was straight forward once we got on.
Otobüs VIP Cabin 20, Sapa Discovery Travel, 4 May 2024
C
Carolin I booked it really last minute and everything went good. Bus was more or less on time and arrived about an hour early. The "beds" are about 1,7 m long so if your taller it's probably not comfortable... We ended at the right spot.
Otobüs VIP 32, Grouptour (Công ty du lịch quốc tế Grouptour), 14 Nis 2024
CM
Claudio MFirst things first: we started where we should have, arrived where we should have, both on time, and travelled with the VIP bus that we paid for. Only in between Sapa and Ninh Binh at 2 am we were dropped in the middle of Hanoi for a bus change that arrived 2 hours later. This was not scheduled (or at least not advertised) and the help desk through WhatsApp was basically useless. We just hoped that the second bus would arrive but there were no sign there nor any signal, so it was basically hope for 2 hours.
Otobüs VIP Cabin 20, Sapa Discovery Travel, 12 Nis 2024
FR
Felix RBus started 1h late, the crew was not friendly at all and we were making stops so many times.
Otobüs VIP 33 Sleeper , Grouptour (Công ty du lịch quốc tế Grouptour), 27 Mar 2024
RG
Rebecca GDeparture point only took us to another bus terminal where people had already boarded the bus. Booked for 1615 and didn't get taken to the bus terminal until then. Clearly they had overbooked / cancelled buses as there were people for 1600, 1615 and 1700 bus all told to board the same one! Initially they tried to tell us to get into a minivan, I had to re-show them my ticket with the word SLEEPER. Eventually was told to board the sleeper bus, after they prioritised boarding all of the locals who arrived after us, they then tried to put me and my partner in 1 cabin together after doing it to other people. I refused and insisted on 2 given we had paid for 2 tickets. They then allowed us into 2 cabins, and there was even 1 cabin free on the bus and I saw at least 2 cabins doubled up. The assistant on the bus was frankly just rude, and pushed me aside physically twice without saying anything. Did not speak any English and ignored our attempts to communicate with him with Google translate.
Eventually the bus set off about 1hr after schedule and after about 1hr into the journey we stopped and were switched onto another bus. There was no attempt to communicate with us at all, if they had explained from the beginning the whole journey would have been much easier to understand. The new bus driver was much more pleasant and helpful (we asked him on google translate for his number, so our hotel could call him to arrange a taxi for us at the other end, and he kindly obliged, unlike the first driver and assistant who just totally ignored us despite reading the same message. We later stopped for a break at services, along with the original bus - we were told 20min break, 1hr later we were still there as crews from both buses were sat eating food together! Meanwhile all the passengers were back on the bus waiting to go. They also stopped a few times on the way and a few locals got on and were sleeping in the aisle. Unsurprisingly we arrived about 1hr after scheduled time.
Otobüs VIP 33 Sleeper , Grouptour (Công ty du lịch quốc tế Grouptour), 27 Mar 2024
JM
James MArrives at 4am not 7am as expected, if I’d known I would have booked somewhere to sleep at the destination
Otobüs Sleeper 40, Techbus VN JSC (Techbus Vietnam Joint stock company), 25 Mar 2024
AS
Anne SThe bus was supposed to leave at 21:30, but we already left at 20:56.. We were happy we arrived early. There was a second stop were people got on & they overbooked the bus.. 4 tourists had to lay in de aisle on the ground for a 8 hour trip, instead of the VIP sleeper they booked. Really poor service as well, no body that spoke english and very agressive/irritated men.
Otobüs VIP 34, Sapa Ethnic Travel (Công Ty TNHH Một Thành Viên Du Lịch Thiểu Số), 19 Mar 2024
EK
Emily KOverall good experience. I received the cabins this time which were very comfortable and private. Only points off due to going to a slightly different drop off location.
Otobüs Sleeper 41, Sapa Ethnic Travel (Công Ty TNHH Một Thành Viên Du Lịch Thiểu Số), 25 Şub 2024
