Mt Batur is an active volcano situated in the Northwest of Bali. At the top of the volcano, you can see some spectacular views and it is very well known for its stunning sunrises! Last month we got the opportunity to climb it ourselves, so here is what you can expect on a sunrise trek at Mt Batur.
Where to stay
Tour operators offer pick up from most major towns such as Ubud, Sidemen, Canguu, Seminyak and Kuta, so you don’t actually need to be staying near the volcano to do a Sunrise trek. The downside of staying in one of the above-mentioned places is that you will be picked up earlier in the morning and by morning we really mean middle of the night! If you are staying in Canguu, Seminyak or Kuta then you will be picked up at around 1am. If you are in Ubud or Sidemen, it will be around 2am. If you are staying in the town of Kintamani, where Mt Batur is situated, then you will probably be picked up around 3 or 3:15am. However, if pick up is not included or you decide not to use that service, you will most likely meet your guide at the starting point around 3:30am.
Do I need a guide?
In short, yes. Not because the trek is particularly hard or you won’t be able to find your way yourself, but so that locals don’t hassle and get aggressive with you at the starting point for not having one. They will try and tell you that you need a guide to go up and probably make the price higher than it would be to just book one. In our opinion it is just better to get a guide to avoid this situation, as we have heard some pretty horrible stories about it. It also means you are safer!
What is included in the tour?
Some tour companies will offer bundles that include things such as a big swing or entrance to the hot springs in town, in the price. It will be more expensive than just the Mt Batur Sunrise ones, but if you are wanting to do that stuff anyway then it might be worth it. All tour guides will provide torches for you, and most will include breakfast, which seemed to be pretty much the same for everyone when we were up there. A banana sandwich, boiled, egg and fruit. Our guide also included a bottle of water for us, but we aren’t sure that all do. We saw some people were given walking polls and blankets at the top, but that wasn’t something that was included in ours.
The actual experience
So, at around 3:30am you will start your trek from the starting point at the bottom of Mt Batur. You will immediately see that you are definitely not going to be alone up there as you will see a long trail of lights from hundreds of different torches of people also beginning their climb.
The trail is pretty steep most of the way up, but your guide will stop regularly for rests and water breaks. There is a toilet at one of the common rest stops, which we recommend you use as there isn’t a toilet at the top.
The ground is loose gravel and can be quite dusty and slippery at parts. Make sure you are wearing trainers or walking boots.
It will take you around an hour to an hour and a half, depending on your group’s fitness levels. We were put in a group with another couple that seemed to be quite fit, so it took us around an hour to get up.
Once you are at the top, you can take a seat on one of the many benches up there and relax. Whilst you wait for the sunset, if you have breakfast included, your guide will go off and make that for you. It is very cold at the top, so wear warm clothes and bring an extra jacket and a blanket with you if you can, as we wish we had one.
You can get a warm drink up the top if you want and there are people going around selling snacks, so bring some money with you.
After the sun has risen and you have hopefully seen one of the best sunrises in your life (didn’t happen for us as it ended up being cloudy!), your guide will take you over to see the hot springs. It is really just hot steam coming out of the mountain which was quite cool to see and was nice to put your hands in to warm up!
Then you will begin your decent. As mentioned above the ground is quite slippery and even more so on the way down of course, so take your time and be careful. Our guide, and we believe most others, took us down a less steep way from the one we took to get up.
You will get down around 7:30 / 8am.
Without A Paddle Travel 