The crater rim
Smoke and sulphur below you.
Hugo van den Bos — CC BY 2.0 · Aditya Prabaswara — CC BY 2.0 · Tino Nur Riyadi — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bidara26 — CC BY-SA 4.0
Indonesia's most famous and most photographed volcano, an active cone about two thousand three hundred metres high inside the vast Tengger caldera, ringed by a sea of volcanic sand, with white smoke rising constantly from its crater. The sunrise view of Bromo, ridged Mount Batok and the distant, smoking summit of Semeru is one of Asia's great sights. The usual trip starts before dawn with a jeep to the Penanjakan viewpoint for sunrise, then down across the sea of sand to the foot of Bromo and up a stairway of about two hundred and fifty steps, or partly on horseback, to the crater rim above the smoke and sulphur. The area's people are the Hindu Tengger, who hold the Yadnya Kasada festival each year and throw offerings into the crater. The Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park fee for foreigners is about IDR 220,000 on weekdays and more at weekends, bought online; jeeps are hired whole at an agreed price. Most visitors come from Malang or Surabaya on an overnight tour, or stay in Cemoro Lawang village on the caldera rim. The pre-dawn cold is bitter and can approach freezing, so bring warm clothes and a mask for dust and sulphur. The area sometimes closes when volcanic activity rises, so check the status before you go.
Smoke and sulphur below you.
Bromo, Batok and Semeru.
The Yadnya Kasada festival.
Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, East Java
Both work, with overnight tours leaving around midnight from either city. For more comfort, stay in Cemoro Lawang on the caldera rim and set out an hour before dawn.
