Sleeper buses in Vietnam, berth by berth

A sleeper bus in Vietnam is not a coach with reclining seats. It is two decks of flat berths, shoes in a bag at the door, a curtain instead of a wall. Which berth you book decides whether you sleep.

What is a Vietnamese sleeper bus?

A sleeper bus in Vietnam carries 38 to 44 passengers in flat berths on two decks rather than in seats. Each berth runs about 1.8 metres with a moulded footwell, a thin blanket and often a curtain.

Shoes come off at the door and go into a plastic bag you keep with you. Luggage goes in the hold, and anything valuable stays in the berth.

Sleeper buses run every long route in the country. On many of them they are the only overnight option, and the getting around guide sets them against the trains and flights.

Which berth should you book?

Book a lower-deck berth in the middle of the bus. The lower deck is steadier and the middle sits furthest from the wheel arches and the toilet. Neither position costs extra.

The back row is a bench of three or five berths with no gaps. It bounces hardest and it is the last to sell, for a reason.

Upper berths give more headroom and more movement in a corner. They suit light sleepers less than the price suggests.

What does a sleeper bus cost?

Fares on a sleeper bus run 150,000 to 500,000 dong depending on distance. At about 26,000 dong to the US dollar that is six to nineteen dollars, for journeys of four to thirteen hours.

A sleeper fare is roughly half the equivalent train fare and a fifth of a domestic flight once transfers are counted. It is the reason the network exists.

Book through a hostel, an operator's own site or an aggregator. Tickets bought at the station are the same price and involve a station.

What is the etiquette?

Shoes off at the door, quiet after lights out, and the curtain is a wall. Nobody eats a hot meal on board and nobody takes a phone call at full volume.

The bus stops once or twice at a roadside kitchen with a toilet and instant noodles. Those stops are 15 to 20 minutes and the driver does not count heads.

Keep the shoe bag with you rather than leaving it by the door, which is the single most common way people lose a pair.

What goes wrong?

Three things go wrong, reliably. The air conditioning runs cold enough to need a layer, the horn is used constantly on mountain roads, and the arrival is often earlier than advertised.

Buses to Ha Giang and Sapa arrive between four and six in the morning. That is a problem when check-in is at two in the afternoon, and most hostels on those routes let you shower and wait.

Drop-offs are not always in the centre. Ask where the bus actually stops: "Hanoi" on a ticket can mean a station 8 km out, and the bus stations guide covers which is which.

What should you take on board?

Take earplugs, an eye mask, a warm layer and a small bag with everything valuable in it. Those four solve most of what makes a first sleeper bus miserable.

Motion sickness tablets are worth carrying on the mountain routes, where the last two hours wind continuously.

A litre of water and something to eat means the roadside stop is optional rather than necessary — the convenience store guide covers what to buy before boarding.

Is a sleeper bus better than the train?

The train is more comfortable and the sleeper bus goes more places. The Reunification line serves the coast, so Hanoi to Hue or Da Nang to Nha Trang are better by rail; the train guide covers those.

Everything off that line — Ha Giang, Sapa, Da Lat, Mui Ne, the Mekong towns — is bus country, and a sleeper berth is the civilised end of it.

For a night journey where both exist, take the train. Where only the bus exists, book a lower-deck berth in the middle and set an alarm two hours before the advertised arrival.