If you have heard about Indonesia and have made even tiny bit of research about it then you for sure have heard about Mount Bromo. I visited Bromo almost straight after being on Karimunjawa.

Mount Bromo

A popular active volcano situated in East Java. Famous for its out of the earth landscape and easy accessibility. But I am sure that you can get more detailed information about the history on that from google or wikipedia.

How to get there?

There are plenty of tour operators that offer tours to Bromo from all cities over Java and Bali. They typically offer you transport and visiting the mountain with 4×4 jeeps. You can take this tour of course but you really do not need one especially when you are on a budget. First of all, you need to get to Probolinggo. Personally, I took a bus from Surabaya which cost 40.000 IDR (2.35 €). Once you get to Probolinggo you must find the stop for minivans going to Cemoro Lawang which is the village right next to the mountain. Minivan stop is right outside the main bus station (Bayu Angga Terminal). When you exit, then on the left side. The minivans leave to Cemoro Lawang when they are full (14 people). Cost of the ride is 500.000 IDR which will be divided among the passengers. So if you have a full bus it will be 40.000 IDR. I was there during the low season so I had to wait for 3 hours until we got 7 people and so we all agreed to pay more for the ride. Once you get to Cemoro Lawang get settled in your accommodation, change your slippers to sneakers/hiking boots and be prepared to conquer the mountain!

Sunrise and sunset

We arrived in Cemoro Lawang about 3 pm which was pretty much perfect timing. I can really recommend visiting Mt. Bromo the way we did – crater at sunset and viewpoint at sunrise! There are different routes to get to the mountain. Just check your map for footpaths and follow one of them to get going. Once you get to the field of black sand it is already easy crossing towards the mountain. I can really recommend using offline maps application MAPS.ME for your smartphone not only for Mt. Bromo but for travelling in general. We made it up the crater about 1 h before sunset so we had plenty of time for photos and walking around. Besides me and my friend, there were only a few other people there, so it was really nice and peaceful. Technically you can follow the narrow path all around the crater but it looked really sketchy from one side so we just went about 1/4th of the way. The sunset from the edge of the crater is just magnificent – smoke coming from volcano mixed with clouds and sunset behind it. After getting back to the accommodation you can have decent 6 h of sleep before starting the climb uphill at 3 am. The hike to King Kong hill will take about 2-3h so be prepared. Especially the last part through the forest in the dark is not the easiest.  The sun rises from the opposite side of Mt. Bromo. There will be many people at the King Kong hill viewpoint but it seemed that there were even more at other viewpoints. All the tours with jeeps will arrive for the sunrise. After the sunrise, you will see that the tours are heading to the crater.                         After you visit Mt. Bromo the next stop in your itinerary should be Mt. Ijen with its infamous blue fires. I was unlucky (or lucky at the same time) because Mt. Ijen was closed because of a toxic gas spew on the same day I was supposed to go there (link to news). Make sure to check for updates though because it might be open again now. Check out the gallery Also, check out my video 30 days in Indonesia