The beautiful island of Bali has so much to offer that it nearly impossible to see everything even if you’re staying there for a few months. It also posts one famous active volcanoes – Mt. Agung which has caused quite a few disrupt recently as well as Mt. Batur and Bratan. Indonesia is in fact the country with the most active volcanoes in the world. If you’re looking to be blown away by them though, go to Mount Bromo and Ijen areas. Mount Bromo has 2 active volcanoes and one inactive one and it’s the mecca of volcanoes and along with the Sand Sea they create a unique Jurassic Park feel; only the dinos are missing! The Kawah Ijen Crater is a few hours away and is one special sight with its largest acid lake in the world as well as the only natural “blue fire” on Earth.

Having visited Java, Sumatra, Bali and Komodo islands in 2017, we actually already planned to visit this area but skipped it due to the lack of time. The truth is it’s quite difficult to visit Mount Bromo and Ijen crater but don’t make the same mistake we made back then. It’s our favorite natural sighting in Indonesia!

How to get there and when to go

As in Bali the best time to visit is in the dry season (April – October) or maybe in the shoulder season March or November. It’s also the time when the sights are most visited but there is a way to avoid the crowds.

When looking on the map you’ll immediately notice that Mount Bromo and Ijen crater are far from other cities and touristic areas. The nearest aiport in Surabaya (SUB) is 4 hours away from Mount Bromo. The port of Ketapang in East Java (closest to Bali) is more than a 2 hours drive away from Kawah Ijen, the nearest sight.

Since we always look to travel alone rather than in a group, we initially planned to make our own tour. But it gets very complicated since the local transportation is modest to say the least. On top of that the Javanese do not speak English well, there are not many restaurants with vegan options and Ijen crater is specific (you need to wear a gas mask). With all this in mind and having experienced the local ferries on our way to Nusa Penida, we put this thought of traveling alone to bed and looked for a tour.

We wanted to discover both Mount Bromo and Ijen crater. There are many tour operators that run from Bali and based on the positive reviews and intensive schedule we decided to go with Indotravelteam and the 3 Day Tour (2 nights). The tour guides were professional and fun at the same time. A great plus is that the guides know the tricks on how to avoid the crowds and go off track and also give you options for different views to make it more personal like in Ijen.

Itinerary

 Before jumping into more details about Mount Bromo and Ijen Crater, this is a short summary of our tour:

DAY 1

Start from Seminyak (or Ubud) at 5 AM and heading to the port

Ferry ride to Java

Lunch in one Indonesian restaurant

Arrival at hotel near Bromo and early dinner before heading to bed

DAY 2

Jeep drive to another spectacular lookout point at around 4.30 AM for sunrise

Start of Mount Bromo climb at 7.00 AM

Brunch at hotel near Bromo

Drive to hotel and check-in late afternoon with meal options

Sleeping time from 5 PM to 10 PM

DAY 3

Start at 11 pm (yes, I know, it’s technically still day 2 🙂 )

Reaching Ijen starting base at 1 AM

Famous blue fire and acid lake from 3 AM onwards

Spectacular sunrise view at around 6 AM

Brunch at around 10 AM in Javanese restaurant

Drive back to Bali and arrival in Seminyak at 6 PM

As you can see the schedule is pretty harsh and you will wake at quite random times (3.30 AM on Day 2 and 10 PM on Day 3). We traveled by van which was quite comfortable and by jeep in the Bromo area. There are long distances between different places and even if you want to go by plane you will not gain more than a few hours and pay a much higher price for the tour. The accommodation, food and public toilets are very basic so keep it positive and take these aspects as a short-term adventure.

Both Mount Bromo and Ijen are so spectacular and not being completely comfortable all the time is oh so worth it!!

Mount Bromo area

This area is not just about Mount Bromo but a group of 2 active volcanoes (Mt. Bromo & Mt. Semeru) and one dormant one (Mt. Batok).

I was so scared of missing the wake-up alarm at 3.30 AM that I actually could not fall asleep! We had a short ride to the base camp and the sky was probably the brightest I’ve seen. We boarded cool jeeps and drove all the way up to the lookout point which was stunning; it looks even more spectacular in real life!

After that we drove down from the lookout point through the Sand Sea and started our hike to Mt Bromo. The climb is quite steep at the beginning and is followed by 250 narrow steps. The way up was supposed to be quite easy, but for some reason I felt really tired. Was it the lack of sleep, skipping breakfast or the sheer altitude (2,300 m) not sure, but those stairs felt more like 2,500 and 2 hours and not 30 minutes! The smoky smell on top was a clear indication that I’ve made it though 🙂

Having reached the top of the steep stairs, we continued our way around the crater turned. It was one of the best views you could imagine and since we were quite far from other groups we literally had the fantastic view all to ourselves! Luckily for me, the descent was also much easier than the way up.

Other tips for the Bromo area:

• Bring warm clothes! It’s very chilly at night at 2,300 m even if you’re in Indonesia. The team does provide you with jackets, gloves and hats but be sure to wear 3-4 for layers which you can then take off when the sun goes up. So even if you haven’t packed this for your trip to Indonesia, the team will offer you warm clothes; just be smart enough to say yes 🙂
• Have enough water with you, since it’s quite a long time from your departure to
• Have a light meal before the climb – it can be fruit, a protein bar, something that will keep you movin’ at this crazy hour.
• Don’t forget about sunscreen – in the hours following the sunrise, you’ll be very exposed to the sun

Kawah Ijen Crater

Kawah Ijen is one of the world’s most magical sights due to the one of a kind Blue fire and the world’s largest acid lake. But it’s so much more – the area is home to many, you guessed it, other (dormant) volcanoes and hills. Out of this world!

To get there though it does take a long time. We drove for approximately 3 hours to reach our hotel near Ijen and were trying to fall asleep at 6 pm. At 11 pm we started our adventure and reached Kawah Ijen base camp and started the ascent at around 1 AM. The way there takes about 2 hours in moderate pace though be aware that it’s quite steep. In contrast to the Mount Bromo climb, this one was surprisingly easier on me, which is just the opposite of what we expected 🙂

After reaching the top of the crater, we went down into the crater where the path is really steep. This is also the time when we put our gas mask on to protect our lungs from the sulfuric gas. We reached the blue fire and acid lake sightings at around 3 AM and waited for the natural show to begin.

Blue fire

The Ijen crater is actually a well known sulfur mining site. We saw many miners carry heavy loads (supposedly between 75 and 90 kg!) all the way up to the crater to the base camp. Poor guys 🙁

The blue fire derives from the mining activity and is ignited sulfuric gas, which emerges from cracks. As with every natural sighting its height and intensity depends on various conditions and cannot be predicted. The flames can supposedly reach more than 5 meters in height but in our case it was much smaller. Still a unique experience. The guide, previously a miner here, knew the best spot to take a nice photo and boy did he do a better job than I did 🙂

Acid lake

Do not read the book by its covers. The beautiful turquoise lake is in fact one of the deadliest there is. The high acidity of the lake starts decomposing your skin after 15 seconds so better not swim there 🙂 You have the option of putting your hand in it for a few seconds under the guides supervision; we didn’t dare to do it, but others did. It doesn’t have any effect on you if it’s only for a few seconds, but better not touching your eyes afterwards or prepare for some tears 🙂

After that our group split in two and we decided to go up the crater and see the sunrise from above. If given the chance, head back to the crater before sunrise and make sure you make it in time. If you do you’ll have the same epic sunrise moment like we did.

Heading down was warmer and more relaxed discussing the wonderful scenes we saw with other members of the group.

Other tips for Kawah Ijen:

• All the tips for Mount Bromo apply here – but bring more of everything, since it’s a longer and more demanding tour. It gets even colder here, especially when you’re standing still and admiring the blue fire. The latter will not warm you up.
• Do not worry too much about the sulfuric gas. Our tour did an extensive presentation about safety, but really it’s not such a big deal. Just put your mask on when directed and you’ll have nothing to worry about. Just don’t bring a Nikon camera which have supposedly stopped working after the visit.
• Stay close to your group at all times. There are many people going up the hill in the middle of the night, so stick to your guides and tell them if you need a break.
• Go to the toilet whenever you have the chance, since options are limited.

This was probably the most intensive tour we took and was well worth the effort. Needless to say that we had a great well-deserved 10-hour sleep after returning to Bali 🙂 Mount Bromo and Ijen will stay in our memories forever and I hope we inspired some of you to make it your own there too!

Read more on our natural adventures in the last few months in Asia:

• Thai’s hidden gem with its dramatic limestones and dreamy lake  – Khao Sok, Thailand
• The world’s most beautiful waterfall – Kuang Si, Luang Prabang, Laos
• Seeing Wild elephants for the first time – Udawalawe National Park, Sri Lanka
• Favorite view in Thailand – Ang Thong National Park, Thailand
• The hikes, views and lagoons – Vang Vieng, Laos