Unique Experience! We booked the Bromo and Ijen Tour (3 days/2 nights) with the hotels included (5,500,000 IDR for 2 people). It may seem expensive locally but we wanted to make the most of it without too much hassle. We were picked up by Denish's colleague called Pendot, a very nice and smiling driver. He drove us to mount Bromo and we stayed at Bromo Permai 1 Probolinggo Hotel which is an average hotel but quite good for the area (hot water and breakfast OK!). We were picked up by a jeep driver at 3AM to see the sunset on Mount Bromo (no guide there but it is OK as we only walked a few metres to see the landscape). Then we could walk up to the crater. Impressive! Many tourists though. But one of the best thing we have done in Indonesia. Then Pendot drove us to the Ijen area (6-7 hours), to the Mahkota Plengkung Hotel which again is average but OK, especially because you will not sleep much! At midnight we've seen Denish who was also very friendly! Pendot drove us to the bottom of Ijen Mount and we met a guide who gave us one torch light and 2 gas masks. We walked all 3 to the crater (about 1 hour 30 minutes if you walk fast). Then we went into the crater where we wore the masks; even with those, we were struggling because of the sulfur. There was a lot of smoke so we could not see much of the blue lights, but the atmosphere there was fantastic. Then we went back up to see the sunset on the blue lake and that was beautiful. When we went back to the car, Pendot drove us down to waterfalls and explained us many things about coffee plantations and trees nearby, cloves, local fruits, etc. After collecting our bags at the hotel, we left him at the ferry boat (only 5 minutes away from the hotel), he helped us and bought us the tickets to go to Bali. I definitely recommend Ijen Blue Tour, especially thanks to the kindness of Pendot đ
