[Hanoi & Sapa #8] Sapa to Hanoi by HK Buslines Sleeper Bus

9:25am, the HK Buslines office in Sapa. The bus to Hanoi left from here.

Direct Answer & TL;DR

October 3, we left Sapa and came down to Hanoi. We took an HK Buslines sleeper bus and split four people across two downstairs double cabins. I shared one with our younger one, and my wife shared the other with our elder one. A double cabin was too narrow for an adult and a child to lie down comfortably together. Next time, four single cabins would probably be enough. What the bus did have was a toilet, and it was clean. Lotte Mall isn’t where most passengers get off, so I was worried. The driver told us where to get off and passed us on to a shuttle. Put the hotel deposit on a credit card.

Won amounts for card payments are copied from that day’s Travlog (Hana Money) payment records; Travlog is a Korean prepaid travel card. Cash and the deposit are converted at the same day’s rate (100 VND ≈ ₩5.20). USD figures are approximate, at roughly ₩1,390 = $1.

From the Sapa office through Noi Bai International Airport to Lotte Mall. Google Maps says 306km and 5 hours 15 minutes. (Map: Google Maps)

The time Google Maps calculated assumes no stops. Our bus stopped at two rest stops and at both airport terminals, and traffic backed up in Hanoi. We left at 10:20 and walked into the hotel at 17:35. That is 7 hours 15 minutes.

Checking out and finding the HK Buslines Sapa office

We ate breakfast at the Sapa hotel and checked out at 9:00. That was also when I settled the dinner we had charged to our room at Chic on the first night. We hadn’t booked the hotel pickup, so I called a Grab from the front of the hotel. Google Maps puts it at 1.9km and 8 minutes by car.

The hill road up to the office. The line is the route Google drew. (Map: Google Maps)

I wasn’t sure what to put in as the Grab destination. The pickup point in the Vexere app reads “732 Dien Bien Phu Office”. But when I opened that address in Google Maps, the pin landed right next to the HK Buslines office, not on it.

The screen I checked the evening before. The right pin is the app’s address, the left pin is the HK Buslines office. (Map: Google Maps)

In the end I set the Grab destination to HK Buslines - Sapa Office, and that was the right place. The office address registered on Google Maps is also 732-734 Điện Biên Phủ. If you’re unsure, search by the office name instead of the address.

📍 HK Buslines - Sapa Office · 732-734 Đường Điện Biên Phủ, Sa Pa, Lào Cai, Vietnam

The drop-off point and the downstairs double cabin I picked on Vexere

I booked the bus through the Vexere app. I could pick my own seats, I could choose a double cabin, and I could choose where to get off.

For the last three nights we were staying at L7 West Lake Hanoi by LOTTE HOTELS, inside Lotte Mall in the West Lake area. HK Buslines let me choose “Opposite Lotte Mall (Đối diện Lotte Mall Tây Hồ)” as the drop-off point.

The booking details. Boarding at 10:15, drop-off at 16:05 opposite Lotte Mall.

You pick the drop-off point from a list when you book. The two airport terminals, the Hoan Kiem Old Quarter and stops around West Lake all show up with an estimated arrival time. We booked “opposite Lotte Mall” from the start.

Vexere’s drop-off list. When I reopened it to take this screenshot, an ‘Update’ button appeared at the bottom.

The booking details screen has a ‘Change’ link next to the drop-off point. It looked like you can change the drop-off after booking. I didn’t actually try it.

Our seats were two double cabins in the middle of the lower deck. I wasn’t sure the kids could manage a cabin each on their own, so I picked double cabins, where one adult and one child share a cabin.

Lower deck, middle row, A13 and B13.

Seven hours in a double cabin

The 10:15 bus left at 10:20. I shared one cabin with our younger one, and my wife shared the other with our elder one.

It wasn’t as roomy as the name “double cabin” suggests. An adult and a child couldn’t lie down comfortably together, so we each lay in a slightly awkward position the whole way. If you’re taller than 170cm, you have to bend your legs. Travel information sites give the width of a double cabin as roughly 90–110cm, and the numbers differ by source. A single cabin is listed at 60–70cm wide. If I booked again, four single cabins would probably be fine.

In that narrow cabin I lay side by side with our younger one. Sometimes we fell asleep together, and when we were awake we talked. There were other passengers just outside the cabin, so we kept our voices down to a whisper. Outside the window, Sapa’s terraced rice fields slid past.

10:30am, on the way out of Sapa.

Of everything on this bus, the toilet is what I was happiest about. Kids sometimes need a bathroom urgently. Just knowing there was one on the moving bus put my mind at ease. The kids used it while the bus was moving. It was clean, and there was no problem using it.

The layout is similar to an airplane toilet.

Travel information sites say most VIP cabin buses have a small toilet at the back. They also advise using the rest-stop toilets instead, because the on-board one is unpleasant and noisy. The toilet on our bus was clean. It may differ from bus to bus. On a trip of over 6 hours with kids, that difference matters.

At 11:30 we stopped at the first rest stop. They did a headcount at 12:00, and the bus left again at 12:05. The second rest stop came at 14:45. An announcement said we had 15 minutes.

2:48pm, the second rest stop.

This rest stop was full of dust, and the slippers they hand out there were dusty too. On a sleeper bus you take your shoes off when you board and put them in a plastic bag. I think it’s better to take them out of the bag and wear them when you get off at a rest stop.

The shuttle before Nhat Tan Bridge, and the deposit at L7 West Lake

We set off again at 15:00. At 15:50 we stopped at the domestic terminal of Noi Bai International Airport, and at 15:57 at the international terminal.

Most people get off at Noi Bai International Airport or in Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem Old Quarter. Our destination was neither, and I had worried before we left about how to get off at Lotte Mall. So when our bags were loaded, I told the driver in advance that we were getting off at Lotte Mall. The drop-off point was a worry too. Both the app and Google Maps marked it as “opposite Lotte Mall”. The night before, I had looked up the walking route from there to the hotel: 1.2km, 18 minutes.

I needn’t have worried. As we got close, the driver told the passengers in our cabins. He had even taken our suitcases off the bus and lined them up ready. We actually got off just before Nhat Tan Bridge (Cầu Nhật Tân), which crosses the Red River, before reaching Lotte Mall. They told us to switch to a small shuttle. It was 16:15.

Traffic on the bridge was heavy. After we crossed it, the shuttle kindly took us all the way to the front of Lotte Mall. The shuttle was free. I think Lotte Mall was the destination all along. The app’s “opposite” label seems to have been wrong. From Lotte Mall it was only a short walk to the hotel.

4:52pm, Lotte Mall seen through the shuttle window.

📍 Lotte Mall West Lake Hanoi · 272 Đ. Võ Chí Công, Khu đô thị Ciputra, Tây Hồ, Hà Nội, Vietnam

Traffic put us behind schedule, and we reached the hotel at 17:35. The room was really lovely.

5:36pm, the sun going down outside the room window.

📍 L7 West Lake Hanoi by LOTTE HOTELS · Alley 683, Lac Long Quan Street, Tay Ho Ward, Hanoi, Vietnam

At check-in they put a deposit hold on my card. The amount was big, which surprised me. At checkout they cancelled the authorization. The amount is in the schedule.

Put the deposit on a credit card, not a debit card. According to a Korean card company’s guide (KB Think, in Korean), debit cards are likely to be declined for hotel deposits. And when a payment on a travel card (a prepaid card for overseas spending) is cancelled, the money doesn’t come back right away, because the cancellation slip passes through the overseas merchant and the overseas card company before it reaches the Korean card company. Bring at least one credit card.

I slept well on the sleeper bus, but I was oddly tired anyway. We had dinner at PIZZA 4P’S on the 5th floor of Lotte Mall. We ordered the Burrata Parma Ham Margherita, the Soy Garlic Beef pizza and the carbonara. The pizza was good. The Soy Garlic Beef was a little salty, though.

6:53pm, the Burrata Parma Ham Margherita.

We stopped at Lotte Mart for Hanoi beer and snacks and ate them as soon as we got to the room. Then I slept deeply in a dry, fluffy bed.

🔗 References

• Vietnam Tourism - What is a VIP cabin bus in Vietnam — Single cabin 60–70cm wide, double cabin 100–110cm wide, a toilet at the back (rest-stop toilets recommended), shoes off and into a plastic bag before boarding
• Sapa Nomad - Book HK Buslines Hanoi to Sapa — Lower-deck double cabin 90×180cm
• L7 West Lake Hanoi by LOTTE - Infinity Pool — Hotel address (Alley 683, Lac Long Quan Street, Tay Ho Ward, Hanoi)
• Wikipedia - Nhật Tân Bridge — The bridge over the Red River connecting Phú Thượng in Tây Hồ with the road toward Noi Bai Airport
• KB Kookmin Card KB Think - Travel card vs credit card — Korean-language guide from a Korean card company. Debit cards are likely to be declined for hotel deposits; a travel card cancellation comes back late because it passes through the overseas merchant and card company
• 4-Person Hanoi–Sapa 7N8D Booking Breakdown (#1)
• Lao Cai at 6am, Early Check-in at 11am (#5)
• Walking to Cat Cat Village with the Kids (#7)
• Resting by West Lake, a City Tour Bus Around Hoan Kiem, and Home (#9)