I am looking into taking bus sleeper to get to Da Nang from Ha Noi. but in the ticket description it says that you can bring only one piece of luggage of 20 kilos. my luggage is 23 and I have carry on. Did anybody have the experience traveling with two pieces of luggage on the bus? please, advise
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To add to the initial question (funny how the discussion went, if you’re afraid about unsafe buses – or vehicles in general, don’t go to Vietnam at all :D):
Too much is never too much in Vietnam 😉
Joke aside, I once was allowed only 10kg in one piece (for a long limo/16 seater ride), but I had 23 in two. It wasn’t a problem after all, though I sweat a lot before… Similarly, 25kg was fine in a shorter sleeper bus ride.
Obviously, it always also depends on the carriage of the other ppl, but the usual stance of Vietnamese people is: everything fits, somehow, right. (Exceptions might be the rule, but never heard of one!)
Oh, one addition to the bus vs train and prices: the prices for train tickets is much cheaper if you pay at the counter/at the machine at the station (usually about 30-40 percent or even more) instead the international site online.
But buses are also more flexible, if you don’t like to arrive super early (before 6) in the morning in Hanoi or Saigon, you have to take a sleeper bus…
To add to the initial question (funny how the discussion went, if you’re afraid about unsafe buses – or vehicles in general, don’t go to Vietnam at all :D):
Too much is never too much in Vietnam 😉
Joke aside, I once was allowed only 10kg in one piece (for a long limo/16 seater ride), but I had 23 in two. It wasn’t a problem after all, though I sweat a lot before… Similarly, 25kg was fine in a shorter sleeper bus ride.
Obviously, it always also depends on the carriage of the other ppl, but the usual stance of Vietnamese people is: everything fits, somehow, right. (Exceptions might be the rule, but never heard of one!)
#18 puts a different light on night buses than #7.
Edited: 4:10 am, January 09, 2026
On my family’s first visit to Vietnam we caught a sleeper bus. It was a night of horrors too numerous to recount but after having laughed like drains recounting our individual experiences over coffee next morning in Hanoi we resolved never to catch a night bus again.
On a subsequent trip we got a day bus which was configured as a sleeper bus and again I found it really unpleasant. The sleeper seats are uncomfortable for someone of my height, you can’t see out from the lower berth and then there is the whole business of having surrender your shoes and being offered a basket of Vietnamese sized flip flops which are about half the length of my feet to wear as you tottter off to the toilet on the stops.
I don’t know or care if they are safe or not, I do know I will never get on one again because they are just a terrible way to travel.
I think Steve at #18 pretty much answers why people use sleeper buses.
I put in a random search on 12go (for easy comparison). Hanoi to Hue.
Buses cheapest around 400k, cheapest sleeper train (6 bed compartment) 1,260K.
No brainer if on a tight budget. Also usually easy to book in your hostel/hotel or at agent.
It was buses like the Sinh Cafe that opened up Vietnam to travellers in the late 90s and early 2000s. They plied the country full of backpackers.
On my first trip to Vietnam in 2001 I wanted to travel on the Reunification Express train (Hanoi to Saigon). Then, it cost about $120. Foreigners paid 5 times the local’s fare. Sinh Cafe bus about $20 or 25.
These buses have a history in the development of tourism in Vietnam that we all enjoy now.
Edited: 8:57 pm, January 08, 2026