Sapa Ethnic Travels

What reviewers say

Excerpts from public Google reviews. They are the reviewers’ opinions, not ours, and we have not verified them.

• ★ 5a year ago

  I got pure anxiety when i read the comments of this travel agency and in the end, I had a great and safe experience. I booked one VIP 22 Cabin sleeper bus via 12Go from Sapa to Haiphong. I got to the check-in address and no one was there, for about an hour (except a cute little dog), but i contacted them via WhatsApp and they informed me that the bus is running late due to traffic and that i should just wait there. You can also leave your bags there if you still want to walk around or grab somethingto eat. The bus was about 10 minutes late, but we did only leave 30 minutes after the time stated on the ticket, which was not an issue. When the bus got there, I showed my ticket to the bus driver, he told me which cabin to go to (A2). The bus was very clean and very comfortable. The staff was friendly. I had 2 pillows and a big blanket, aircon, adjusted seats, charge port to charge your phone, free wifi, TV (but i didnt use it), curtain for privacy, a lot of space. They supply 2 bottles of water and wet wipes. I had good sleep. We had one (quick) stop, where we could get off quickly for a toilet break (3000d payable) and get food. I didnt know how much time i had, but i also didnt ask, so i was quick to get back to the bus. I was the last person to be dropped off (just before 9pm). They told me to wait inside while i waited for the grab I ordered. I felt safe. My bag was NOT damaged, stolen or broken into. The bus was give or take 10-20 minutes late compared to the times on the ticket. The only things I didnt like but did not bother me too much, was the check-in office, it was very dirty. My view was obstructed with a big sticker from the outside. All-in-all I had a great time. I suggest paying a little more for a VIP ticket. I have learned my lesson with 30 to 40 seater busses, those arent too great. :)

• ★ 4a year ago

  I was very wary about booking with this company cause of the awful reviews but we booked the VIP 20 seater from Sapa to Ha Giang and it was honestly worth the money. Comfy beds (you couldn’t really sit up though) and spacious little areas. Was much better than the sleeper train we got from Hanoi to Sapa! It was well organised and we were honestly surprised at how nice it was. Only reason I’m not giving it five stars is because it advertised that it had a toilet on the bus but it didn’t - it did stop twice though! They also transported all of us to our hotels which was great!

• ★ 18 months ago

  Live updates: 1 day before departure: we booked our ride a day before leaving.. we got a WhatsApp message not long after that saying the bus was full and they tried to put us in a 34 cabin ( 3 row ) I kindly said no to that.. we then got proposed a departure at 8:00 in the morning instead of 11:30.. not much of a problem.. The bus ride : our bus driver stopped the bus on the side of the street.. left the engine one and is right now sitting in a restaurant eating breakfast.. - still no stop for us to stop at any toilet or get a little 10 mins to smoke a cigarettes or grab a snack ( he just stopped again by the road to take a piss and smoked a cigarette sitting by the bag door ) and left the door from the bus closed We might reach destination with no more star ⭐️ left - we finally stopped.. after 5 hours of transport..1:30 hours before destination.. -and we got dropped 45 mins walk away from the drop of points.. where many taxi was waiting for us.. trying to bring us back to the city - if I could have leave a minus start I would have - stay away from that company!!! Luckily us we arrived in the day but having to experience that in the dark and at night! No thank you

• ★ 16 months ago

  This company doesn’t provide transportation — it provides suffering. They knowingly oversold tickets, cramming far more people onto the bus than there were beds. People were forced to sleep on the floor in the aisles, wedged between legs and luggage, like livestock. This wasn’t an accident. This was intentional. They took everyone’s money first, then revealed the nightmare. And then came the baggage. Staff casually stacked bags on the roof and walked all over them — yes, physically stood on passengers’ belongings. These bags contained expensive cameras, laptops, and personal valuables, and they treated them like garbage. No padding. No care. No accountability. Just bare feet stomping on bags. If anything is damaged, good luck — they clearly don’t care. The conditions on the bus were beyond unacceptable: overcrowded, unsafe, claustrophobic, filthy and degrading. There was zero concern for passenger safety or dignity. When people understandably complained, the staff responded with pure hostility — rude, dismissive, and aggressively uninterested in fixing anything. No empathy. No apologies. No solutions. This is not “bad service.” This is systemic exploitation. They maximize profit by overselling, then force passengers into accepting conditions that would be illegal in many countries. They treat customers like obstacles, not people. It felt less like public transport and more like a human cargo operation. If you value: • your safety • your belongings • basic human decency • or your mental health DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. There are plenty of ways to travel. This should not be one of them. I hope this review saves someone else from making the same mistake. No one deserves to be treated this way.

• ★ 13 months ago

  Arranged a bus travel via this agency but the service was very bad. Contact persons do not speak english and are often very unfriendly. We had to switch the bus during the night but in the end we had to wait for 5h for our second bus, while it was expected 1h after drop off. I was feeling sick during the trip but the bus driver told me I am not allowed to sit in the front and kept yelling that I had to go back.

• ★ 13 months ago

  My worst nightmare of a bus ride. The bus arriving late was the least of our concerns at that point. We were shoved into a bus that was overflowing with people sleeping head to toe on the FLOOR. Made to walk through these people almost stepping on them or upskirting myself. Booked 2 lower SINGLE cabins as I am quite motion sick, it was more expensive than the other bus services (so I naturally assumed it was a better bus). We got shoved up, WITH MY BOYFRIEND into 1 cabin. What in the world?! Later we realised every other cabin was packed with 2 people too. And halfway through the night, a dude walked around rudely opening all the curtains asking you to pay up. At every stop, new people would rotate and try to get into your cabin if there was space. Didn’t know if I would be violated that night….. Worst experience of my life and I would never wish for anyone else to experience this. Unless of course u like the thrill of fraud and corruption. Oh ya, we didn’t get a refund. I guess we paid extra for the once in a life time experience.

• ★ 12 years ago

  TO ALL MY FELLOW BACKPACKERS ! I normally don’t leave reviews but my experience with this company was the worse I’ve ever gotten since traveling in SEA. I took the overnight bus from Sapa to Dien Bien Phu (there isn’t that many option when it regards to buses) l was on a 40 sleeper bus. I was travelling alone and met another foreigner couple that was traveling to Laos (same bus). When we got into the bus, there were still lots of beds available (including single one). The staff refuse to give it to us and put the 3 of us at the back of the bus on a flat surface. On the next stop, we got more people and they also didn’t let the foreigners use those empty beds. Instead they SQUEEZE all of us like animals saying it’s for 5 people. They didn’t speak English at all so I made them understand ABSOLUTELY NOT. The 5 of us had bigger & taller bodies than the average Vietnamese person. When I wanted to move and take the single available bed, the bus driver and the 2 other staffs on board yelled at me and threatened me to kick me off the bus 😳 Like seriously, they were SO RUDE, I couldn’t believe how they were treating us. They ended up giving the empty beds to the Vietnamese. I felt so UNSAFE during the entire bus journey. When we arrive at Dien Bien Phu around 4am, I wasn’t sure how to get to my hostel but I was willing to walk. Surprisingly the bus driver pull up a motorbike (had no idea how it got it) and ask me to get on it & drive me to my hostel. I was very surprised by his kindness and didn’t think too much of it (at this point my brain was out). But when we arrived to my hostel, he asked me 50 000 VND… lol of course it wasn’t an act of kindness, just a way to make money. Definitely NOT PROFESSIONAL AT ALL !

• ★ 13 months ago

  The worst experience in my life! We came 4 people and they’re welcome. No space for us. Many people sit on the floor and at the start they wanted to sit me between two older men and then with my boyfriend in the same cabin, even though we paid for two private cabins. All the driving was so bad and there was no stops for toilet. when there was one stop we couldn’t get off because too many people sat and slept on the floor. avoid in all cost!! Even one star is too many