What you should know before visiting Mount Bromo
Mount Bromo is one of Indonesia's most spectacular natural sights. Located in eastern Java, the volcano, at 2,329 meters, is one of the highest peaks in the Tengger Mountains. The beautiful landscape produces picturesque images and is an absolute must visit if you are in East Java
To be well prepared, read everything you need to know before visiting Mount Bromo in this blog.
Preparation
It can be quite chilly when you are at the Bromo viewpoint in the middle of the night/very early morning. Be sure to wear warm clothing, but think in layers. At night it will still be quite chilly, but as the sun rises it will get a lot warmer. Hiking shoes/sports shoes are also recommended.
I myself had long thermal pants, short sports pants, thermal shirt, a shirt, a sweater and a thin jacket. Was just fine for me!
Best time of year
With almost everything, there is a "best time" of year to visit. So too with Mount Bromo, although I myself had absolutely no problems with it. Officially, the best time to travel to Mount Bromo is from April to November, as this is the dry season and the weather is usually clear. I myself was there at the beginning of March and had a perfect sunrise! Beautiful vibrant orange sky, which made for a picturesque landscape.
With a tour or by yourself?
I opted for convenience and went for a tour. I booked the tour from my hostel, the Mador Malang Dorm Hostel and it cost me IDR 580,000 (€39.00) including the entrance fee of IDR 220,000 for the National Park. Read positive stories about it online, though the expectations of some may be a bit different. More on that later.
You can do it without a tour, but then you already need a special motorcycle (kind of dirt bike with extra suspension). Especially the last part of the route to the crater is quite bumpy.
Every tour has one: a 4x4 to move over the rugged terrain around the Bromo!
The tour
From what I have seen and experienced, basically all tours do the same thing, so whether you go for the tour from the Mador Malang Dorm Hostel or with a Dutch guide, for example. I found out that the difference is mainly in the quality of the guide.
00:50 – Grand départ!
The day (read night) starts around 00:50 when you will be picked up by a classic Toyota 4x4 Jeep. From Malang it is about a 2-hour drive to the Bromo National Park, so with a little luck you will be able to close your eyes. To be honest, with my height of 1 meter 94 I was not very comfortable in the small Jeep. Especially when there were bumps, I had better duck down to avoid bumping my head several times.
03:15 – Breakfast!
Yes, you read it right. Around this time you arrive near the Sunrise viewpoint, so it's refueling first. Although, refuel? We got 1 piece of fried banana and a cup of coffee/tea. In the tour they also describe it as a "Simple breakfast," but that it would be so simple was a surprise.
Tip: Bring enough water and some snacks (fruit/muesli bar) yourself, so you don't have to depend on the 'simple' breakfast.
I sure needed that coffee at 03:30!
04:15 – To the viewpoint
The viewpoint is basically next to the breakfast place, so the car stays parked and it's a few minutes walk to the viewpoint. To take a break for an hour was a bit too much for me, but our driver could use some shut-eye. Next time he should let us know when to leave.
The viewpoint: Bukit Penanjakan Bromo
On to the Bukit Penanjakan Bromo viewpoint, the most famous viewpoint for a view of Mount Bromo. This is where, to my knowledge, really every tour stops, so be prepared for crowds. In March, the sun rose around 05:15, so we had an hour to watch the sun slowly rise.
Around 05:00, more light slowly began to appear and the sky turned beautifully orange!
At about 2,000 meters, it is naturally a bit chillier and not everyone is equally prepared for that. I had wrapped up nicely, but for those who were cold, there were plenty of vendors. They were just pretty irritating, because in an hour I heard maybe 1000x "Hello, blanket, jacket?????" while one shone the flashlight very annoyingly. Takes away a bit of the authenticity of such a viewpoint, because you just want to enjoy the sunrise in peace.
Tip: bypass the crowds of tourists by walking a little to the right from Bukit Penanjakan Bromo, past the transmitter mast, where you immediately have a photogenic tree as a foreground for your pictures!
06:00 – ‘Breakfast’ part 2 and onto the crater!
The second part of breakfast was "simple" as well, and consisted of about two (pre-packaged) white rolls. Fortunately, I still had a banana and a granola bar with me. Along the way we stopped at another viewpoint, after which 06:45 we were down and putting our feet in the volcanic sand.
From here it's about a 10-minute walk toward the steps that take you up to the crater, although they have another means of transportation for this: horses. Pretty sad to see how these horses are treated and in what kind of conditions they have to walk day-in and day-out.
On to the crater!
The stairs take you to the edge of the crater in about 5 minutes, where you will immediately hear that it is still an active volcano. Take some pictures and enjoy this unusual view, because how often do you climb an active volcano?
07:30 – Let's go down!
Back down for the final attraction: the volcanic sands. The driver took us to a spot away from all the other Jeeps in the black sand Sahara and gave us another opportunity to take some pictures here, then we were ready to leave around 9:00 a.m. for a nearby waterfall.
10:00 – Coban Pelangi Waterfall
It is about an hour's drive to the waterfall, where after paying the entrance fee (€1.00) you get to walk down for about 10 minutes. Once down, you'll find an oasis of greenery and a pretty high waterfall. Nice for a few more photos!
End of tour: back to Malang!
Enough seen and done, time to go back to Malang. Around 11:30 - 11:45 you will be back at your accommodation after a long day. Time to rest!
Conclusion
A unique experience that I absolutely would not have wanted to miss, were it not for the fact that it was a pity that our driver did not really enjoy his work. Moreover, he also had nothing to tell about the volcano, which I find quite striking when you have been doing this work for so long. The tour is offered without an official tour guide, but that you still don't know a single fact about the volcano is a pity then. I do watch a YouTube video, also fine.
We take the 'breakfast' and our guide who could not tell us anything about the volcano with a pinch of salt, because I do not let the uniqueness of this experience depend on that.