Ijen crater | Ijen Volcano | Kawah Ijen | Mount Ijen

Ijen Crater | The journey to the Ijen Crater will take about 1.5 hours. Then the hike to the Ijen Crater viewpoint takes 90-120 minutes from the foot of the path, which leads you to the top. On a clear day, you can see the magical blue fire, which is a truly unique experience.

Waking up inside the midnight and trekking up and then inner a crater sound engaging? Upload gas masks and walk right into a cloud of sulfur fuel whilst watching blue flames. Enticed but? You need to be. Hiking up to mount ijen crater volcano is one of the maximum epic adventures in east java.

Best time to visit Ijen crater, East Java, Indonesia

The best time to visit the ijen crater is between April and November as this is the dry season. If you choose to visit during November and March it is the rainy season ( difficult to predict) so the path can be quite muddy and slippery, which will make the hike substantially harder.

To see the famous blue fire (often mistakenly referred to as blue lava) you need to hike to the crater of the Kawah Ijen volcano before sunrise. This requires a very early start as it takes around 90-120 minutes to hike to the crater viewpoint.

To get there in time you need to start the hike a minimum of 2 hours before sunrise, but preferably even earlier if possible! If you aren’t interested in seeing the blue flames and avoiding the crowds, you can start the hike slightly later.

By starting the hike up at around sunrise it will be less busy as most visitors will already be at the top by then. Unfortunately, it’s not currently possible to visit at sunset as the crater closes at noon each day.

Although the majority of Western tourists often overlook ijen crater in favor of visiting Bali, it has become an increasingly popular spot to visit. For Indonesian tourists though, Kawah Ijen is a major attraction. This means it can get extremely busy during weekends and public holidays.

If you have the time, we recommend planning an extra day or two in the area. Occasionally toxic gases are released from the crater, which results in Mount Ijen being closed off to tourists.

Tips for Visiting Ijen Crater

Because the area is in the form of mountains, there are some things you need to prepare before visiting Ijen Crater. Anything? Let’s see the list.

1. warm cloth

Warm Clothes Don’t forget to bring or wear warm clothes when climbing. If you decide to come in the rainy season, the risk of rain and clothing getting wet is higher. For that, change clothes in a backpack.

2. scarves and jacket

Scarves In addition to warm clothes and jackets, you can also wear a scarf. For those who are not used to cold air, the mountain atmosphere can be quite surprising for the body. Scarves can keep you warm and comfortable throughout the trip.

3. exercise

Sports The contour of climbing to Ijen Crater can be quite tiring for some people, especially if you never exercise. It’s good to do light exercises such as jogging or swimming to train stamina and breathing during mountain climbing. Search for flight tickets to Banyuwangi

4. respirator mask and goggles

Because this is a journey that challenges adrenaline, tourists are required to maintain their safety. if tourists decide to approach the center of the sulfur mine and the blue fire center, it is mandatory to use safety equipment such as dual respirator masks and safety goggles. if you forget or do not have time to bring the safety equipment do not worry around the parking lot, many people around rent it out

Kawah Ijen Volcano Location

Kawah Ijen is a composite volcano located at the easternmost part of Java island in Indonesia and hosts the largest natural acidic lake in the world. The border between Banyuwangi Regency and Bondowoso Regency, Java, Indonesia, Mountain type is Stratovolcano.

Kawah Ijen Volcano | eruption

The volcano remains active. The last magmatic eruption occurred in 1817. Phreatic eruptions occurred in 1796, 1917, 1936, 1950, 1952, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002. These have caused very little damage but present a danger to anyone mining sulfur or visiting the caldera.

Sulfur mining at Ijen

The sulfur, which is deep red in color when molten, pours slowly from the ends of these pipes and pools on the ground, turning bright yellow as it cools. The miners break the cooled material into large pieces and carry it away in baskets. Miners carry loads ranging from 75 to 90 kilograms (165 to 198 lb), up 300 meters (980 ft) to the crater rim, with a gradient of 45 to 60 degrees, and then 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) down the mountain for weighing. Most miners make this journey twice a day.

A nearby sulfur refinery pays the miners by the weight of sulfur transported; as of September 2010, the typical daily earnings were equivalent to approximately $13 US. The miners often receive insufficient protection while working around the volcano and complain of numerous respiratory afflictions. There are 200 miners, who extract 14 tons per day – about 20% of the continuous daily deposit.

Ijen Blue Fire

As with every natural sighting, its height and intensity depend on various conditions and cannot be predicted. The flames have been known to reach more than 5 meters in height but this is not always the case. No matter what, it is always a unique experience and you are guaranteed to get some pretty amazing photographs!

The lava molten rock that emerges from the Earth at ultra-high temperatures isn’t coloured significantly different than the lava at other volcanoes, which all differ slightly based on their mineral composition but appear a bright red or orange colour in their molten state.

But at Kawah Ijen, extremely high quantities of sulfuric gases emerge at high pressures and temperatures (sometimes more than 600°C) along with the lava.

When sulfur from within the volcano breaches the surface, it can reach temperatures up to 600°C( 1, 112°F), and therefore the sulfur immediately encounters lower temperatures and pressures at the surface, which causes the sulfur to right away ignite and erupt blue flames up to five metres( 16 ft) into the air.

How to see blue fire | ijen blue fire

Trekking to the summit of Mount Ijen to see blue fire began at midnight (around 1:00 dawn) of Pos Paltuding (the last post for all the Ijen crater tour to make the climb) with a long climb to the crater of Mount Ijen 1.5 to 2 hours trekking and so far 3 km.