When we travel, we like to do things on our own. We’ll choose tours and organized trips when we are rushed for time or there’s no other option, but otherwise, we like figuring it our ourselves. It’s often cheaper, gives you the freedom and it’s way more rewarding if you’ve climbed that hill yourself instead of getting out of a jeep to snap a pic right?
The same goes for our first destination in Java: Kawah Ijen. When looked into organizing the trip ourselves, we didn’t find too much information, and most of it was dated or contradictory. So here’s an up to date guide with everything you need to know for a DIY trip to Mt. Ijen!
Table of Contents
Getting there
First things first, getting to Banyuwangi, the town closest to Mt. Ijen. It’s easy to reach and the perfect ‘basecamp’ for your trip.
FROM BALI
If you come from Bali, you have to get a taxi, gojek or bus to the ferry terminal in Gilimanuk first. We took a bus from Mengwi bus station. We couldn’t find any times online so we just went there early in the morning. We waited across the road from the terminal, and waved down one of the local busses. This cost us 50K IDR. You can also take a bus from Ubung bus terminal, but be aware of the scammers. The bus should cost around 50k IDR each. There’s a lot of people trying to sell tickets for way higher prices, or trying to get you to take a more expensive mini bus. Remember this: stay calm and friendly but stand your ground. Don’t pay anyone but the driver/official ticket guy and not before the bus had started moving. The trip took us about 3 hours.
We found these routes with minimum and maximum prices set by the government online:
- Gilimanuk—Negara—Tabanan—Ubang (Denpasar): 24,000 to 35,500 rupiah
- Gilimanuk—Mengwi—Denpasar—Padang Bai: 41,000 to 61,000 rupiah
- Gilimanuk—Pulaki—Singaraja (via Pemuteran and Lovina): 23,500 to 35,000 rupiah
- Gilimanuk—Singaraja—Kubu—Amlapura: 40,500 to 60,500 rupiah
Once you’ve arrived in Gilimanuk, hop on the ferry to Ketapang. The ferry departs around the clock, leaving about every 20 minutes and will take 45 minutes to an hour to get there. Tickets are cheap, only 6000 IDR per person. If you want to take your motorbike it’s between 22k – 34k depending on the type and for a car you’ll be charged 138k IDR. Keep in mind that, as with all Indonesian public transport, you might have to wait here or there, so add some extra time to your schedule just in case!
From Ketapang, we took a bemo (public minibus) to Banyuwangi. They should cost between 5-10k each to drop you off somewhere on the main road in Bangyuwangi. We paid an empty bemo a bit more to drop us off at our accommodation. If you don’t want to walk or your accommodation is far from the main road, get a Grab/Gojek or a private taxi.
FROM PROBOLINGGO / SURABAYA / YOGYAKARTA
Banyuwangi is at the end of the rail line in Java, making it easy to get to by train. Check for connections on their website www.kai.id. There’s also options for a bus, which is usually a bit cheaper, but you’ll have to do some research, they’re a bit more unpredictable and will take longer. That being said, we usually still go for the bus!
Where to stay
There are a lot of options, both budget and more upscale. We stayed halfway between Ketapang and Bangyuwangi center, at Permatai Indah Permai Hotel. They have a room for everyone. On the streetside there are basic but clean cheap rooms that start at 85k rupiah if you book through hostelworld. Very much Indonesian motel-style with a noisy street nearby, but you get what you pay for. In the back, they have some newly renovated rooms with new bedding, powerpoints, clean modern (yet small) bathrooms, aircon and, best of all, no noise! Everything you’d expect from a nice hostel. The price is also a bit steeper though, 200k IDR per night for two people.
Organising your trip to Ijen.
It comes down to two options: You can do an organized tour/ driver. He will drive you up there and take care of everything. Or you can rent a motorcycle and do it yourself. Listed below is the breakdown of both options.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Ijen is closed every first Friday of the month! Don’t forget this when you are planning your trip.
Organized Tour
The whole package, all you have to do is get up in the morning. You will find prices anywhere between 150k – 300k for tours leaving from Banyuwangi. It mainly depends on if your tour guide is an actual guide or just a driver. The more you pay the more likely it is you’ll get interesting facts about the volcano. Most of the time a gasmask and torch will be covered in the price. Drinks and snacks are usually not. On top of that you still have to pay the entrance fee which comes down to 100k on weekdays or 150k in the weekend.
TOTAL BUDGET: Cheapest: 250k pp – Most expensive: 450 k pp
Do it yourself.
First of all, you’ll need a scooter (or a car). We rented a 113 cc Yamaha from Tripoli Tour and Travel. This set us back 65k IDR. We filled up the entire tank but in retrospect only used 10 – 15k of gasoline. As for the gas mask, we didn’t get one because we weren’t allowed to go down inside the crater because of the high concentration of poisonous gas. The crater is where you’d need the mask the most. We just bought some facemasks, which was enough for the crater edge. If you feel more comfortable with a gas mask, you can probably rent them at your hotel (the Permetai Indah Hotel asked for 35k one) If you wait to rent them at the start of the treck to Ijen, expect to pay 50k for a mask. There is also a 5k tax per person for the usage of the road to Mount Ijen. Things you should also bring: warm clothes or jacket (it’s freezing on the scooter at night), gloves and a torch/headlight. We would also recommend snacks because you know, snacks.
TOTAL BUDGET: 45 k each or 80 k pp with gasmask (if there are two people sharing the scooter)
The road trip there
After all that practical stuff, it’s time for the fun to start! We set our alarms for 12 am and left our hostel at 12.30am, aiming to get here by 2 in the morning. The trip there on a scooter will take you between 1 to 1,5 hours. We read a lot of contradicting information about the condition of the road. We were very pleasantly surprised when we discovered the road to be very well maintained! There’s a couple of places with holes and gravel (we’re still in Indonesia after all), but all in all, it was in decent condition. It was easy enough with the two of us on a scooter, although you should expect some parts that are steep and lots of bends!
The hike up
You’ll arrive at the parking area and start of the hike. The first thing we did when we arrived was getting ourselves a coffee. It was very cold (!) on the scooter, we recommend gloves if you’re driving, and a warm jacket. Get your ticket at the official booth, pay for the parking and off you go on your treck to Mt. Ijen! The entrance fee is 100 000 IDR on weekdays and 150 000 IDR in the weekend.
The path starts alright but becomes pretty steep fast. Take it as slow as you like though, there are plenty of places to take a breather. Personally, we didn’t find it too challenging, just steep. It’s a very clear path, and there will be many people going up with you, so don’t worry about waking up in the dark. It took us about an hour to get up, but we didn’t stop anywhere along the way. Once you make it to the edge of the crater, follow the path to the right.
Blue fire
If you keep following right, you’ll eventually find a small path down the crater on the left-hand side. We weren’t allowed down at the time, because the toxic fumes were too much. From what we’ve read though, the hike down takes between 30-45 minutes on a steep, uneven rocky path. You’ll have a better vantage point to see the blue flame inside the crater. You can only see it at night though, so make sure you time your hikes right! I’ve heard a lot of people stay in the crater for the sunrise, but we watched if from another point!
Catch the Sunrise
If you don’t go inside the crater or want to watch the sunrise from the edge, here’s where to go! We kept following the right-hand side and the path seemed to go away from the edge for a bit, through trees and scrubs, but after a while, we were back at the edge. You’ll see some concrete structures, and there will be people having bonfires! The sun sets opposite the crater so find yourself a nice spot to sit and wait!
Our sunrise wasn’t the most spectacular one (we still can’t time or control clouds), but the first sunlight hitting the crater was out of this world. It’s a magical place!
We couldn’t get enough of the views though. If you follow the trail back alongside the crater you’ll find so many stops where you can take nice pics!
The Sulfur miners
We were there on a public holiday, so the miners weren’t working. Some of them were selling the little sulfur figurines though! We bought some since it’s such a small thing for us, but a lot of extra income for them. The small ones are only around 10k IDR each. One of the old miners showed us the baskets they have to carry up and down the crater and hill twice a day. Joachim couldn’t even lift it, it’s between 60-90 kg! Absolutely crazy. He showed us the scars on his shoulders from carrying the baskets, which all of a sudden made it very real. They work so hard for barely any pay. So buy a small sulfur turtle, always let the miners pass and offer them a biscuit or something! It’ll mean a lot to them.
That’s it! Now you can enjoy your trip to Kawah Ijen!
Let us know if you’ve done it DIY or with a tour in the comments. Would you do anything different from us?
Laura is the lead writer at BackpackBeliefs.com, where she specializes in travel guides, cultural exploration, and sustainable tourism. With over 10 years of travel experience and a Master’s degree in Cultural Anthropology, Laura brings valuable insights to her readers.
For the latest travel tips and updates, connect with Laura on Facebook at @backpackbeliefs and Instagram at @backpackbeliefs. where she has 4,622 followers.
