Ijen Backpacker — Hotel in Java

Me and my family of 3 went on the Ijen blue flames hike. We booked it through trevor which was extremely easy. Since we were located in bali, ubud we had to first ride a car 4 hours to Gilmanuk port. The driver who was booked to us by Trevor was absoloutely amazing! He didn't speak much english but got us there by time and was an amazing driver. Then we had to take the ferry which was about an hour and then you take like a 6 minute walk to Ijen backpackers hostel. The hostel is very close to the port which made travelling very easy. The rooms although weren't the best. They were fine for one night but I wouldn't say I would stay there for longer. But it was okay for the night to do the blue flames hike.

At about 00:00 we left the hostel to take care of the medical exams. Some people hadn't done them (for example us) and it was extremely easy and simple. They just measured blood pressure and asked for height and weight. It went really fast and we were on our way to the mountain.

One thing for sure is - put on WARM clothing. You can rent jackets up on the mountain if you're cold but it is not worth it. You can also buy tea and coffe id you'd like.

The hike itself is pretty challenging. It's like 1 km flat/curvy then 3km all uphill and very difficult. Our tour guides tom&jerry were AMAZING. They waited for everybody and never left anyone behind. During the end of the 4km it went easier so not to worry. But it was a lot harder than I thought.

Then came the fun part - going down to the blue flames. That part was also veey difficult BUT tom was the best help ever. He held my hand so that I wouldn't slip and was the best tour guide ever. Without his help i don't know when i would've given up but i definitely wouldn't have made it down to the flames. The flames though - amazing. majestic. unreal. So worth the hard part and the sweat. And the sunrise and teal acidic crater - also the best view.

So in conclusion: the hike is so worth hard parts. Don't know what i would've done if i hadn't gone down to the flames. The best view ever. Tom&Jerry - the guys were amazing tour guides especially when things got rough. There were few stops so we has to make quite a few ourselves but they waited for us every. single. time.

The best...

I don't often leave such extensive reviews especially for poor service, but a friend tried to organize a group tour for us to Mt Ijen from Bali through Trev Travels & Ijen Backpacker last week and this was one of the absolute worst experiences I've ever encountered in my life

At first we were supposed to be picked up by a driver at 1pm. And then, 20 min before our pickup time, we're told that the van is delayed by 4 hours till 5pm. We all still waited as they requested.

As we all patiently waited hours outside with our bags till 5pm, there was still no driver to be found. But we kept waiting. Eventually we learned that the driver went to the wrong location (he had one job...) and wouldn't answer our phone calls. And, by a miracle, at some point between 6–7pm (and thus an additional 1–2 hours delayed), the driver shows up to the right location that we initially gave him. All just for him to tell us there's not enough space in the van for everyone to join the trip!

When I asked the organizers for help with finding another van (e.g. by ordering us a Gojek) to somehow still salvage the trip for our group despite being several hours late due to their errors, they acted as if it was impossible. They said they would call their own driver instead (yet they couldn't contact him nor confirm any updates...) and then later made the excuse that their other driver was in an accident. All just lies. No accountability. All they want is money.

It's been over a week and we still haven't received our deposit back. Nor even a basic apology for all their mistakes. Instead the driver just stopped speaking and acted like he didn't understand at all. And then walked away without giving any answers. Insanely unprofessional. And the entire service (especially the callous driver) was one of the most inept I've encountered on the globe. Still can't believe it all happened.

They ruined a vacation for an entire group and took everyone's time away. They left us on the side of the road with nowhere to go. Don't let your vacation be ruined, too. Save your time and money and stay...

We booked the Bali Ijen Bali tour with Ijen backpackers. We got picked up at 10 am (Bali timezone) in Canggu by a very nice driver named Yuniar. We drove to the harbour and took the 1 hour boat ride. At 3 pm (Java timezone) we arrived at the hostel.

There are lovely cats at the hostel. We opted for a private room + bathroom which was just 50k extra and highly worth it. The room was very clean! The downside: the walls are from bamboo so you can hear everyone talked and mosques. Bring earplugs, because we tried to sleep during the day and that was hard.

They have a kitchen with supplies you can use, free mineral water, and they sell drinks. There are also several small supermarkets nearby, but we couldn’t find any restaurants with trustworthy reviews.

At 12:30 am, we left the hostel and drove to the base camp of Mount Ijen. The hostel arranged health certificates for fellow travellers but forgot ours, however no one asked us for it. We rented glasses for 25 pp and got the mask and head light.

Sadly, we lost our guide Tamm pretty quickly and didn’t find him again during the whole hike. We just followed the swarm of people. It was a bit disappointing that we didn’t learn anything about Ijen, the area and the miners, as described in their package deal.

At 9 am, we arrived back at the hostel and received a nice breakfast. One hour later, the same driver joined our boat and brought us back to Canggu, where we arrived around 4 pm.

Overall, very satisfied with the price we paid and everything we got! The staff at the hostel...