Giant Ibis night bus at a glance…
- Price: $15
- Schedule: 11 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.
- Time: 6 to 7 hours
- Buy tickets online
Over the years, I’ve taken more Giant Ibis night bus journeys than I care to admit. When I first moved to Cambodia, I vowed I would never take a night bus in Cambodia. Since then, I’ve made an exception for Giant Ibis because of their safety record and precautions. I’m now a regular on the Giant Ibis night bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. In this post, I’ll share some details about the company and the trip from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap (and vice-versa).
The Giant Ibis night bus looks great in the morning, too.
Night buses in Cambodia are notoriously unsafe. Giant Ibis, on the other hand, makes safety a priority. Their buses go slowly, with a maximum speed of 60km (37 miles) per hour. They enforce this by transmitting the speed via GPS to the Giant Ibis office so that management knows if a driver breaks the rules and go faster. Going slowly is not only safer, but allows for a better night’s sleep, because even at at these speeds the bus usually arrives in six or seven hours. Another safety precaution Giant Ibis takes is to always have two drivers on each bus, and they switch half-way through the journey. If one driver feels fatigued he can switch out and take a nap.
In addition to offering a safe ride, each seat is equipped with a power socket that accept standard American, Euro, and UK plugs, and most of them usually work. The bus has WiFi (password: giantibis) that is provided by 3G. This means the connection works as long as there’s 3G coverage, which is for true for about 60% of the journey. Be aware that they do turn out the lights soon after the journey begins, so if you do want to read you will need to bring your own lighting.
The buses are air-conditioned and have a toilet on board. Overly cautious types such as myself bring a sweater for the former and tissues for the latter. Passengers are all given a bottle of water, and each bed comes with a pillow and blanket. When you board the bus you’ll be given a bag to keep your shoes in, so as not to get the beds dirty.
The 11 p.m. Giant Ibis night bus has lie-flat beds.
There are two Giant Ibis night buses going each way between between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, with slightly different seat configurations. The 11 p.m. Giant Ibis night buses have 32 beds, with 15 on the bottom bunk and 17 on the top. The beds do not fully lie flat, but offer a 45 degree angle that’s pretty decent, and some taller people seem to find the angled seat more comfortable than the lie-flat ones. Seat 6-F is right next to the toilet, and as such, is probably the least optimal seat on the bus. Each bed has a cubby at the bottom to keep your shoes (and feet) in.
The 11 p.m. Giant Ibis night bus seating chart.
The 11:30 p.m. bus has 30 lie-flat seats, with 14 on the bottom and 16 on the top. The only downside of this is because there are two fewer seats, there isn’t always a bed for the driver who may end up sleeping next to you in the aisle. On these buses, there are eight single beds and 11 seats of double beds.
The seating plan for the 11:30 p.m. Giant Ibis night bus.
The buses do not have two levels, rather, the seats are designed like bunk beds with one on the top and one on the bottom. All of the Giant Ibis night buses are arranged with one row of two beds next to each other, and a row of single bunks with an aisle in the middle. If you are traveling alone, try to get one of the single beds. I have traveled alone on the Giant Ibis night bus many times and have never felt unsafe as a solo woman, but again, be sure to get a solo bed (if you buy a ticket online, you can make an advance seat reservation).
Off to dreamland on the Giant Ibis night bus beds. This is the interior of the 11 p.m. bus.
The night bus buses are not new, but they are fully refurbished. As on all buses, the toilets are not the nicest in the world (if you are a larger person you’ll have a hard time squeezing in) but at least these ones are usually clean. The road between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap is still bumpy — although better than a year ago — and if you aren’t a sound sleeper, it can be a challenge to get a good night’s sleep. Luckily, that challenge is usually alleviated for me by bringing an eye mask, ear plugs, and a sleeping pill.
I travel between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap regularly, and the trip can be excruciatingly long. Because I save so much time by sleeping through the journey, I’ve become a regular on the Giant Ibis night bus. Despite being pretty highly strung about road safety in Cambodia, overall, I think the Giant Ibis night bus is a safe way to get across the country (here are the other options for this route).
In Phnom Penh, the buses boards on time at the Giant Ibis office on Street 106 across from Phnom Penh’s night market. For the daily night bus to Siem Reap they do not offer hotel pick up, but the office is centrally located and walking distance from the riverside. Once you arrive in Siem Reap the bus drops off at the more centrally located Giant Ibis ticket office near Old Market (rather than the Giant Ibis bus station).
In Siem Reap, the night bus leaves from the Giant Ibis ticket office near the Old Market. If you’re arriving in Phnom Penh, the bus drops off at the Giant Ibis office on Street 106 in Phnom Penh. You can find maps for both stations at the end of this post.
Giant Ibis night bus schedule:
Phnom Penh – Siem Reap: 11 p.m., 11:30 p.m.
Siem Reap – Phnom Penh: 11 p.m., 11:30 p.m.
Tickets on the Giant Ibis Phnom Penh to Siem Reap route cost $15, and prices are the same for locals and foreigners. You can buy tickets online and choose your seats in advance.
Yes, it is really cheap and they have free WI FI and water. But if you need the toilet, it can be a challenge for your stomach. The bio toilet is obscene..and no stopping.
And the ride is very bumpy, and beds are not really beds – just flat seats. Very unconfortable for tall people. We were four people but none of us slept.
my advice is DON’T TAKE THE SLEEPING BUS …
Also, I bought by mistake 2 sets of 4 online tickets for two consecutive days (meaning 64USDX2), but I only need one set. So we went to the Ibis Giant ofiice in Phnom Penh, we have given extra tickets and asked them to help us to recover some money.They have promised they w’ll try to sell my tickets and next day I’ll get my money back at the Giant Ibis office in Siem Reap .
I’m sure they resold tickets because we were in full tourist season but they did not send me any money back. Only a sec email that told me again that tickets are non refundable.
Very bad customer service, They only want to take your money.
It is disappointing that despite having a large number of tourists Khmer and Vietnamese mentality is: catch the tourist and takes us much money you can for unsanitary, uncofortable, bad services.
I’m sorry you had such a bad experience, Mariana. I take the bus a couple times a month and with earplugs and an eye mask, I always sleep.
The worst night i have ever had in a bus. I think I can not suggest to anyone to use Giantibis company. The toilette was not a toilette, at the half of the trip liquid start to came out of it by the corridor. Air condition was not working properly and often dust from outside was entering though the air condition system. Everyone was coughing. The advertise WiFi on board didn’t work. In Cambodia the streets are very bad and sometime in the bus I felt like in a big shaker. I am used to sleep everywhere, on every surface, but this was too much a disaster. Everyone was complaining in the bus. At the end, some of the bags in the luggage storage were completely wet. No way. And I am surprised that someone said this is the best company to go with….I can not inmagine the others.
Thanks for wonderfully detailed review! I just boarded the night bus in Siem Reap. Good start. Staff is quite enthusiastic. Clean bus… And here’s an update.. The beds are completely flat. Woohoo! They seem to have upgraded after reading your review. :D
Look forward to a smooth journey. Will update tomorrow. Cheers!
Thanks for the update, Anuj. Are you on the 10:30 or 11:00 p.m. bus?
I was on the 10.30PM night bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh last night and can confirm the beds were completely flat and quite comfortable! The toilet was out of order, but other than that no complaints.
I had a very bad experience with Giant Ibis. Made arrangements to be picked up in the morning from hotel in Siem Reap. They didnt show up. Called them up and they told me they are coming but theyre running late because they have a lot of guests to pick up. I kept calling them every 15 minutes to get status updates. I got the same story – we’re late but we’re coming. An hour and a half later the story suddenly changed to “we thought you are on board and we departed”. Ofcourse they never showed up at the hotel. Thank you for leaving me stranded on Christmas.
Thanks for this! This is really helpful and I’m going to try it out on my trip in 2015. One quick question though, for passport verification, is there a part in this bus trip that’s going to happen? As on the other blogs, they’ve mentioned it.
I’m planning to take this from Siem Ream to Pnom Penh then PP to Saigon.
Thanks!
There’s no passport verification between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.
Noted. Thank you!
Many thanks for this post, Lina! I was unsure myself about taking a night bus as I was travelling solo but then I decided to take a leap of faith about a month ago after reading your comforting review. My advice for fellow travellers is this:
1. Choose bottom seats.
2. Bring your pillow if you can.
2. Be prepared to a possibly noisy journey (i.e. people snoring, coughing…it feels like you are in a big dorm).
3. Be prepared to be unable to use the toilet: water was splashing everywhere from the flush water container (lid missing) and the toilet itself was on top of a high step with a low ceiling…I didn’t manage to figure out a way to get onto the toilet! After a few tries in the middle of the night I gave up.
Bottom line: the night bus is a big time and money saver. Would I do it again? Not sure.
Thanks for your review! I choose this company for myself and daughters to travel on your recommendation and found the trip to be organised, friendly staff, on time and comfortable. Managed to get a reasonable sleep with all the tips, ear plugs, mask and seating position. The only failing on our trip was the toilet, no loo paper (ladies pack tissues) and pop on shoe before entering as the floor was covered with toilet overflow.
Hi Lina… What time would the bus be arrive in Phnom Penh if I take the night bus from Siem Reap at 11pm??
I plan to catch a plane at Phnom Penh international airport at 8.35am. Do you think that it would be possible for me to make it?
Thank you in advance for your advice!!
Have a good day
The bus arrives around 6 a.m. It’s definitely possible to make it, but it would also be possible to miss it if something goes wrong. I like to allow a lot of padding, so I’d probably go the day before. Braver souls would risk it.
Hi Lina, your post helped me a lot in my planning. I have a question. I purchased tickets through their website and got a confirmation from their site and my bank that my credit card payment was approved. I did not receive any electronic tickets for my purchase though or email from them. Do you guys know the process? Should I be receiving some confirmation/verification notice from them? I am worried since the seats that I supposedly booked are still available in their website and it has been a day already after my payment.
Dear Lina, great post. May I ask where is the stairs to the upper deck from the lower deck? Near to front or back of bus? And in your opinion, for a couple, which are the best seats? (not noisy, dark enough, not too bumpy) thanks
There isn’t an upper and lower deck, it’s more like bunk beds. Best seats depend on what you prefer, the upper beds are colder because they’re closer to the A/C. So if you can’t sleep if it’s hot, go up top.