You don’t need a tour to visit Bromo. With a little research, it’s quite easy to visit Bromo on your own, and it can even be done relatively cheaply. Way cheaper than going by a tour at least. If you prefer to travel independently, then you should definitely visit Bromo without a tour. Here I will tell you all about how to get to Bromo and the best locations when you’re there. This way you can make the most out of your trip to Mount Bromo.
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Table of Contents - How to visit Bromo without a tour – The cheap way
What is Bromo?
Mount Bromo is an active volcano in the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park. It is part of the Tengger Caldera, which is also called the Sand Sea. It got this name because it’s basically a big sand plain. The name Bromo comes from the Javanese pronunciation of Brahma, the Hindu god of creation. The volcano is worshiped by Indonesian Hindus and there is a Hindu temple at the foot of the mountain too.
How to get to Bromo?
The closest cities to Bromo are Malang and Probolinggo in East Java. If you are thinking of going with a tour, you can take a tour from each of these cities.
I recommend visiting Bromo without a tour though. It’s not only cheaper, it also gives you the possibility to avoid the crowds as much as possible. If you want to go by yourself, make your way to Probolinggo by bus or train. From here you can take a shared van to Cemoro Lawang, which is the town at the rim of the Tengger Caldera. This is the best place to base yourself if you want to visit Bromo without a tour. Shared vans only go when all seats are paid for, so try to get here early to have the best chance of a van filling up. You can also opt for paying for the remaining seats between passengers if the van doesn’t seem to get full.
It takes just over an hour to drive from Probolinggo to Cemoro Lawang by motorbike, so you could also opt for renting one here and drive to Cemoro Lawang yourself. Having a motorbike in Cemoro Lawang will save you some walking up the hill for the lookout point too.
How much does it cost to visit Bromo?
The entry fee for the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park is quite steep. Foreigners pay 220.000 Rp during weekdays and 320.000 Rp during weekends. On top of this, you’ll also need to pay 10.000 to enter the town of Cemoro Lawang and 1.500 for some “insurance”. Now, luckily there is a way around paying this National Park fee if you visit Bromo without a tour.
Unfortunately, we didn’t know about this until we got here, so we ended up paying. Once we were in town we discovered a free way to do it and met people who did indeed visited the national park without paying the fee.
(Prices are at the time of writing and will likely increase each year)
How to avoid paying the fee
Since we got here by shared van, they stopped at the checkpoint and we had to pay the fee to enter the town and the “insurance”. They will sell you the NP ticket here already too, but you can just say you’re only going to the King Kong Viewpoint the next day, which is not part of the National Park, and that you will buy your ticket when you actually go to the National Park. Tickets are only checked at the main road. There is a path leading to Bromo, where you can enter for free. I will show you where at the section about the Bromo Crater.
If you’re going by scooter, you can just avoid the official entrance by not entering via the main road. If you do happen to stumble across it, just use the same tactic as with the van, and only pay the town fee and insurance here.
What is the best time of year to visit Bromo?
The best time of year to visit Mount Bromo is during the dry season, from May to October. During the rainy season, you don’t only run the risk of getting wet, it’s also less likely to get a nice sunrise because of clouds and fog. You can have clouds and fog during the dry season as well, and you can have a beautiful sunrise in the rainy season. There are never any guarantees, it’s just about chances and luck. 🙂
What to bring to Bromo?
First of all, you’re going to need a warm jacket and/or a sweater. Cemoro Lawang lies at an altitude of over 2.200 meters, so it gets cold here at night. You’re going to want to watch the sunrise, so it will be extra cold while you are waiting for the sun to rise. You’ll also need decent shoes. The walks to the main viewpoint and the crater rim aren’t too complicated, so sneakers are good enough.
I also recommend downloading an offline hiking map, like mapy.cz or maps.me, on your phone. These maps are not only available offline, they also show hiking trails. So they are good to make sure you’re on the right track. Especially when crossing the sand sea.
You could bring a headtorch if you have one, but if not the torch on your phone works as well.
Where to stay for visiting Bromo?
As I mentioned above, I recommend staying in the town of Cemoro Lawang. It’s good to know that this town is really small, and gets very busy during weekends and the holidays (especially during the Indonesian holidays at the end of Ramadan). So I recommend booking ahead of time if you can.
We stayed at Bromo B&B. This is a simple homestay but offers everything you need. The bed is comfortable, the owner is very friendly, and most importantly, there is a hot shower. Since it gets cold here at night, you’re gonna want one here.
I recommend staying two nights, so if you are unlucky and don’t catch a (good) sunrise on your first morning here, you have a second chance.
Where to eat at Bromo?
Kusuma is the most popular restaurant, but we loved the food at Cemara Inda‘s restaurant! The menu is extensive, prices are reasonable and the location is perfect too! It’s located right at the rim, so if you are lucky you can get some nice views over Bromo from here.
What are the top spots at Bromo?
King Kong Hill - The sunrise viewpoint
King Kong Hill is the most famous viewpoint and definitely has the best view of Bromo and the area. We went here the first morning we were here. The problem is that it was a weekend and it was super crowded with local tourism. The town was crowded at 3 am already and jeeps didn’t stop from coming. From where they had to park, it was a traffic jam of walkers, horses, and scooters trying to make their way up.
When we saw all this, we decided to stay a little down from the actual viewpoint. We made it sooner than we thought though, so we got stuck in the crowd. We were relatively early and the best part of the viewpoint was absolutely stuffed with people already. Luckily we found another nice angle where we could still find a spot at the front before that part filled up too.
Tip: If you are making your way to King Kong Hill and find it as busy as we did, you can stay at the point indicated on the map. You can recognize it as it’s the only little bit of dirt road, whereas most of the trail is sealed or stairs. When we were there, there was no real barrier, but the corner was set off with orange ropes. From here the views are really nice too and there will be way fewer people. Visiting Bromo without a tour gives you this flexibility of stopping wherever you see fit.
We walked up to King Kong Hill, which is definitely doable. It takes about 1.5 hours to the viewpoint, and a little less to go to the point recommended above. If you don’t feel like walking, you can take your scooter up part of the way if you’ve rented one. There will be plenty of locals offering to take you up too, but do make sure to haggle before hopping on one.
Bromo's Crater
Visiting the crater of Bromo itself is a must too while you’re here. We wanted to visit the crater after having breakfast and resting a bit, but unfortunately, it got very cloudy. Luckily we had planned an extra day here, so we decided to just chill for the rest of the day and go to the crater the next day for sunrise.
This worked out really well for us actually, because the crater is an awesome place to watch the sunrise too. It was still dark when we got up, so we got to see the glow of lava down the crater every once in a while, while we listened to the roaring sound coming out of it. You don’t have a view over Bromo being on it, but it was still beautiful to see the landscape come to life from the crater. Plus, we were the only ones here. There was one other group further up the crater rim, but they were just tiny dots to us and we felt like we were completely alone. Which was a very different experience from King Kong Hill the previous day.
So if you have an extra morning, I’d definitely recommend spending it here. If you can only spend one night at Bromo, then you’ll probably want to head up to King Kong Hill for sunrise and visit the crater later in the day. Don’t go right after sunrise though, as this is when all the tours will go and you’ll be stuck in the crowd again. Just head back to town for breakfast and head over to the crater afterward. Don’t leave it too late though, as it normally gets cloudy in the late morning. Again, one of the benefits of visiting Bromo without a tour is that you can plan your own time and avoid the crowds as much as possible.
The free way to Bromo
If you don’t want to pay the fee to visit the crater, don’t take the main road. This is where they will ask you for a ticket. Instead, head for Cemara Lawang. Right next to the hotel, there is a path going down the rim, to the sand sea. This is the path locals use, and it’s completely free!
Cemara Indah Hotel - Viewpoint in town
Right in front of the Cemara Indah Hotel, there are a couple of tables from where you have a very nice view over Bromo. It’s of course not the same as the view from King Kong Hill, but it’s a perfect spot for a beer or a cup of coffee in the afternoon if it’s not cloudy.
This was: How to visit Bromo without a tour – The cheap way
If you love hiking volcanoes, you might be interested in hiking Mount Sibayak in Sumatra too!