Ijen Volcano Java: Our Tips and Experiences

Key Facts About the Ijen Volcano at a Glance

• Elevation: approximately 2,300 meters (crater rim)
• Status: active
• Hike to the crater: approximately 10 kilometers (round trip)
• Ascent: approximately 500 meters of elevation gain
• Difficulty: hard

Where Is the Ijen Volcano Located?

The Ijen volcano sits in the far east of Java. The nearest town and best base for your visit is Banyuwangi — and you can get there super quickly by ferry from Bali.

What's the Best Way to Visit the Ijen?

You have two options for climbing the Ijen volcano on Java:

• On a guided tour
• On your own

Whichever you choose, the schedule is essentially the same and the price difference isn’t huge either. Here’s how to figure out which option suits you better.

Guided Tours to the Ijen Volcano

Guided tours are by far the most popular way to hike up to Kawah Ijen. You can book them at any accommodation in Banyuwangi — even last-minute — or online in advance.

Booking on the spot is a little cheaper. Booking online gives you more planning certainty.

Book the Ijen Volcano Hiking Tour

Book the Ijen Hiking Tour from Bali

On tours departing from Banyuwangi, you’ll be picked up from your hotel around midnight and start hiking around 2 AM.

Once you reach the top, you first hike down into the crater to see the blue fire, then watch the sunrise from the crater rim.

By around 7 AM you’re back at the parking lot for a small breakfast, and you’ll be back in Banyuwangi around 9 AM.

Tours cost approximately 350,000–500,000 IDR.

Advantages of tours

• Transportation and a guide are included
• You don’t have to worry about anything (gas masks, health certificate, etc.)
• You meet other travelers — especially great if you’re going solo

Disadvantages of tours

• You’re tied to the pace of the group and the guide

Visiting the Ijen Volcano on Your Own

If you prefer flexibility, you’ll need to arrange a driver in Banyuwangi to take you up to the parking lot. Most drivers wait there and bring you back down too. You’ll pay around 300,000 IDR (approximately 20 euros) for this.

At the parking lot, you can rent gas masks for a small fee — unless your driver sorts them out for you.

Plan to start hiking at a similar time (around 2 AM) as the tours. The ijen blue fire is only visible in the early morning hours, so that’s the window you’re working with.

You really can’t get lost — there are tourists and sulfur workers moving around the whole time.

Don’t skip the sunrise from the crater rim either. Trust us, the experience is seriously fantastic, even with plenty of other people around!

Advantages of going on your own

• You have full flexibility
• You hike at your own pace
• It’s cheaper, especially if you’re traveling with at least one other person

Disadvantages of going on your own

• More logistics to handle yourself (health certificate, getting there, etc.)
• No guide — though honestly, most guides don’t explain a whole lot anyway

Our Experience at the Ijen Volcano

We went with a guided tour to the Ijen volcano because we were a little nervous about the toxic gases at first. The tour cost 375,000 IDR.

Looking back, we can say that for experienced hikers and younger travelers, it really doesn’t make much difference whether you go with or without a guide — you’re surrounded by people the entire time anyway.

In hindsight, we would’ve preferred to go at our own pace. But even so, the experience was absolutely incredible.

Our tip: If you don’t hike regularly or are over 50, we’d strongly recommend booking a private tour to the Ijen. The climb is genuinely tough and shouldn’t be underestimated.

Hotel Pickup and Health Certificate

Around midnight we were picked up from our accommodation, the Robiu Bed & Breakfast, and then collected a few other people along the way.

First, we all drove to a clinic to get our health certificate — this is now mandatory for hiking the Ijen volcano (whether anyone actually checks it if you go independently, we honestly don’t know).

The whole process was a bit odd: all they did was take our blood pressure, have us sign a form, and pay 35,000 IDR.

Once everyone was done, we drove up to the trailhead, arriving around 1:30 AM.

Ascent to the Crater Rim

We waited in a café until about 2:15 AM, where we received our gas masks and headlamps. Then we set off in a group of ten with a guide.

Almost immediately it was a steep climb over packed sand. Within just a few minutes, the first people in our group were already struggling.

Workers with wheelbarrows line the sides of the trail, offering to push you up in their “Lamborghini.”

Quite a few people actually took them up on it. Honestly, we found it a bit questionable to have three people push you up a super steep volcano. On the other hand, this is likely a significant part of the workers’ income.

We hiked all the way to the crater rim — about 3.5 kilometers — and at some points it was so steep we nearly lost our footing in the sand.

Near the top, we pulled on our gas masks as the first strong whiff of sulfur hit us. With the mask on, it was completely fine.

Blue Fire and Sunrise

Because our group was moving at a pretty slow pace, we didn’t reach the crater rim until around 4 AM — which was already almost too late to hike down into the crater and see the Ijen blue fire.

As it turned out, the blue fire wasn’t visible that day anyway — that’s what others who had already been down in the crater told us. Disappointing, but that’s the nature of it!

We then walked nearly two more kilometers along the crater rim, watching the volcano gradually reveal itself as it got brighter and brighter.

Because the crater rim stretches over a long distance, the crowds spread out nicely and we found a lovely spot to watch the sunrise.

And it was truly an absolute highlight of our Java road trip — a seriously breathtaking experience that fully earned its reputation as a top attraction.

Descent to the Parking Lot

Around 5:30 AM we headed back down. The visibility was getting hazy and the smell was almost unbearable for nearly the entire descent.

We hiked with our gas masks on the whole way down. The steep sandy section was actually harder going down than going up.

You slide more than you walk, and this is where good-soled shoes really earn their keep. Many people struggled and fell multiple times.

And yes — we still saw people being pushed up in wheelbarrows on our way down.

Extra Tip: From Banyuwangi to Bali

After the tour we rested briefly at our accommodation in Banyuwangi and then took a Grab to the ferry terminal to Bali.

At the terminal entrance we bought our ferry ticket: a staff member led us to a restaurant where a woman purchased the ticket for us online. We paid her in cash (17,000 IDR).

It felt a little unusual at first, but the ticket was completely legitimate. Inside the terminal we scanned the ticket and walked straight onto the ferry. You can also bring a car or scooter — you’ll just pay a bit more.

The crossing took one hour. At the ferry terminal in Gilimanuk we searched in vain for a bus and ended up sharing a taxi with other travelers to Ubud for 600,000 IDR.

Is Visiting the Ijen Volcano Dangerous?

We asked ourselves this a lot before the hike — especially after reading some mixed reports online.

Looking back, we’d say: The Ijen hike isn’t without risk. But it’s not dramatically more dangerous than any other challenging mountain hike.

The trails are steep and partly slippery. If you stay on the path, watch where you step, and don’t get too close to the edge, you minimize the risk significantly. Good footwear, solid stamina, and some hiking experience are essential.

Then there are the toxic gases. Personally, they didn’t hold us back, and our initial concerns turned out to be mostly unfounded. At times the smell along the trail was strong, but with the gas mask on it was completely manageable.

Worth noting: we didn’t hike deep into the crater. Down there, the gases are probably significantly more intense.

Note: If you have breathing problems, lung conditions, or similar health issues, we’d advise against hiking to the Ijen volcano.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Ijen Volcano