Unforgettable Tour: Mount Bromo at Sunrise

Everything went differently for us because of the Hindu festival. Locals have told us that at midnight something exciting will happen at the crater of Bromo. So we didn’t go to sleep, but thought about the best way to get there at night. At 11 pm we started on foot. At the end of the road there is a small path from the edge of the caldera down to the sand. And from there we simply walked cross-country towards the lights on the Bromo. Of course, it was a bit adventurous, but we saved the entrance fee.

The last piece will be relatively exhausting. While you can walk the whole long way through the sandy desert very well, it gets quite steep on the last few meters and you sink into the sand with your shoes. And when we finally reached the lower part of the stairs to the crater, we realized once again that this bromo is indeed an active volcano. The sulfur burned in the lungs and these 250 steps became a felt eternity. So it’s best to take a scarf with you as a mouthguard.

Arriving at the crater rim, we had a bizarre picture in mind. Local believers come to bromo that night to throw their gifts into the volcano. These are made up of pretty much everything from banknotes to live animals like chickens and even goats.

And since it would somehow be a pity for the money or the animals, other locals build their small camps in the steep crater of the Bromo to collect these gifts again.

So while we were busy just breathing painlessly, others spent their time catching these things on the precipice of the crater and jumping from side to side, sometimes even with cigarettes in their mouths. Under these conditions certainly not in favor of their health, but still very impressive.

On the way back to the hotel we took a short break at the actual festival. In the middle of the night, hundreds of Hindus were dancing and eating here. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought I was at an electro festival in Europe. Only the dance style showed that I was in another part of the world. And as interesting as the party was, we had to leave soon. After all, it wasn’t long until sunrise.

Since we did not know exactly what to expect and when we would be back, we had not organized a transport to the viewpoint in advance. That wasn’t too bad, but we had to go back on foot around 3 o’clock in the morning to arrive at the said point in time for sunrise. The walk to the viewpoint was actually fine, but I was quite grateful for my brand new Bromo cap and my winter coat. You can buy hats and gloves very cheaply in Cemoro Lawang, we borrowed the winter coats in the guesthouse for one night (about 25,000 IDR).

You can’t miss the viewpoint. With us really many other jeeps arrived and local ladies had already set up their small stalls. And so we sat there, with instant coffee in hand, waiting for the sunrise. I think we were pretty lucky here too. I knew pictures in which there was not much to see except crowds. On our day, the number of tourists was quite manageable and the mood quite relaxed.

And then the time had finally come. The first rays of sunshine illuminate the sky and it was only now that it was recognized that the entire “sea of sand” lies in the fog. And in the middle of it all is a smoking bromo in the shadow of Indonesia’s highest volcano, the 3,676-meter-high Semeru. A fantastic moment.

After a few photos, the journey continued for us to the next adventure: the volcano Ijen.

Here you will find more photos and information about Mount Bromo as well as tips on how to integrate a visit there into the route from Jakarta to Bali.