How To Get To Mount Bromo And Ijen

Curious about how to get to Mount Bromo and Ijen? Wondering if you have enough time? Thinking about how the hell to get there? No worries, we got you covered.

How To Get To Mount Bromo And Ijen Setup

Whether you want to do this trip solo or guided, we are crafting this post to give you all reading the best of both worlds. We’re packing this post with so much detail that you would be able to make your own decision if you 1) want a tour company to book your trip and guide or 2) do your own bookings and go guide-less.

Below we have costs, the route and a ton of other helpful information so you understand what we paid and how we did this 3-day epic journey.

We started our trip from Yogyakarta, and ended in Denpasar and all the details are below. Doing the route from Bali? Ayyyy no worries! The below details still apply. Enjoy!

Where To Stay At Mount Bromo and Ijen?

Mount Bromo:
The night before our Mt. Bromo sunrise hike we stayed in Sion View Hotel in Sukapura

Ijen:
Night before we hiked Ijen we stayed at Catimore Homestay Blawan in Bondowoso

The Cost of Mount Bromo & Ijen Tour

The total cost of our three day adventure was 1,205,000 rupiah ($85 USD) as of August 2017. What did 1,205,000 rupiah include? It included the below…

• All Our Transportation:
  • Train ride from Yogyakarta to Probolinggo
  • Mini Van ride from Probolinggo train station to our Mt. Bromo accommodation
  • Mini Van ride from Mt. Bromo accommodation to Ijen accommodation
  • Bus from Ijen accommodation to Ketapang ferry crossing
  • Ferry from Ketapang over the Bali Strai to Gilimanuk
  • Bus from Gilimanuk to bus station in Denpasar
• All Our Accommodations:
  • 1 night at Sion View Hotel
  • 1 night at Catimore Homestay Blawan
• All Our Guides, Park Entrance Fees, Etc.
  • Jeep ride to Mount Bromo Sunrise & to Crater
  • Mount Bromo Entrance Fee
  • Ijen Entrance Fee
  • Ijen Guide
  • Blue Fire Fee

NOTE: if you have no interest to see the Blue Fire at Ijen subtract 125,000 rupiah from the above price. Making your total price 1,080,000 or $77 USD.

Now, that may seem like a lot to some, but for us, the cost was worth it! If you break it out, it is $28 USD a day.

The only thing this didn’t include was our lunch and dinner and if you’ve eaten in Asia you know you can get those for a few bucks! Each of our accommodations included breakfast, so we were good there.

The $28 a day was well within our daily budget so for us, people tight on time, this was a no brainer!

The Route & Itinerary to Mount Bromo & Ijen

At a minimum, to get from Yogyakarta to see Mount Bromo and Ijen, it’ll take you three days. Below is what our days looked like.

Keep in mind, we had transportation lined up for us and had no intention of going back to Yogyakarta. If you don’t have rides lined up and you are needing to get back to Yogyakarta, consider adding in another 2 to 3 days to your trip time.

Day 1:

• Depart Yogyakarta Train Station to Probolinggo Train Station.
  • We took the 8:55am train from Lempuyangan Station and arrived at the Probolinggo Train Station at 5:30pm.
• Minivan ride from Probolinggo train station to our Mount Bromo accommodation in Sukapura (a sub-district of Probolinggo).
  • The minivan that dropped us off at our hotel took about an hour and a half (40-45 km /25-27 mi)
    • Folks doing this solo, consider staying the night in Probolinggo and catching a ride to your Mount Bromo accommodation the next day. People seemed to be having problems finding a ride or getting ripped off for one.
  • Night in Sukapura

Day 2:

• 4:00am wake up call to see the Mount Bromo Sunrise and hike the crater
• Later that morning, Minivan ride from Mount Bromo accommodation to Ijen accommodation in Bondowoso.
  • Be warned, after your hike, you won’t be getting to your Ijen accommodation till well after dark, around 8-9pm. The actual driving time is about 5 hours. However, add another 2 hours onto that for lunch and bathroom breaks. Again, we had a ride lined up and it still took forever to get to
  • People doing this solo, consider staying a second night at your Mt. Bromo accommodation and catching a ride out the next morning to Ijen.
• Night in Bondowoso.

Day 3:

• 12:30am wake up to begin the Ijen Blue Fire and Sunrise Hike
• After the hike, bus from Ijen accommodation to Ketapang ferry crossing
  • Calling it out again, we had a ride lined up and were able to bust it out to Bali after our hike.
• Ferry from Ketapang over the Bali Strait to Gilimanuk (welcome to Bali!!)
• Bus from Gilimanuk to the bus station in Denpasar

Where to Book Your Tour & Accommodations?

Full disclosure, we booked everything from Yogyakarta. We haggled on our price and got the company down to a price we were willing and comfortable to pay. Now, do we recommend booking ahead or doing it as you go? It depends.

• Book ahead If you are tight on time and can’t afford a mess up.
• Don’t book ahead if you have no time constraints. No time constraints meaning you have about 5-6 days to spare for the total trip – just to be on the safe side 🙂

Mt. Bromo & Ijen Things To Consider:

Now, we’re sure you have a few additional questions, like we did, as we were thinking through all of this. The two big ones for us were…

1. Do we book a jeep or walk to Mount Penanjakan to see that infamous Mount Bromo sunrise?
2. Do we skip the Blue Fire as it’s not guaranteed to be seen?

Well, lucky for you, we’ll give you our 2 cents and hopefully, this will help you make an informed decision on what is best for you. To forecast, we did pay for the jeep ride as well as the hike to see the Blue Fire.

To Do the Jeep Ride To Mount Bromo Or Not?

There are a few things that won us over when we chose to pay for the jeep option instead of the free walking option. Regardless of what option you do; you still have to pay 300,000 rupiah for the entrance fee (that 300,000 rupiah is included in our above cost of 1,205,000 rupiah).

The things that convinced us to book the jeep ride are…

• If you’re on a tight schedule, like we were, walking limits what you are able to see with the time you have. For instance, we would have not been able to hike to the crater if we walked. Time simply wouldn’t allow it and the crater hike was something we really wanted to do.
• We thought we’d be in a jeep the whole time. Not true. 95% of your morning you are out walking around enjoying the park.
• We didn’t want to wake up any earlier than we had too. Ha, such a lame excuse but it’s so true. The hike from your accommodation to Mount Penanjakan (sunrise viewpoint) takes about 1.5 – 2 hours (all depending where you stay of course). We were going to be having some super early mornings the next few days and we wanted the few extra hours where we could have them. Plus, we didn’t want to be so tired that we weren’t enjoying what we came to see, which was Mount Bromo!
• The walk itself is on worn out asphalt, in the dark. Nothing really all that beautiful to see there.

To See The Blue Fire at Ijen or Not?

We have a solid case of FOMO (fear of missing out) so for us, paying to see the blue fire was pretty much a sure thing. The cost to see the Blue Fire is 125,000 rupiah or $9 USD. Sure, there is a risk you don’t see it but for us, $9 was worth the risk.

So, was it worth it? Yes. Wanna know why? Let us tell you.

• You get to wear masks that make you look like Bane from The Dark Knight Rises (please refer to first picture in our post).
• Seeing the Blue Fire is actually pretty cool considering it’s Sulphur gas that is ignited once it escapes from crevices in the crater. The Blue Fire area of Ijen is the largest blue flame area in the world. So yeah, pretty cool.
• Little did we know that seeing the Blue Fire wouldn’t be the most impressive part. The most impressive and equally humbling part of seeing the Blue Fire is getting to witness the Sulphur miners in action. To get down to the crater takes about 45 mins and to get back up takes relatively the same time. Now, imagine doing this for 16 hours every day and with 70-90kg loads of Sulphur on your shoulders. The miners do this until there wheelbarrow carts are full. Once their carts are full, they wheel their cart loads down to the Paltuding Valley where they get paid a meer $5 – $8 USDs per day. To top it all off, these workers cut years off their lives by breathing in the toxic Sulphur gas day in and day out.  So yeah, like we said, humbling.

Would We Do Anything Different?

These 3 days were unbelievable. Exhausting, but completely unbelievable. If we had an extra few days, we would have liked to stay the day in each place instead of being bussed off to our next location after our morning activity was done.

However, our timing was what it was and we were happy we were able to squeeze in both Mount Bromo and Ijen. Completely worth it!! Now you know how to get to Mount Bromo and Ijen 🙂

WANT MORE INFORMATION ON INDONESIA?!

The Best of Yogyakarta 

Your Route & Guide To Northern Sumatra

9 Natural Wonders Not To Miss In Indonesia

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Happy Travels,

– Lauren & Jesse Stuart (The Stüs)