Top Tips for Taking an Overnight Bus | How to Sleep on an Overnight Bus

Top Tips for Taking an Overnight Bus | How to Sleep on an Overnight Bus

Despite being a tiresome prospect, many people choose overnight bus services over flights and trains. They are economical, time-saving, and often don’t have luggage limitations. In the past couple of years, overnight bus services have become more popular and comfortable, thanks to better seats with padding. Of course, it ultimately depends on the route and the bus service you pick. Nevertheless, a lot of people find it difficult to sleep on an overnight bus, let alone any bus. This does not mean you cannot make things right. Instead, there are a few tips you can follow while taking an overnight bus trip.

In this article, we have compiled some of the best tips in this category. We have tried to make this guide as much comprehensive as possible.

1. Choose the Right Service

As we said, you should be careful while picking an overnight bus service. We understand that you might not have equal choices in all routes. Nevertheless, you have a choice of choosing something that fulfills the basic requirements. For instance, you can pick between economy, semi-premium, and premium kind of services, depending on how much you want to spend.

As you can guess, premium overnight bus services can offer you a better sleeping environment. These buses are made for long-term comfort and reliability. On the contrary, inexpensive services may cut down some amenities for the sake of cost-effectiveness. Therefore, if your budget allows you to do so, you should choose a semi-premium or premium bus service.

sleep on an overnight bus

2. Picking the Right Seat

Even if you are on an economical bus service, you can sleep better by choosing the right seat. Here’s a trick that you want to follow. If you have an option to reserve a seat, always go for the seats in the middle part of the bus. Or, if the bus allots you seats on a first-come, first-serve system, you can place yourself accordingly in the queue.

By choosing the middle seat, you can have a less bumpy ride. This option gets way better if your bus service comes with comfortable seats that have additional padding. You should also see if your bus comes with some extra amenities like a blanket and other services for food and water. You might need these more often than you think you do.

sleep on an overnight bus

3. Carry Your Own Bedding

Carrying your bedding elements may not be possible if you are traveling light. However, if there is such an option, you should try to take sleep pillows and the necessary items. If you don’t have one, there is no need to worry, though. Just like you purchase sleeping bags for camping needs, you can get sleeping material that is made for bus journeys.

Once again, we recommend going for the best options. There are some superb destinations like the Inside Bedroom blog where you get suggestions on the best bedding products in the market. Because you do plan to have a seamless sleeping experience, you should prioritize comfort and elegance. You may also want to carry a sleeping blind, just in case.

sleep on an overnight bus

4. Warmers Help

One of the major hindrances to sleep on overnight bus is the temperature itself. If you are traveling during the summer season, you can find the bus to have chilly temperatures as default. And, most people may not be comfortable at this. Since you cannot ask them to turn down the cooling, the suitable option is to carry a warmer.

Once again, you should choose the right warmers and associated materials from the market. We’d suggest listening to an expert in the market or going with a popular product. Just like you should be careful when it comes to choosing a sleeping bag, a wrong warmer can make things worse. And, it’s best if you can have a liberal budget.

5. Prepare Your Body

Having the right mood is essential while traveling on an overnight bus. There are a few ways you can do so. The first method is to keep your body hydrated at all times. You can either ask the bus service providers for water or carry some drinks by yourself. Either way, you don’t want to wake up in the middle of the night, looking for water like a madman.

We should say the same about food, but here’s the difference. Experts recommend eating light if you plan to take a long bus trip. This way, you won’t have trouble during travel. If you notice, preparing for a bus trip is entirely different from the precautions you take for sleeping better while camping. In this case, you’ve to prioritize comfort over safety and survival.


We hope these tips help you have a more comfortable and healthy overnight bus experience. You may also want to store some sleep-inducing music on your smartphone, just in case you can’t get a data connection while you’re on the go. Do you have any other tips that help sleep on an overnight bus? Do let us know through your comments.


This post is a guest post written by Celina Hodge

Read More

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked with *

Recent Posts