One of the highlights during a tour of Java is the active volcano Bromo. It is one of the most famous and frequently visited volcanoes in Indonesia, standing at 2,329 meters tall and located in the Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park in East Java. Not only is the volcano particularly impressive, but the surrounding sea of sand and hundreds of Toyota Land Cruisers that color the arid landscape also contribute to an unforgettable experience.
Bromo is one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia, and small eruptions regularly occur. The lava has devastated everything around the crater, leaving behind a gray landscape. The black volcanic sand surrounding the volcano is called the sea of sand. With a bit of luck, you can also see the highest volcano, Semeru.
How to visit Bromo?
You can visit Bromo as part of a three-day excursion to the volcano Ijen and the waterfalls of Tumpak Sewu, among other places. Alternatively, you can choose to visit Bromo on a day trip from Malang or Probolinggo.
The ideal place to stay is, however, in Cemoro Lawang, the village that is closest to the volcano.
If you book Bromo on your third day (like we did), you will arrive in the village the evening before. With a bit of luck, you might also visit an alternative viewpoint that day, more on that later.
We booked our three-day trip through Azhar from Papin Travelmate. This time, we handed everything over and let Azhar arrange our accommodations, driver, guide, entrance fees, and more. We have never had it this easy before.
We do not have a partnership with Papin Travelmate, but we were genuinely pleased with the organization, our driver, and guide. That’s why we mention him here by name.
The entrance fee for tourists in 2024 is 220,000 IDR on weekdays and 320,000 IDR during the weekends. This was included in our tour price.
Sunrise at King Kong Hill
The night before the tour promises to be a short one. Our alarm is set for a quarter past two because at half-past two we are picked up by a 4×4 vehicle to take us to the top of King Kong Hill. At least, that was our plan. And although we manage to find our guesthouse in time, the local driver keeps us waiting. This results in a delay of 45 minutes.
It’s immediately clear to us that we are not the first ones to go up, and halfway through, the driver decides to park the car. Should I admit that I was quite disappointed? Yes, we could have easily slept for a few more hours… we gather around a fire and half-awake, we still doze in the jeep until it starts to get light.
But what a beautiful sight it was! The Bromo volcano and Mt. Batok were enveloped in a blanket of clouds. And the rising sun made it a magical ritual. With a warm chocolate milk in hand, we enjoyed the view.
It did ensure that there were no other foreign tourists to be seen in our area. Since we traveled during the Ramadan holiday, there were quite a few Indonesian tourists around. Sometimes we wondered which they found more impressive, us or the view of the volcano. By now, we may well be in many Indonesian households in a picture frame.
Here we also avoided sellers of the Javanese Edelweiss flowers, which symbolize eternity in the local culture and are found in the mountainous regions of Indonesia.
After sunrise, thousands of jeeps drive down the Gunung Penanjakan mountain. We drive over the sea of sand in the clouds. In the distance, we see Mount Batok, spectacular!
You can alternatively go to the viewpoint at King Kong Hill by motorbike or even on foot.
Climbing Mount Bromo
We are one of the first to park our vehicles to climb the volcano. The jeeps line up on the vast sandy plain, and it is truly an unreal sight.
Before you start the climb, you can still make use of the restroom facilities, where you can also find various food stalls.
On the way, we see many horses with manes in all the colors of the rainbow. It was difficult for us to gauge whether the animals were being treated well, so we dare not make any statements about it. For children, it’s as if they are seeing a unicorn for the first time.
We climb the stairs up to the crater, and what a spectacle it is! Mt. Bromo emits a continuous rumble, and you can see the smoke blowing upwards all the time. We stay here for quite a while before returning to the jeep.
The hike from the parking lot to the top and back takes about 1.5 hours. We found it to be not a very strenuous hike.
Viewpoints Bromo
There are several other viewpoints from which you can enjoy a spectacular view of Mount Bromo. We headed to a viewpoint in Ngadisari, a small quarter of an hour from the Sea of Sand.
Another viewpoint is Seruni from where you can clearly see the extinct volcano Batok and the crater of the active volcano Bromo.
What to wear when visiting Bromo?
Beforehand, I found it extremely difficult to know which clothing would be warm enough for our visit to Bromo. I found the answer in: layers! We wore thermal clothing, a fleece sweater, and a windproof jacket. And indeed, the temperature at night can drop below 5 degrees Celsius at this altitude.
What we hadn’t prepared for was that the temperature could warm up to 20 degrees after sunrise. Luckily, we had brought a regular T-shirt for the children, but I could climb the volcano in a thermal outfit.
Tip: in addition to thermal clothing, also bring a t-shirt and shorts to climb the volcano!
Read more: Two-week tour of Java
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.