With a height of 7,641 feet, Bromo is one of the mountains in Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park located in East Java, Indonesia. It has unique natural phenomena in front of a crater on the crater covered by the sand sea.

To be honest, I hadn’t known much about this volcano until I suddenly came up with the idea of traveling to Indonesia. People always think of Bali at first, I did the same too lol but besides that heaven for couples, I want to explore more. And that when I did all the researches about Indonesia. Luckily, Bromo caught my eyes right away and I am so glad it did.

Here is my journey of discovering this breathtaking volcano.

Into the volcano land – How to go?

First of all, there is no direct flight from Vietnam to Indonesia, so you have to transit in Kuala Lumpur or Singapore. You can choose Surabaya or Yogyakarta as your destination, the cost may be around somewhere between 2 – 4 million VND (one way). To save the cost, me and my friend chose to fly to Jakarta then use the local transportations to get to Surabaya. However, that turned out to be our biggest mistake, because it took a lot of our time and energy as well. So here my advice, choose Surabaya or Yogyakarta as a destination to save more time!

If you plan to go on a long trip, you should choose to land in Yogyakarta since there are a lot of must-visit places there, especially the Borobudur temple. It is the world’s largest Buddhist temple and well known as UNESCO World Heritage Site. Shamefully we did not have much time, so we had to skip this place.

Borobudur Temple. Cre on pic

So right at the time we get to the Surabaya airport, we were welcomed by a thousand taxi drivers. No joke, it’s a-thousand (just like an Idol when they got to the arrival hall lmao, lame joke hahaha). You can choose to go by train or bus (Dambri bus), but after three flights, we were literally in low battery, so we changed our minds and stick with the taxi choice.

And you guy know what? That was our best decision. Because Bromo is in a remote and devious village. There is no bus or train. If you go by bus or train, you have to find a way to get into the village. And to be honest it is no safe. The road up there is super rough. Some drivers will offer like 900 Rupiah, but you can bargain down, we closed the deal at 500 Rupiah (2 people) for the trip from the airport to our hotel in Bromo. We got there at the midnight, it took us more than 3 hours and we were worried the whole time because literally there is no one else on the way, that’s kinda creepy!

The morning after that we made friends with a Jamaica girl, she told us that she was totally lost while trying to find the way to get to Bromo, so yeah, you got my warning!

Waking up the sleeping Bromo

Bromo Mountain from viewpoint 1

The weather at Bromo is super duper cold, so prepare your winter clothes. To see the sunrise over Bromo, you have no choice but to get up at 3 am. There is a Jeep service drive up to the Bromo, local drivers will offer 700 Rupiah, but again, try to down the price to 500 Rupiah/2 people.

Jeep cars are the most convenient way to drive to Bromo. If you are an adventurous person, you can try a motorbike

At 3 am, we got in the car. The driver took us to viewpoint 1 where you can see the sunrise over the majestic volcano. He dropped us at a small tea shop then we had to climb up ourselves to viewpoint 1. If you are not a sporty person, I advise you should practice some hiking first, or else you cannot even breathe!

My breakfast in Bromo. It’s Bakso, look good taste even better

Who can resist a cup of hot tea in this cold weather? Like WHO???

This journey reminds me of the trip in Bagan, Myanmar 2 years ago. We had to get up soon too and had to wait when the sky was still dark until the sun slowly came up. However, it so worths the wait as the view is very breathtaking. My jaw dropped seeing the majestic Bromo over the sunshine. All the tiredness gone away, I feel truly happy looking that view. It’s so untrue and magical.

Stunning Bromo from viewpoint 1

One little minus at the viewpoint is there were so many people, it was so crowded that you can hardly enjoy the view. But still, that one little minus can never overshadow the breathtaking scenery. I once hit likes on Instagram everyday whenever I see the pictures of Bromo but then here I were, standing there, taking the picture of it.

Climbing adventure to the volcano vent 

Right after we did with viewpoint 1, the driver took us to Bromo mountain. There were 5 people in the jeep car (driver is not included): One couple from Germany, me and my friend, and one solo traveler from Jamaica. We talked about how stunning the Bromo sunrise view was on the way to the volcano.

We also stopped at a few spots to catch other pictures. Bromo is flawless from any angle. And to be honest, you don’t need to do anything, no filter is needed and it still looks beautiful as it is.

Bromo from another angle

When we got near the Bromo mountain, the driver dropped us out of the volcano because no cars or motorbikes are allowed to get in there. You can hire a horse to get to the foot of the mountain (~Rp. 30.000) but you shouldn’t, seeing all the tired horses with a mouth full of foaming will make you understand why. But in case you are not a good hiking, trekking person. You should hire one because it is really far from the parking to the foot of the mountain. Not mention to the fact that it’s a dune, steep slope and dust are everywhere in the air, so hire one if you are in need. And don’t forget to bring your gauze masks and sunglasses because dust and smokes cover the whole place.

So when you get to the foot of the mountain, there are hundreds of stairs ahead for you to conquer. Just climb slowly, you will get there eventually. That’s how we conquered the volcano. When we got to the Bromo vent, it’s a wow. Never in my life, had I seen a volcano vent. It’s so gorgeous! From there, you could enjoy one of the world’s greatest volcanic mountains.

The vent

On the way from the foot to the vent of the volcano, you will see a few street vendors selling small flower bunches. I did not research that but from what I read later, it’s actually a so-called traditional thing to do once you get to the crater edges: “Then the mass will proceed along the crater edges of Mt Bromo where offerings of rice, fruit, vegetables, flowers, livestock, and other local produce will be thrown into the deep gully. The offering service dates back to the time of Roro Anteng and Joko Seger who performed a sacrificial ritual of animals and plants in replacement of their 25th child who initially was supposed to be thrown into the crater.” Charlotte, North Carolina.

Outside in: Discover the world and explore the inside of you

To conclude, this journey will be one of the greatest experiences in my life, EVER!!! I never thought I can conquer this, I never think of myself as an athletic person. So true that “You never know what you can do or what you like until you truly do it!” How can I know I am a “kinda” sporty person if I never try this? Break your our limits! You never know what it will bring out!

That’s what I love about travel, it not only about exploring the outside world but also about the inside world, it’s about you. And you are always the biggest thing you need to explore and discover!!!

Hope you love my sharing! I love you all XOXO

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