Virak Buntham Express Tour & Travel Reviews 

⚠️ **Very disappointing customer service.**

I booked my ticket at **8:05 AM for an 11:45 AM departure**. After the doctor unexpectedly informed me that my mother still needed to stay in the hospital, I immediately contacted the company to ask to **change my departure time**.

I was **NOT asking for a refund**—I only wanted to reschedule my already-paid ticket because of an urgent medical situation.

I contacted them several times, but some responses took **more than 30 minutes**, and eventually my departure time passed while I was still trying to resolve the issue.

What disappointed me most was their attitude. Even after explaining my situation and asking for a one-time exception, they simply said **“it is the policy”** and even said they did not care if I gave negative feedback on social media.

I understand that companies have policies, but **good customer service should also have some understanding and compassion for genuine emergencies.**

Sharing this so other customers know what to expect before booking. **Very disappointed.**

Great value for money service.
Have used sleeper buses several times for traveling throughout Cambodia.
Most staff speak a good level of English. All staff are very helpful.
Thicker blankets on the bus is the only improvement needed.

This company harassed me via WhatsApp, 40 minutes before the departure time to tell me to hurry up and get to the bus station because the minivan had to leave.

We arrived, departed and stopped after 15 minutes, in a huge restaurant & coffee shop complex to 'recharge' the battery.
We were told it was a 40 minute stop but it turned into 1.5 hours.

I had an AirTag in my luggage and when I searched for it, I could see the minivan was nowhere near the 'charging' spot.
Our luggage does not have locks, I have no idea if our bags were opened or not.

I phoned the company and was told not to worry, which was not reassuring at all. I was separated from luggage the entire time.

It feels like a scam; first of all to force passengers to buy expensive unwanted drinks (there is nothing else to do) and second of all because the minivan disappeared with our luggage.

When the driver finally returned, he drove like a man possessed - presumably to make up time - and we were braking, swerving and overtaking pretty much everything.

I did not feel safe and I would suggest avoiding this company completely, especially as they do not have a formal complaints procedure.
In addition, the seat belts did not work.

For reference, we were on the 09:15, 13- seater van from Kampong Thom to Siem Reap, July 19th 2026.
The van registration ended in 192.

Nous avons voyagé au Cambodge en transport en bateau pendant 2h45 de koh rong Sanloem a kampot avec buvasea. Il y avait eu du surbooking et nous avons dû faire le trajet assis par terre au pieds du conducteur. Trajet extrêmement inconfortable et potentiellement dangereux

Drop off 5kms before arrival
Throw me out of the bus without explanation.
Not professional, just scammers holding a bus company.

We’ve been backpacking 3 weeks through Cambodia and traveled 8 times with VET in minivan and one time in sleeping bus. Never delayed, always arrived on time.

The staff was super friendly and always helpful. The service and amenities are very good. AC waiting room and free wifi most of the time, restrooms, providing one bottle of water and USB plug to charge during the journey. They also make regular stops on the way for restrooms and snacks.

We found Google Maps links for every pick-up and drop-off point in the confirmation email, which makes super easy to find the bus every time.

Unlike the other comments, we didn’t think that the driving was dangerous. Yes, the driving is a bit sporty sometimes, but absolutely nothing to worry about. Southeast Asia standard.

Bought 80 dollars trip from Sihanoukville to Ho Chi Mihn City. We only got to Bavet border. Virak Buntham bus company left us 4 km out of border. Needed to take tuktuk and next bus never came. Had to take taxi. No service in English. Did not get my trip refunded. Never again! Do not recommend.

Perennemente in ritardo, fermate lungo il percorso non contemplate, per la maggior parte( tranne qualche caso sporadico) autisti che guidano in maniera incosciente e pericolosa, assegnazione dei posti a sedere non rispettata.

We booked a bus ride through bookaway. Our ticket said we would end up at a specific location, we ended up getting dropped off 55km away, an hour later than expected. Not only did we have to taxi to our actual destination, the bus had a bathroom that was completely unusable. The whole bus was filled with a sewage smell, all the passengers moved seats to get away from the smell, to no avail. After contacting the tour operator and was given the run around, they have advised they would not reimburse us for the taxi ride or our bus ticket. Would not use this service again as their staff are morons and have no interest in helping customers. 💩

Used the Coaster from Sihanoukville to Koh Kong. Was it ok? No way!
1. Began 45 min late - no apology
2. Coach was full and not enough room for luggage so they stuffed the aisle with cases and rucksacks. We had to climb over these. A serious H & S issue.
3. Ticket stated meals would be given but we were only issued with a little bottle of water.
These Coasters are really cramped and the seats don’t recline - very uncomfortable on this long journey.
Use Giant Ibis if you can. VB are barely meeting minimum requirements. 😕

Took their busses several times. Unfortunately they seem to love dirt. Toilet stops in the dirtiest of dirty establishments. Cockroaches on the bus.

A couple of months ago I booked 3 tickets on the Virak Buntham Airbus from Sihanokville to Phnom Penh. I booked via Book away and when I tried to change the time of travel with Bookaway they were most unhelpful. I contacted Virak Buntham and they contacted Bookaway who then said we could change the travel time.
We got to Virak Buntham office and it was all done in less than 5 minutes. The bus journey to Phnom Penh was greater on a very new comfortable bus. Snacks and drinks were complimentary and the service was excellent. I recently booked tickets from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh and Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh. I wanted to extend my stay in Siem Reap so I email Virak Buntham and explained. They immediately responded and changed both bookings and gave me the same seats that I had booked earlier.

This will be my first time doing the Phnom Penh to HCM with this company. I have travelled this route many times with a different company. I am confident that all will be good on all these trips.

Siem Reap to Kampot hotel bus (sleeper), departed late, arrived late, made multiple unscheduled stops. Beds are ok for a 170cm tall slim female, but not anyone larger in frame or height. Way too cosy if you don't know the person next to you. Tuk tuk drivers are like vultures at the final destination, to the point of harassment and intimidation, as soon as you approach the exit door they flock (you don't even need to get off the bus before they harrass you). There's no windows on the lower deck and the walkway is so narrow people brush the curtains open as they pass through.

What a hell of a journey! Sitting in the front seat slowly being roasted with the sun in front for 6 hours from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. No AC, just the fan. We’ve barely left Siem Reap and they stop for lunch which takes nearly an hour with us 3 foreigners waiting by the van while the group of locals sat down in a restaurant and had what felt like a 3-course meal. The temperature outside is 34 degrees while we’re waiting, no one bothered to tell us how long the break was going to be. Nearly passed out from the heat in the van and every time I attempted to roll down the window, the driver would close it straight away making a face and being all moody. Not sure whether that or watching him texting while driving was worse. If it weren’t for my headphones, I would’ve gone mad listening to the shouting and simultaneous clucking like chickens of the 6-7 old ladies behind who thought this was their private ride and not public transport. Will never do this to myself again. Avoid.

We booked a van from Ho Chi Minh to Nom Pen. At the border, a staff member told us to give him our passports and 40 dollars, when we all know that is not the price for the Cambodian visa!! We told him so and he kept insisting it was 40!! So they wanted to steal from us instead of telling the truth, that they would keep the extra dollars for themselves!! We told them we would pay for it by ourselves, as people from other buses were doing with no problem! It is a very VERY quick thing. They said if we do it, they won't wait. It took us 7 minutes to do everything, but they had left!!! THEY LEFT US ALONE IN THE BORDER, WITH ALL OUR STUFF IN THEIR VAN!!!!! Knowing we don't have a simcard or local money!! Thank God police officers saw everything and they called them to make them come back for us, but they refused and hung the phone up!! An officer found a tuk tuk for us and told the driver to take us to the Company next stop, 2 kilometers away!!! We had to pay 5 dollars for the tuk tuk as they refused to pay!!! THEY ARE THIEVES AND HORRIBLE PEOPLE!!!! DO NOT TRAVEL WITH THEM!!! (Oh and even when they didnt wait for us, we arrived at destination 1.30 hours late!!! So they did take time for other delays)

I booked a night bus from Siem Reap - Sihanoukville incl. a boat ticket (Buva Sea) to the islands and a return ticket to the mainland though my hostel Funky Flashpacker where they picked me up one hour before departure. It was 27$, was estimated to take 13 hours, but the bus ride only took 10 hours even though there were a lot of stops. Then we had a ride to the pier. And by the time I was on my boat it was only 12 hours.

The big bus was Virak Buntham and there were no windows in the lower bunk bed. And no toilets. I think the driver stopped twice for the restroom, I’m not sure. Didn’t use it.

I had to share a approx. 110 cm wide bunk bed with a bigger Chinese man. It was only annoying 30 % if the time, he was ok at staying at his part, but I am very small girl so that why it was easier for him to take over my part and also because I’m a small girl I didn’t have a problem with the beds. I slept through probably 70% of the time.

If you’re not small as me (local person size) I would recommend that you take a bus with single bed option, I didn’t because it was a bit more expensive and I was fine.

Also used the company from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap in a minivan. It was 7 hours 8am-3pm, no problems. Brought you to the main bus station a bit way from Siem Reap city center, so you’ll need a tuktuk from there.

Virak Buntham Review
There is no one faster on the roads of Cambodia than a Virak Buntham driver, fact. You put a Virak Buntham with a Toyota Hiace into an F1 championship race, I know who I’d be putting my money on. Regardless of terrain and broken road surface, there guys will rally raid right on through at dizzying speeds.

The first driver we had from Phnom Penh was a rabid lunatic, driving flat out on all surfaces, overtaking on completely blind bends, overtaking while traffic coming the wrong way and sometimes on the right hand side down the verge! I estimated our chance of survival at 16.47% but we clearly made it, maybe just to I can write this review. This driver was doing all this while constantly holding 1 of 2 phones despite the bus clearly having Bluetooth and having his wife and 1 yr old child on the same seat next to him, all unrestrained.

I had considered converting to religion several times during our journey to increase our chances of survival.

Along with this all drivers would randomly pick up people from the side of the road. They would stop for toilet breaks but wouldn’t tell us that they were doing this or how long we had so we were all confused. At the beginning it is incredibly unclear what bus to be on, there are about 40 staff of the office but no one seems to be able to give a straight answer. It is a complete lottery that you are on the right bus and there are enough other tourists on the bus to take a poll and work out if enough of you are going to the intended destination.

Driving in Cambodia is crazy, but the driving of these bus drivers is off any form of scale of mentalism. Our last driver seemed to defy all realms of physics and collision theory that I understood by inexplicably missing other vehicles by driving up their derrieres and overtaking between two vehicles on a dual carriageway (proper fast and furious move this).

On the other hand the buses are comfortable and air conned and the costs are very reasonable for the epic distances, if you can put a price on living...

Terrible driver on the Battembong to PP service .. towards the end of the trip he got tired and made bad mistakes in overtaking.

The van burst a tyre .. only by grace of God did we manage to stop .. huge safety issues .. on this van line ... NO foreigner should travel this service .. and at $12.50 is more expensive than the other line.

No announcements to customers what so ever ... just a terrible service with huge safety issues.

We bought one ticket from Siem Reap to Ho Chi Minh City (we live in Ho Chi Minh, so it was the last bus we were taking back home after 11 days travelling) we were tired and decided to pay a little bit more and get a better bus. We chose the LUXURY bus and the direct way.

We took the bus in Siem Reap at 10:30pm, it was a sleeping one quite good and comfortable with blankets, pillows and water, just as they told us (in something similar to English, as NOBODY in the company speaks the language) it was the luxury. “Great” we thought.

But suddenly at 4am they turned the lights on and told us to take everything and go down the bus. We were in Phnom Penh and then they said we had to wait for 2 hours and a half the next bus to Ho Chi Minh (which would be no longer Luxury or even sleeper, but a LOCAL bus).

We tried to ask for a refund (as the tickets for the local bus were far cheaper than the luxury ones) and the workers (who were sleeping on the floor and we had to wake up) just told us “shut up. Sit down. Wait change the bus”.

We finally waited for 3 hours and when it arrived the time to take the bus they made us take a tuk-tuk fro where we were to the place the other bus was leaving (20 min to one stop to get our tickets and 20 more min to get to the bus).

When we got there, the workers gave us a paper with a note “in the border you will be left in the middle of the road and you have to take a motorbike or a taxi to go and get the VISA. If you are in the border more than 15 min the bus will no wait for you.” Of course it will take more than 15 min to leave Cambodia and get the VISA and the stamp for Vietnam so, what did that mean??

After arguing a lot with them in signs (because NOBODY understood not even a word in English) we talked by phone to someone who told us we could take another bus if this one was leaving for free. “Oh, thank you, what a favour.”

In the bus the guide who was helping Cambodian and Vietnamese people to cross the border turned his head everytime we asked him where we have to go from where the bus was leaving us in the border.

Finally, by OURSELVES and with NO-HELP of anyone in the company we could get it and as it wasn’t many people we could get to the same bus againg.

DON’T USE THIS COMPANY. CHOOSE ANOTHER ONE!

Last night i did night bus No 17 driver very rut very bad i leave from seim reap to phnom pench at 12 at night so this campany was use the driver very terible 8 feb 2019 please stop use hill sevice