Cornelius Amann
October 06, 2026
5/5
Java: Yogyakarta, Borobudur, Bromo and Ijen
9 days from Jakarta to Bali: three nights in Yogyakarta for Borobudur at sunrise, Prambanan and the Kraton, the train east to Malang, sunrise over Bromo, Ijen's crater at dawn and the ferry to Bali.
9 days · Jakarta to Denpasar (Bali) · up to 12 guests
Mount Bromo during a period of activity in 2011 Photo: Ronald Tagra, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mt._Bromo_spewing_ash_before_eruption_2011.jpg)
The facts
At a glance
- Length
- 9 days, 8 nights
- Start and end
- Jakarta to Denpasar (Bali)
- Group size
- 7 to 12 guests
- Activity level
Moderate
Two pre-dawn starts on consecutive mornings. At Bromo, about 250 steps up to the crater rim at about 2,330 m after a walk across loose ash. At Ijen, about 3 km uphill on a sandy trail, a climb of about 500 m to the rim at about 2,380 m, and the same back down, 3 to 4 hours on foot in all. The other days are easy walking in temples and towns. You can sit out the Bromo crater steps or the whole Ijen walk.
- Meals included
- 8 breakfasts, 7 lunches, 6 dinners
- Room of your own
- + CAD 355 (estimated price)
- Season
- May to October
Highlights
Why this trip
- Sunrise over Borobudur from Punthuk Setumbu, then the monument as the park opens
- A hands-on batik workshop in Yogyakarta, with a cloth you dyed yourself to take home
- The Kraton and Taman Sari, then Prambanan in the last light and the Ramayana Ballet
- Across Java by train, from Jakarta to Yogyakarta and on to Malang
- Sunset on the Bromo caldera rim, then sunrise over Bromo, Batok and the Sea of Sand
- Ijen's turquoise crater lake at dawn, with the blue flames for those who want an earlier start
- The ferry over the Bali Strait and a last night by the sea in Pemuteran
What makes this trip different
Free time is part of the plan
Free time and choices are marked on the days they fall.
Solo without the penalty
A room of your own is + CAD 355 (estimated price).
Day by day
Itinerary
Tap any stop on the map to open that dayClick any stop on the map to open that day
Arrive in Jakarta
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport to central Jakarta, then Kota Tua
- Dinner
- Stay in Jakarta
- Drive about 1 h
Fly into Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK), west of the city, where a driver meets you for the transfer into central Jakarta, usually about an hour and longer in heavy traffic.
Afternoon
If you land by about 2 pm, join your See Sight Tours guide and the group in the late afternoon for a first walk in Kota Tua, the old town of Dutch Batavia.
Evening
Fatahillah Square is best as the heat goes out of the day: the white former city hall on its south side, finished in 1710, now holds the Jakarta History Museum, and towards evening the square fills with families, cyclists and food carts. A short drive away, wooden pinisi schooners still load cargo at the old harbour of Sunda Kelapa. Then we sit down to a welcome dinner and a briefing on the days ahead: the two trains, the two volcano mornings, what to pack for the cold at altitude and how the days are paced.
Included
- Pick-up at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK)
- Kota Tua and Fatahillah Square at golden hour with your guide
- Sunda Kelapa harbour
- Welcome dinner and briefing
Free time: Free until the late-afternoon walk; if you land later, we meet at dinner
By train to Yogyakarta
Jakarta to Yogyakarta by executive-class train
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Stay in Yogyakarta
- By train
Morning
After breakfast we take an executive-class train from Gambir station in central Jakarta to Yogyakarta, about seven hours. It is the comfortable way to cross Java: reclining seats, air-conditioning and a long view from the window, first the flat rice country of the north coast, then the hills and volcanoes of Central Java.
Afternoon
Lunch is a Javanese meal served at your seat. We arrive in the afternoon and check in to a central hotel for three nights, so nobody repacks until day 5.
Evening
In the evening your guide takes the group out on foot for street food: gudeg, young jackfruit slow-cooked in palm sugar and coconut milk, the dish the city is known for, and a glass of kopi joss at a roadside angkringan stall, black coffee with a lump of glowing charcoal dropped in. The walk ends near Malioboro, the long main street, so you can stay out or head back.
Included
- Executive-class train from Jakarta Gambir to Yogyakarta
- Lunch on the train
- Evening street food walk with your guide
Free time: Free after the street food walk
Borobudur at sunrise, batik in the afternoon
Yogyakarta to Punthuk Setumbu and Borobudur, then back to Yogyakarta
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in Yogyakarta
- Drive about 2.5 h
We leave Yogyakarta at about 4 am and drive an hour and a quarter to Punthuk Setumbu, a wooded hill west of Borobudur.
Morning
A short climb on steps and a path brings you to the viewpoint for sunrise, when the temple rises out of the valley mist with Merapi and Merbabu behind it. Breakfast follows, then Borobudur itself as the park opens. Built in the 8th and 9th centuries and listed by UNESCO in 1991, it is nine stacked terraces with about 2,670 carved relief panels and 504 Buddha statues. Numbers on the monument are capped with timed tickets, so we book the earliest slot we can and walk the galleries with a local guide.
Afternoon
On the way back we stop at the small temples of Mendut and Pawon, and lunch is a sit-down meal in a village near Borobudur. After a rest at the hotel, a local batik maker shows the group how wax and dye make the patterns, and you wax and dye a small cloth of your own.
Evening
The evening is free.
Included
- Sunrise from Punthuk Setumbu
- Borobudur with a local guide, with a timed ticket onto the monument where available
- Mendut and Pawon temples
- Sit-down lunch near Borobudur
- Batik workshop in Yogyakarta, with the cloth you make
Easier option: Skip the climb at Punthuk Setumbu and wait at the foot of the hill, or sit out the batik workshop and rest.
Free time: Evening free
Activity: A 4 am start. The climb to the sunrise viewpoint is about 15 minutes on steps; Borobudur's terraces have steep stone stairs.
The Kraton, Prambanan and the Ramayana
Yogyakarta: the Kraton and Taman Sari, then Prambanan
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Stay in Yogyakarta
- Drive about 1.5 h
Morning
A slower morning in the city. Your guide walks you across the north square, past the Sonobudoyo museum, and into the Kraton, the palace of the Sultan of Yogyakarta, built in the 1750s. Its pavilions, gamelan sets and court regalia explain why the city still has a reigning sultan, and the palace sits on the Cosmological Axis of Yogyakarta, listed by UNESCO in 2023. We walk on to Taman Sari, the 18th-century royal water garden with its bathing pools and underground passages.
Afternoon
Lunch together, then a rest through the heat of the day. In the late afternoon we drive about 45 minutes east to Prambanan, the 9th-century Hindu temple compound listed by UNESCO alongside Borobudur. The central shrine to Shiva rises 47 m between the temples of Brahma and Vishnu, and the stone turns gold in the last hour, when most day visitors have gone.
Evening
Dinner is nearby, then the Ramayana Ballet, danced to gamelan with the floodlit temples behind the open-air stage.
Included
- The Kraton with a local guide
- Taman Sari water garden
- Prambanan in the late afternoon with a local guide
- Dinner and the Ramayana Ballet
Easier option: Spend the free middle of the day in the Sonobudoyo museum's wayang puppet and textile rooms on the north square instead of resting at the hotel.
Free time: Early afternoon free
Activity: The Kraton keeps morning hours only and closes for court ceremonies; we schedule this day on an opening day and a Ramayana night.
East by train to Malang
Yogyakarta to Malang by train
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in Malang
- By train
Morning
A slow morning: breakfast without an alarm, then the drive to the station for a late-morning train east, about seven to eight hours to Malang. The line runs past Solo and across the farmland of Central and East Java, with sugar-cane fields, small market towns and, on clear afternoons, the volcanoes of Kelud and Arjuno to the south.
Afternoon
Lunch is served on board, and the train is the reason this is a rest day rather than a long road day: you can read, sleep or walk the carriages. Malang sits at about 450 m in the hills of East Java, noticeably cooler than Yogyakarta, and was laid out by the Dutch as a hill town with wide boulevards.
Evening
We arrive in the late afternoon or early evening and check in to a central hotel near the Tugu square. The evening is free; your guide can point you to the night food stalls if you are hungry.
Included
- Train from Yogyakarta to Malang
- Lunch on the train
Free time: Morning and evening free
Activity: Train times are confirmed with your final itinerary; we pick a daytime departure.
Malang, then up to the Bromo rim
Malang to Probolinggo, then up to Cemoro Lawang
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Stay in Bromo (Cemoro Lawang)
- Drive about 3.5 h
Morning
In the cool of the morning your guide walks the group along Jalan Ijen, Malang's boulevard of Dutch-era villas under old trees, and to Jodipan, a riverside neighbourhood whose houses were painted in bright colours, crossed by a footbridge over the Brantas.
Afternoon
Lunch is a sit-down meal in town. Early in the afternoon we drive east on the toll road to Probolinggo and climb into the Tengger highlands, about 145 km and three to three and a half hours with a stop. The air cools, the rice fields give way to steep plots of potatoes, cabbages and spring onions, and by late afternoon you reach Cemoro Lawang, a village on the rim of the Tengger caldera at about 2,200 m. From the edge of the village you look straight down onto the Sea of Sand, with Bromo smoking in the middle and the cone of Batok beside it.
Evening
We walk out to the rim for sunset, then dinner at the lodge and an early night.
Included
- Morning walk in Malang: Jalan Ijen and Jodipan
- Sit-down lunch in Malang
- Sunset walk on the Bromo caldera rim
- Dinner at the lodge
Activity: Cemoro Lawang is at about 2,200 m: cold after dark, so keep a warm layer in your day pack.
Sunrise over Bromo, then east to Ijen
Cemoro Lawang to a sunrise viewpoint and Bromo's crater, then via Probolinggo and the coast to the Ijen side of Banyuwangi
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Stay in Banyuwangi (Ijen)
- Drive about 6 h
Jeeps collect us at about 3:30 am and climb to a viewpoint on the outer rim: Penanjakan, at about 2,770 m, or a quieter hill nearby when Penanjakan is crowded. As the sky lightens, Bromo, Batok and the sea of cloud appear, with Semeru, Java's highest volcano, on the horizon on clear mornings. The jeeps drop onto the Sea of Sand, past the Tengger temple of Luhur Poten, to the foot of Bromo; a walk across the ash and about 250 steps take you to the crater rim, if access is open.
Morning
Breakfast at the lodge, then the trip's one long road day: about 240 km and five and a half to six hours to the Ijen side of Banyuwangi. It runs over the 4-hour limit because there is no shorter way between the two volcanoes, and the morning train leaves Probolinggo before we are back from sunrise.
Evening
We break it with a long lunch by the sea at Pasir Putih and coffee stops, arrive in the late afternoon, and have an early dinner.
Included
- Bromo sunrise viewpoint by jeep with Tengger drivers
- The Sea of Sand and Bromo's crater rim, when open
- Sit-down lunch at Pasir Putih
- Early dinner at the hotel
Easier option: Stay at the sunrise viewpoint and the foot of Bromo and skip the crater steps; Tengger horsemen offer rides across the sand, paid locally.
More active option: Walk the crater rim further along its edge, where it is safe and permitted, with your guide.
Activity: The longest road day: about 5.5 to 6 hours of driving, broken by lunch. Sleep in the vehicle if you can; tomorrow starts early again.
Ijen at dawn and the ferry to Bali
Licin to the Paltuding trailhead and the Ijen crater rim, then Ketapang, the ferry to Gilimanuk and Pemuteran
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Stay in Pemuteran
- Drive about 2.5 h
Ijen is a walk in the dark.
Morning
We leave the hotel at about 3 am, drive to the Paltuding trailhead and climb with a local guide, about 3 km on a sandy trail with a rise of about 500 m, steep in places, to reach the rim at about 2,380 m for sunrise. Below you lies a turquoise lake of acid water, about a kilometre across, with sulphur miners carrying loads up from the yellow vents on the shore. If you want the blue flames, burning sulphur gas that only shows in darkness, an earlier group leaves at about 12:30 am and goes down into the crater with gas masks, when the path is open. Everyone is back at the hotel by about 9 am for breakfast and a shower.
Afternoon
Then a short drive to Ketapang harbour, lunch nearby, and the car ferry across the Bali Strait, about an hour.
Evening
From Gilimanuk it is 45 minutes along the coast to Pemuteran, a quiet fishing village, for a swim and a farewell dinner.
Included
- Ijen crater walk at sunrise with a local guide, entry and gas masks included
- Lunch near Ketapang harbour
- Car ferry from Ketapang to Gilimanuk
- Farewell dinner in Pemuteran
Easier option: Skip Ijen and sleep in; meet the group for breakfast before the ferry.
More active option: The blue-flame start at about 12:30 am, down into the crater with a gas mask, when the path to the crater floor is open.
Free time: Late afternoon free in Pemuteran
Activity: About 3 to 4 hours on foot on loose, sandy ground, with sulphur fumes near the crater. Not advised for anyone with asthma or heart or lung conditions; tell us when you book.
Across Bali to the airport
Pemuteran over the highlands by Lake Beratan to I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport
- Breakfast
- Drive about 4 h
Morning
A slow last morning. Pemuteran's bay is calm and shallow, with a long-running coral restoration project close to the beach, so start in the water if you like, or walk the shore while the fishing boats come in. After breakfast, at about 10 am, we drive south across Bali to I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS), about four hours and 150 km.
Afternoon
We take the highland road rather than the slower, truck-heavy road along the west coast: up through clove and coffee country, past Lake Beratan and the water temple of Pura Ulun Danu Beratan, where we stop to stretch and for lunch, then down through Bedugul and the rice terraces of Tabanan. We reach the airport in the mid-afternoon. Your guide checks your flight before saying goodbye. Book a flight leaving after about 5 pm, or ask us to drop you in Ubud, Sanur or Seminyak if you are staying on in Bali.
Included
- Stop at Lake Beratan and Pura Ulun Danu Beratan
- Drop-off at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS), or in Ubud, Sanur or Seminyak
Free time: Early morning free for a swim
Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 5 pm.
- Jakarta1 night
- Yogyakarta3 nights
- Malang1 night
- Bromo (Cemoro Lawang)1 night
- Banyuwangi (Ijen)1 night
- Pemuteran1 night
- Denpasar (Bali)end
- Overnight stop
- Day trip
- By boat or train
Wildlife and weather: May to October is the dry season, with the best odds of clear sunrises at Borobudur, Bromo and Ijen, and the Ramayana Ballet on its open-air stage. Even then, cloud can hide a sunrise. From November to March afternoon storms are common, trails at Ijen get slippery and the ballet moves indoors. Nights on the Bromo rim and at Ijen are cold all year.
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Before you book
Right for you?
Good for you if you want
- Travellers with nine days who want Java's temples and its two famous volcanoes in one trip
- Early risers who will trade sleep for Borobudur, Bromo and Ijen at first light
- Rail fans: two long train journeys across Java
- Travellers flying home from Bali, or staying on there
Not for you if you want
- Anyone with asthma or heart or lung conditions who wants to walk at Ijen (the rest of the trip still works)
- Travellers who want to unpack once: the east end is four single nights in a row
- A beach holiday: Bali is one night at the end
- Step-free access: temple stairs, ash slopes and a sandy crater trail
Book flights after we confirm your seat.
8 nights
Where you'll stay
Your hotels are named in your trip confirmation.
- Jakarta1 night
- Yogyakarta3 nights
- Malang1 night
- Bromo (Cemoro Lawang)1 night
- Banyuwangi (Ijen)1 night
- Pemuteran1 night
One price
What's in the price
Included
Accommodation
- 8 nights: 1 in Jakarta, 3 in Yogyakarta, 1 in Malang, 1 at Cemoro Lawang on the Bromo caldera rim, 1 on the Ijen side of Banyuwangi and 1 in Pemuteran, Bali
- Central hotels and lodges of a 3-star-plus standard with private bathrooms; we name each hotel when we confirm your dates
- Rooms shared, or your own for a supplement
Transport
- Pick-up at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK) and drop-off at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS)
- A private air-conditioned vehicle and driver for the group in Java and in Bali
- Executive-class train from Jakarta to Yogyakarta and the train from Yogyakarta to Malang
- Jeeps at Bromo
- The car ferry from Ketapang to Gilimanuk
Your guide
- A See Sight Tours guide with the group from day 1 to day 9
- Local guides at Borobudur, Prambanan, the Kraton and Ijen, and Tengger jeep drivers at Bromo
Activities
- Jakarta: Kota Tua and Sunda Kelapa harbour
- Yogyakarta: street food walk, a batik workshop, the Kraton and Taman Sari
- Sunrise from Punthuk Setumbu and Borobudur, with a timed ticket onto the monument where available, plus Mendut and Pawon
- Prambanan and the Ramayana Ballet
- Malang: Jalan Ijen and Jodipan
- Bromo: sunset on the rim, the sunrise viewpoint by jeep, the Sea of Sand and the crater rim when open
- Ijen crater at sunrise, with gas masks, and the blue flames as an option when open
- Lake Beratan and Pura Ulun Danu Beratan
- All entrance fees for included sights, and the Bali tourist levy
Meals
- 8 breakfasts
- 7 lunches, including meals on both trains
- 6 dinners: the welcome dinner, the Yogyakarta street food walk, dinner before the Ramayana Ballet, at the Bromo lodge, at the Ijen-side hotel and a farewell dinner in Pemuteran
Not included
- International flights to Jakarta and from Bali
- Indonesia visa on arrival or e-VOA
- Travel insurance
- Meals not listed: dinners in Yogyakarta on day 3, in Malang and on day 9
- Drinks
- Tips
- Horse rides at Bromo and other optional extras
- Personal expenses
Extras
- Room of your own
- CAD 355 (estimated price)
When you can go
Dates and prices
Pick your start date when you request to book. We check that date and confirm it in your quote.
Prefer to travel without a group or guide? Ask us about arranging hotels, transport and city tours for you to travel independently.
Before you book
Booking terms
Nothing is charged now. Full terms and the cancellation schedule come with your quote, before you accept.
Business addresses
See Sight Tours Trips (USA): 3172 N Rainbow Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89108, United StatesSee Sight Tours Trips (Canada): 5305 50 Avenue, #1091, Red Deer, AB T4N 4B6, Canada+1-888-961-6584Guest reviews
What guests say
Reviews from guests on our day tours.
Jane
October 06, 2026
5/5
Susan
October 06, 2026
5/5
Tom L
October 05, 2026
5/5
MandL83
October 05, 2026
5/5
Darren O
October 05, 2026
5/5
Good to know
Questions
Prices in these answers apply from Jan 1, 2027. Black Friday offer: 15% off the small-group price for requests received by Dec 1, 2026. From CAD 1,785 per person. Dec 2 to Dec 31: from CAD 1,930. From Jan 1, 2027: from CAD 2,100.
What does the price include?
Eight nights in central hotels and a lodge on the Bromo rim, 8 breakfasts, 7 lunches and 6 dinners, both trains, the ferry to Bali, a private vehicle and driver, airport transfers, your See Sight Tours guide throughout, local guides, and every entry in the day plan, including Borobudur, Prambanan, the Ramayana Ballet, a batik workshop, the Bromo jeeps, Ijen with gas masks and the Bali levy.
How big is the group?
The small-group trip runs with 7 to 12 guests. That keeps the group in one vehicle and one set of jeeps at Bromo, lets everyone hear the guide on Borobudur's galleries, and fits around one table at lunch.
Who leads the trip?
A See Sight Tours guide travels with the group from the Jakarta airport to the Bali airport. Local guides join at Borobudur, Prambanan, the Kraton and Ijen, where sites ask for them, and Tengger drivers take us through the Bromo caldera by jeep.
How fit do I need to be for Bromo and Ijen?
Moderately fit. Bromo is about 250 steps up to the crater rim after a walk across ash. Ijen is about 3 km uphill with a climb of about 500 m, then the same back down, on a sandy trail in the dark. You can stop at any point, or skip either walk entirely and rejoin the group afterwards.
Do I have to go down to the blue flames at Ijen?
No. The included walk goes to the crater rim for sunrise and the turquoise lake. The blue flames are an option with a start around 12:30 am and a steep, rocky descent into the crater with a gas mask, only when the authorities have the path open. Many guests are happy with the sunrise.
Is there a single supplement for solo travellers?
Yes, a room of your own is from CAD 355 more, shown before you book, with no surprise at checkout. Solo travellers sit at the same table and pay the same trip price as everyone else. If another solo guest of the same gender wants to share, we can match you on request.
When is the best time to go?
May to October, Java's dry season. Sunrises at Borobudur, Bromo and Ijen are clearest then, the Ramayana Ballet plays on its open-air stage, and the Ijen trail is driest. We avoid Lebaran week, when Java's trains and roads are packed, and the Yadnya Kasada ceremony at Bromo.
How long are the travel days?
Two long train days, about 7 hours to Yogyakarta and 7 to 8 hours to Malang, with lunch on board. The one long road day is Bromo to Ijen, about 5.5 to 6 hours of driving broken by lunch by the sea. Every other road day is 4 hours or less.
How does booking work?
Pick a start date and send a request to book. We check availability and provide the final quote, itinerary and booking terms before you accept. No payment is taken when you send the request. Prices are per person sharing a room, with taxes included, from CAD 2,100 in the small group.
Can we travel privately or on our own dates?
Yes. The trip also runs as a private trip for your party only, on a date you choose, from CAD 3,780 per person. If you would rather travel independently on your own dates, ask from the dates section and we will quote the same trains, hotels, drivers and local guides.
Do I need a visa for Indonesia?
Most visitors do. Canadian, US, UK and Australian citizens can get a 30-day visa on arrival or buy an e-VOA online before travel. Your passport needs at least six months of validity from arrival. The Bali tourist levy for foreign visitors is paid by us.
How is this different from your Java and Bali trip?
This is the shorter, Java-focused trip: nine days with Ijen, Malang and a batik workshop, ending with one night in Bali. Our 14-day Java and Bali trip spends two nights at Bromo, skips Ijen, and continues to Ubud, the Sidemen valley and Sanur.
See Sight Tours has been providing travel services across North America since 2006. Operating in 20 cities across Canada and the USA, the company specializes in small group tours that offer personalized, high-quality experiences for travelers.
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