Java, Indonesia🌋

The East Java tour was another one of our favourite activities that we have done in Indonesia. It is a 3 day, 2 night tour where you do three hikes going to Tumpak Sewu Waterfall, Mount Bromo and Mount Ijen.

Which tour to choose?
There are two companies that were highly recommended to me, one was doing it through Malang Mador Hostel and the second was with Beng Beng Travel, which is who we used. Both tours are basically the same, with Mador recommending Beng Beng to people when they are fully booked. The only thing that is different is Beng Beng provides all meals whereas Mador only provides breakfast and lunch.

Below are the brochures for both Beng Beng Travel & Mador Hostel, which have all the information you need about the tours!

The tour starts in Malang, East Java, you can make your own way to Malang by bus and ferry or fly straight to Surabaya from Lombok and then get a grab to your accommodation. However, with Beng Beng and Mador Hostel you can pay to also include your transport. There are three different pick up/drop off locations that are provided, Malang to Malang, Bali to Bali and Malang to Bali. We chose Bali to Bali as we were already in Bali at the time and getting a flight would mean flying in the opposite direction to Lombok first.

However, I personally wouldn’t recommend doing Bali to Bali as it includes a lot of travelling. You get picked up at 5 pm and travel by car/mini bus and ferry for 12 hours over night. The roads are very bumpy and the traffic is pretty bad so sleep is hard to come by. You then arrive in Malang around 6am where you go straight to the first stop of the tour, which is the waterfall. I sleep quite well on public transport so I didn't find it too difficult but my boyfriend is very tall and barely slept a wink so the hike to the waterfall on no sleep was a challenge for him.

Day 1: Tumpak Sewu Waterfall
At 11am we reached our first stop which is Tumpak Sewu Waterfall. It is a 10 minute walk down to the viewpoint overlooking the waterfall. You can then hike a further 40 minutes down to the bottom of the waterfall.

Once we finished the hike, we had lunch before getting back into the van and driving to our first nights home stay, which is near to Mount Bromo.

Day 2: Mount Bromo
We woke up at 1:40am and left by 2am to the sunrise viewpoint of Mount Bromo. We drove for around an hour before making camp in a coffee shop until 4am. It is recommended to leave as early as possible to avoid the crowds otherwise there is a lot of traffic when driving up the narrow roads to the viewpoint. From the coffee shop, it is a short 10 minute walk up the hill to the viewpoint where you have to wait until sunrise. Make sure to wear warm clothes as we were waiting for over an hour for the sun to rise, and it was very cold! As the sun slowly rose, we were graced with one of the best sunrises we have ever seen, a complete 360 sunrise over the mountains and Mount Bromo.

We were at the viewpoint until 7am before making our way back to the jeep and getting driven to the base of Mount Bromo. It takes around 30 minutes to walk to the top of Mount Bromo where you can walk along the rim of the crater.

After Mount Bromo, we were then driven to our second home stay, which is near Mount Ijen. We have lunch and dinner there before trying to squeeze in as much sleep as possible! You have to leave for the sunrise hike to Mount Ijen at 11pm that same day and don’t finish the hike until 7am the next morning, so if you don’t get some shut eye, you will be very tired!

Day 3: Mount Ijen
The starting point to Mount Ijen is roughly an hours drive away, where we were then debriefed about the hike, the gas masks and safety procedures, before starting the hike at 2am. This hike was the most strenuous one of the three, with it taking an hour and a half to hike up to the top of the volcano and down into the crater. You want to get down to the crater as quickly as you can to see the Blue Fire, which is ignited Sulphuric Gas, that you can only see at pitch black night. If you don’t get back up to the top before the crowds come, you will get stuck in a traffic jam trying to get out and you may miss the sunrise.

The descent into the crater involves narrow pathways and rocky steps without railings so be very careful. When you start smelling smoke or your eyes get irritated, you must use the gas masks, otherwise you will be inhaling toxic fumes that are really bad for you! Keep the mask on the entire time from then on, when you see the Blue Fire and until you believe it is safe to when you hike back up. I kept mine on until we were hiking up to the sunrise point.

The sunrise point is a further 20 minutes up the volcano, but be careful as its pitch black and the pathways are very narrow. We didn’t realise how close we were to the edge of the crater until it was light and we were walking back.

We watched the sunrise for an hour before making our way back down the volcano. Once you have finished, you have one last breakfast together before being driven to the port where you get a Ferry back to Bali. From the port you are then driven to your chosen location, which for us was Canggu, but you can be dropped in Uluwatu/Ubud etc.

Java was an incredible trip overall, we were very lucky with the weather and saw some pretty amazing views. If you have time, I highly recommend fitting this 3 day activity into your travels!