According to many big traveling websites and youtube videos, East Java is supposed to be the best part of Java for travelers. But does it actually live up to its hype? Let's find out!

More specifically we are going to talk about Malang, Mount Bromo, Kawah Ijen and Surabaya, since those are the places I visited in East Java.

About East Java

East Java (Java Timur) is the easternmost province on Java. It borders Central Java in the west. With a population of over 40,000,000, it is Indonesia's second most populated province.

The province is home to Surabaya, the nation's second largest city, as well as some very popular tourist destinations like Malang, Mount Bromo, Kawah Ijen or Banyuwangi. It is known for its stunning nature and easy accessability from Bali. With Surabaya, the province also plays an important role in many of the fast growing industries in Indonesia, like the technology or financial sector. It is one of the country's most important transportation hubs, since it is home to the second busiest harbor in all of Indonesia.

Malang serves as one of the most popular tourist destinations in the province because of its close proximity to many of the beautiful tourist attractions nature has to offer. Some of the most popular among them are without any doubt Mount Bromo and Kawah Ijen. The 2 volcanos are visited by many tourists every day because of the good connections to main roads and stunning sights they offer.

My experience in East Java

Malang

My first destination in East Java was Malang. On the train and on the way to my hostel, I saw a lot of tourists. That did not stop when I got to the hostel, because there were pretty much only tourists. There were also a lot of tours and offers, that were just targeted at tourists. In that regard I could see a big difference to the West Java, because there are way less tourists and thus tourism is not that big of an industry.

I arrived pretty early in the morning and had the whole day to spend. So some friends from Jogja (who came on the same train) and me decided to go to the Tumpak Sewu Waterfall, which is one of the most popular tourist attractions near Malang. The waterfall is about 120 meters high. To get there and back, we hired a Grab driver for the day. The drive took about 2.5 hours one way. The first viewpoint is at the top of the canyon and can only be reached on foot. It is also possible to go down to the bottom of the waterfall and even to get directly into the waterfall itself. However, we were not so lucky, since it started raining before we got to the waterfall and the river was therefore carrying more water than usual. Because of that the path to the bottom of the waterfall was flooded and we could not go down. It was still pretty nice just from the viewpoint at the top.

After we came back, I could check into my hostel. I stayed at the Mador Hostel, which I can definitely recommend to any backpacker or tourist. They have really great tours in the region. The same evening I booked a 2 days tour, that includes watching the sunrise on Mount Bromo and Kawah Ijen. For about 85€ you get transportation everywhere, a hotel for the night in between, tour guides for both mountains, food and the entry tickets included. 85€ might sound a lot but considering how much you would pay on your own, you're not that much worse off with the tour. I don't really like tours, but this one was really good. I booked it because I didn't have too much time to spend but still wanted to see Bromo and Ijen. Without the tour, it would have taken me way longer than 2 days, because the 2 mountains are quite far apart from each other.

Mount Bromo

The tour to Mount Bromo started at 00:30. It was quite hard to get some sleep before, but luckily it was possible to sleep in the car. When we got to Bromo, we had to move to a Jeep, because the Street up to the viewpoint leads through the famous sea of sand, which kind of looks like a dessert and can not be crossed with a van. We got to the viewpoint at about 3:30. We had some tea and fried bananas in a cafe in front of the viewpoint. We headed to the viewpoint at 4:00. We were quite far above sea level and it was the middle of the night so it was really cold and we had to wait for sunrise for more than 1 hour. It was definitely worth it, though. When the sun did come up, we had some stunning views and we had the best spots on the viewpoint, because we were there so early.

After seeing the sunset, we headed back down to the Jeep to cross the sea of sand again. We stopped at Mount Bromo itself, which is actually quite small. We walked up to the crater and could see inside. Looking into the crater was way more impressive than I had imagined. The crater is much deeper you would think from looking at it from a distance. Also the noise and smells it produces, creates quite a unique experience. We stayed at the edge of the crater for about an hour.

After we headed back to the Jeep, we drove to our hotel. We went to bed in the afternoon, because we were all really tired and had to get up quite early the next morning again.

Kawah Ijen

At 01:30 we left the hotel to head to Kawah Ijen. Normally you leave even earlier to see the blue fire, but unfortunately seeing the blue fire was forbidden at the time we were there, because there was too much volcanic activity. We arrived at Kawah Ijen at about 3:30. This time we had a much longer hike to the viewpoint. We started in the darkness and half way up the mountain, the sun slowly came up. When we were at the top, we could see the sun just above the horizon, which made for some really beautiful lighting, which made the already stunning views even more impressive. We also got to see the famous sulfur farmers, who go down into the crater to mine sulfur. They carry baskets that way 70kg up and down the mountain 3 times a day everyday.

The special thing about Ijen is, that you get gas masks before hiking up, because the cloud that is rising from the sulfur is made of poisonous gas. When the wind carries the cloud in your direction, you have to wear the mask to avoid sulfur poisoning.

When we were done exploring the edge of the crater, we hiked back down to the van and had breakfast. The tour also includes being driven to the ferry to Bali, since this is what most people do after the tour. Therefore we went to Banyuwangi, where most of the people from our tour got out. I booked the drive back to Malang, which took about 7 hours. It was fine though, because we were 2 people in a big van and therefore had a lot of space. The driver was also pretty nice and there was a good vibe in the car.

Surabaya

To get out of Indonesia again, I had to go to Surabaya, since that's where my flight to Kuala Lumpur left from. I took the train from Malang to Surabaya, which took about 2 hours.

To me, Surabaya seemed to be a pretty progressive city on Java. There were a lot of sidewalks, so it was pretty nice and easy to walk through the streets and the houses seemed to be in a pretty good shape.

Unfortunately I did not have a lot of time in Surabaya. I arrived late in the afternoon and had to be at the airport the next morning. I read online, that there was a china-town in Surabaya, so I decided to spend the little time I had in Surabaya there. I hoped to find some markets, where I could also get some food. When I arrived though, I could not tell that the quarter was supposed to be china-town at all. It looked completely normal. I could not spot any chinese influences anywhere. There were a few restaurants, some of which claimed to be chinese. When I walked into one though, they had normal Javanese food. I ordered some Nasi Goreng and it was pretty good, but not what I would have expected when going to china-town. I have to say that I am quite disappointed with china-town in Surabaya.

The rest of Surabaya seemed interesting to me though and there were many more places of interest to see, that I could not visit. So I think it might be worth spending a few days in Surabaya.

The next morning I took a Grab to the airport and boarded my flight to Kuala Lumpur, thus leaving Indonesia.

What to do in East Java

East Java really has a lot to offer to tourists. There is going to be something no matter what you like. There is a lot of hiking to do here, the nature is beautiful and there are some nice beaches as well. My favorite things to do where

• Exploring Mount Bromo
• Hiking on Kawah Ijen
• Seeing the Tumpak Sewu Waterfall
• Trying the local food
• Exploring Malang and Surabaya

Conclusion

East Java is definitely a great place for tourists. There are a lot of offers and things to do for tourists. Therefore, there are a lot of them as well though. I really enjoyed my stay in East Java, but for me personally, I have to say that it was not the best part of Java. It was by far not the worst either, but I was missing the culture a bit. I think the traditions and culture are suffering a bit under the large amount of tourists in this area. The nature and outdoor activities however, are really great and they were one of the best I did on Java.

I really enjoyed East Java and can definitely recommend it to other travelers as well. However I don't understand, why it is often considered to be the best place on Java for tourists, because it is really not. The other places I visited on Java where just as cool and also had some really nice things to offer.