ONE DAY TRIP TO MOUNT BROMO

Mount Bromo has always been one of my top Indonesian destination bucket-lists to visit. Why? Because this iconic volcanic crater always surprises everyone who's coming by its own beauty. The sunrise, sulfurous smoke, sea of sand, .. everything in Bromo makes me curious how great God's creation is. Mount Bromo is still active tho. Some of the areas are closed for public due to the tourist's own safety. Sometimes, Mount Bromo even erupts randomly. I always suggest you to read some latest news about Mount Bromo before you get there and always follow the rules of the nature.

Mount Bromo which stands at 2,329 meters above the sea level, is located inside Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park or also known locally as Taman Nasional Bromo Tengger Semeru. This National Park is a conservation area which can be accessed from Pasuruan to Probolinggo and Pasuruan to Wonokitri. There are 2 possible and accessible start point for tourists, Surabaya and Malang. I personally started my journey to Mount Bromo from Malang because besides Mount Bromo, apparently Malang has a lot of amusement parks that I can also visit. I suggest you to spend your days in Malang a little bit more if you are going to Mount Bromo. So you might enjoy the city more.

| Flight & Accommodation |

There are 3 ways to reach Malang from Jakarta, whether by plane, train or car.

1. By plane

If you can't go there by train or car, you might have your flight to Malang directly. However, unfortunately Malang Airport (Abdul Rachman Sales Airport) is just a small airport and it's not an international airport. Its service only cover flights from 4 departures : Jakarta, Banyuwangi, Bali, and Yogyakarta. So if you are international tourists, you should transit whether in Jakarta / Bali / Yogyakarta to get there. You might also get landed in Surabaya then take a car rent / travel bus to Malang for around 1,5 hours.

Unfortunately, there are only a few options of flights from Jakarta to Malang as well. Since the airport is located between the volcanic mountains, due to the safety regulation, I don't think that plane can be landed and departed here at dark. So the earliest departure from Jakarta is around 6 am and the latest departure is around 2.30 pm and vice versa (from Malang to Jakarta).

2. By Car

Like I explained before, you also might take a car rent / travel bus from Surbaya. If you started your journed from Jakarta, you will get through 800 km away for around 11 hours. Quite tough, huh?

3. By Train

Not only car, you also can go there by train, like what I did. I took Gajayana Executive Train from Gambir Station in Jakarta. The ticket was around IDR 650,000 / USD 45. The ticket fare exclude meal, but the train has its own canteen on the wagon so you don't need to be hungry during the trip. The train will bring you around Java, started from Jakarta to West Java (Cirebon), then it will bring you to Central Java (Yogyakarta) then it will take you to East Java and ended in Malang Station. It's quite comfortable going to Malang by train. However, it took like almost 16 hours to reach there. My train departed at 6.20 pm and arrived at Malang Station on the next day at 9 am .So I decided to go home by plane. It was a really good decision. At least I have experienced going through Java for 16 hours haha.

I stayed at Aston Inn Batu. Batu is located on the north side of Malang. I chose Batu to stay because the amusement parks such as Jatim Park, Museum Angkut, Batu Secret Zoo and Batu Night Spectacular are located in Batu as well. So if you'd like to go around the amusement parks, I recommend you to stay around Batu because it takes like 30 minutes from Malang city to Batu. The traffic sometimes is unpredictable as well, especially on weekend and public holiday.

I got a chance to stay in its Penthouse at 8th floor. This hotel only has one pent house room and it is really hard to get on weekend because this room is apparently the most wanted room for family pr group. What I love the most about this room is, besides how comfort relaxing inside, it also has One of the best bedroom views in town, especially when you wake up in the morning. It also just 500 meters walking distance away from Museum Angkut and around 2 km away from Jatim Park 1-3. So it’s totally worth it.

I think that the Penthouse room is not available on Traveloka / Booking.com / Argoda as I only found it on the official website of Archipelago. I also booked it from that website and got some discount as I was a member. The penthouse room costed around IDR 2,800,000 / USD 197 per night. The pro of this hotel is of course the best view of the room and it's close to other amusement parks in Batu. It is located in residence area as well so you might get it so peaceful at night. The contra is only one, the breakfast and dinner (I tried once buffet dinner there) are just standard since it's not a 5 Star hotel. You can check here https://www.archipelagointernational.com/id. 

| Transportation |

During my days in Batu, I simply just took online taxi wherever I went. But you might be careful because some of the drivers are not fluent in English. They even speak with Javanese accent.

When going to Mount Bromo, I used local travel agent to arrange my trip called Cak Ferdi Travel from @bromotravel. It was really simple and comfortable. They took me from Batu to Mount Bromo by Toyota Innova car. The driver picked me up around 10 pm at the hotel (the day before) and the trip was around 2,5 hours to reach the first point. We took the Probolinggo route because the driver said it is safer to go from this route. After reaching the first point, I was welcomed in a modest yet comfortable house (which happened to be a small inn) to take some rest for around 1,5 hours. Then at 2 am, the driver "handed me over" to the Bromo Local guide. I was taken by Jeep from the first point to Mount Bromo. It took around 45 minutes to reach there.

| Wheather |

Unlike the other city in Indonesia, Malang has a lower temperature so it's a bit cold and chill here, especially when you are in Batu. I felt a little bit dizzy at night. However, if you think Batu is cold enough to make you dizzy (just like me), then Mount Bromo would kill you slowly if you don't wear any jacket or shawl. I suggest you to put on some cold outfits as you reach the first point of Mount Bromo because believe me it is really cold. But, as the sun goes out, Mount Bromo is freaking hot. You can just take off your jacket tho.

| What to Do |

1. Chasing sunrise!

Yup, chasing sunrise in Mount Bromo has always been the most popular thing to do in here. That's why the local guide urged me to go there by 2 am, unless I'd miss the best spot to watch the sunrise. And yes, as I arrived there at 3 am, the sea of people are real. It was really crowded there that everyone has taken the spot to watch the sunrise. 

It was quite challenging by the way. You have to bear with the wind and low temperature while "battling" with the crowd to take the best spot. It was freaking 3 am at dawn and I was sitting nicely under my blanket. I was also really hard to take a good and clear picture due to the massive crowd. But still, I was really thankful to witness the most beautiful sunrise in my life, ever. I also spotted and smelled some sulfurous smoke as the sun rose. Sometimes, the best moment should only be seen by your eyes, just like my favorite scene on The Secret Life of Walter Mitty movie, when Walter Mitty found O'Connell at the top of the mountain. O'Connell said, "If I like a moment, I mean, me, personally.. I don't like to have a distraction of a camera. I just wanna stay in it." And so I did.

The first appearance of Mount Bromo when the sun about to rise.

2. Walking on The Sea of Sand

The Sea of Sand, also known locally as Pasir Berbisik, is another interesting thing you can enjoy here. After watching the sunrise, my local guide took me down to Pasir Berbisik. It is a very big dessert that contained tons of sand grains. Beware guys, if you are using contact lens, you might feel a bit hurt due to the sand grains.

As I was dropped off from the Jeep, there were a lot of horses "parked" around me. Apparently the local vendor offered me to ride horse passing through the Pasir Berbisik. I was declined the offer of course because it was quite pricey (Around IDR 200,000 / USD 14 per person) and I thought Pasir Berbisik was not that big. However, as I walked through the sands for around 15 minutes, apparently it was still long way to go to the hill. So I decided to ride a horse (yes, there was still some horses that you can rent in the middle of the sea of sand). I was so happy because the vendor offered me just IDR 50,000 / USD 3,5 (which is only 1/4 from the first price), even though I wasn't even walk for halfway. It's one of the best trick by the way to ride a horse for a cheap way.

As I arrived at crater entrance in Pasir Berbisik.

3. Posing on Jeep at Bukit Teletubies

If you are searching pictures in Instagram with #bromo, you will find some of them are posing on a Jeep with a land of grass and hills as the background.Yup, I also did it. Bukit Teletubies is called that way because the look is similar to Teletubies shooting site. And as the Teletubies shooting site was, the sun in here was also shining so bright as the time went by. I remembered I only stopped for a while to take some pictures, then I directly got into the Jeep again then got back to my driver. But it's worth the sunlight tho.

As I got back to the inn, I was served fried rice for my lunch from the host. I was so blessed because I was really hungry as I woke up too early that morning and hiked up to the mountain. After finished my lunch, I got to my Innova Car again and the driver took me back to the hotel in Batu for another 2,5 hours journey.

I spent around IDR 650,000 / USD 45 per person for this 1 Day private local trip to Mount Bromo from Cak Ferdi @bromotravel. The price includes the car rent (Toyota Innova) + fuel, mineral water, Jeep rent, and lunch. It's quite prices but yet it's worth it, especially when you go there with your elder people or family. However, you don't need to worry because Cak Ferdi has another option for budget travelers because the tour also provides Open Trip with lower price of course!