Try to ask in tripadvisor.com
Myself used public transport.

This post has been edited by river.sand: Mar 17 2015, 09:24 AM

wow public transport??? can teach?

5day 4night enuf to cover above location?

Confirm packed, better prebook

My own itinerary was:
D1: arriving in Surabaya, spent the night at city center (near the not-so-Chinese China Town)
D2: take cab to bus station; take bus to Probolinggo, then take mini bus to a small town near Bromo
D3: Bromo sunrise tour; after that depart for Ijen Crater
D4: visiting Ijen Crater in the morning, then return to Probolinggo
D5: take bus to Malang
D6: return to Surabaya Airport; depart for Malaysia

On retrospect, I found Surabaya to be disappointing. I suggest that you go straight to Probolinggo and spend your first night there. Catch a mini bus to Bromo the next morning.
If you hire driver, you may head to Bromo on the first day.

Note that I joined a group tour to Ijen Crater. I asked the hotel front desk to arrange for it. My 3rd day was particularly hectic, as I rushed to Ijen Crater after the Bromo sunrise tour (also arranged by the hotel), with just 1 hour for shower and breakfast. If you have extra time, spend another day in Bromo and visit nearby villages. You'll need a 4x4 for that.

Malang was a place to savor Javanese food as well as for shopping.

I haven't been to Madakaripura waterfall, so I can't commend on this.

i about to ask bout malang... thankx for the head up

btw... how easy to take public transport?
need to change bus frequently? and wait long long time?

i will be arriving early, 8:30am
is it possible to straight to Ijen Crater with public transport? is there any accommodation nearby?
i planned to stay a night near Ijen Crater before i go for sunrise
in order to access Ijen Crater, I need to use 4x4? how about mt bromo?

My draft
D1: Arriving Surabaya early morning, straight to Ijen Crater and stay for a night nearby (backpack area)
D2: Sunrise at Ijen Crater (no idea is this possible), head to Probollingo and stay for a night
D3: Sunrise at Mt Bromo, head to Malang and stay for a night
D4: Head to Surabaya a stay for a night
D5: 7pm flight

I have yet to include the horse riding and safari ... still researching...

i hope public transport is possible for this kind of arrangement

Where do you want to stay for Ijen? I'm assuming it's Bondowoso, but Bondowoso is not that near to Pos Paltuding which is the entry point for Ijen.

From my research, Sempol seems to be the best place to start your Ijen trip if you're taking western approach. You need to ride bus from Surabaya to Bondowoso, then a minibus bus from bondowoso to sempol, service only runs until 11am or so. Judging from your arrival time, you will not make it as the bus journey from surabaya to bondowoso takes roughly 4 hours.

Heard Ijen crater is closed since feb... not sure when will reopen

Staying in probolinggo for bromo is a waste of time. Take the bus from probolinggo to cemero lawang, the nearest village to bromo. From there, you can visit bromo and also take a jeep to tumpang and malang onwards.

Hope this helps.

gaerie84 has answered some of your questions...

4x4 is for visiting the villages around Bromo.

Is there any reason you must go to Ijen before Bromo? In my case, I went to Bromo first, and from there booked a trip to Ijen.
If you insist on going to Ijen first, you can book a trip at the bus station of Probolinggo.

gaerie84 mentions that it is a waste of time to stay in Probolinggo. Indeed it is a boring town (though I had a yummy ayam penyet there). But it is a convenient transit point. If you can't get to the places of interest before sunset, you may spend a night there.

As for Surabaya, the only reason to go there is the cigarette factory

I took some pictures in Surabaya and Malang. See if you like them...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kamera-otoko/...57625284306316/

Note that orang Tionghua of Surabaya have largely moved out of the Chinatown. I guess the same thing is happening to KL's Chinatown aka Jalan Petaling

This post has been edited by river.sand: Mar 17 2015, 02:06 PM

thanx gaeria84 & river.sand

well i planned to go to furthest part first...
the reason is very simple
first day alwiz fullday transportation
suffer first then enjoy

hemmm look like Probolinggo is oso a no good place...
and i need to look at tour option again

Forgot to add...
Mini buses from Probolinggo to Cemero Lawang have no fixed schedule, but instead depart only when they are full.

When I was there, the bus was not full. The other passengers and I decided to pay for the 'empty seats' to get the bus going.
But it turned out that the bus kept picking up passengers along the way. Before reaching Cemero Lawang, the bus was so full that some secondary school girl students had to hang outside it



This post has been edited by river.sand: Mar 18 2015, 09:23 AM

DIY is more fun
But since u have time constraints, tour may be a better option

i dont mind waiting
i jus remember there is a time in Bandung...
there r a guyz playing ukelele outside of the bus while waiting for the bus to move
fun and interesting

wow ur group of frenz is fun

btw i saw a lot of jeep... must rent?
or is it included in the tour?

and in your video, they mention 5days trips...
i oso hv 5days trip, why u said i hv time constraints???

Lol i dunno them, i just thought this would be an interesting video to share

When u going btw?

still far... Oct

wondering is it safe to go and explore Surabaya, Bromo and some other places nearby for single female traveler? This will be my 1st time traveling alone to Indonesia. I heard the public transport there (Surabaya) is not bad but don't know how reliable they are. And the local as well.

Consider safe if u stick to the regular tourist routes. Surabaya > Probolinggo > Bromo > Surabaya
Surabaya itself nothing much to do other than a staging ground for Bromo

When u going?

okay thanks. I just want a confirmation about that.

i am going on middle of Sept. wanna tag along?

Dun worry la, as long u dun walk in dark alleyways or masuk hutan, I think should be safe...
(Malaysia also not safe *cough*)

This lady did eet solo
This one did it too


Going in May
Can give u more insight once I come back

This post has been edited by gaeria84: Mar 25 2015, 04:38 PM

I must do a lot of research on this trip. Its the local/ native that I worried much. Too many bad stories. Its okay. Must give it a try. The sunrise at Mt Bromo is the reason I bought the tix.

Find a nice & honest tour guide when u reached there. But I will try my best not to use/ hire drivers or tour guide.

I have my fair share of meeting genuinely helpful and "seemingly helpful" people on my trips...
That's the beauty of travel though... you never know what to expect

Haha, what do u need to know about bromo?
Just know that once u touchdown in surabaya, u can book a tour to bromo complete with accommodation for about 1 million rupiahs



If u want to DIY, u can take a bus to probolinggo, then from there, u can take a minibus down to cemero lawang. From cemero lawang, you can buy tours of gunung penanjakan + bromo. There's a entrance fee of 217,000 rupiahs to pay when u enter bromo (I think it's 317,000 rupiahs on weekends). For side trips, can consider bromo savannah or/and madakaripura waterfall.

From cemero lawang, you can take bus back to probolinggo, then take another bus from there to bondowoso. From here, you can get midnight tours to ijen. If u want to DIY, ride the minibus from Bondowoso to Sempol, and from there u can get on an ojek to take u to pos paltuding, where u can begin ur ascent to ijen crater. After sunrise, u can retrace ur steps back to Bondowoso > Probolinggo > Surabaya.

I prefer this DIY trip.



I just want to know how's their public transport. The bus from probolinngo to cemero lawang and to Bromo. The route to Bromo without tour & all info are clearly stated in the given blog (thank you). Only the public transport part.

As for the route, I havent got any idea where to go what to do. Just gather all info and create my iti later. Bdw, I will arrive at Surabaya and my flight back will be at Jakarta. 7 days. Maybe I will spend 4-5days in Surabaya, 1 day in BDO, 1 day at JKT. Just my rough plan