SNOOZE Ijen Hostel — Hotel in Tamanbaru

I stayed in a private room with AC and shared bathroom at Snooze Hostel for four nights – and honestly, it was one of the best hostel experiences I’ve had as a solo traveler.

What really stood out was the proactive and super helpful communication. Traveling solo in Indonesia can sometimes be a bit challenging in terms of logistics and reliable information – but here, I felt fully supported. The team was genuinely welcoming and always available to help organize things, answer questions, or give useful tips.

The cleanliness was outstanding – everything spotless, from the bathrooms to the common areas. Value for money is excellent. The hostel provides everything you need as an independent traveler: – a well-equipped kitchen – free water refill, tea, coffee, even a French press – utensils, dishes, and fridge space – cozy communal areas and great Wi-Fi

I also booked the Ijen tour through them – everything went smoothly. The only downside was the tour guide, who rushed up the crater too fast and didn’t really communicate much during the hike. But I feel this might be a more general issue with local guides and not something the hostel can control.

Only a few small suggestions: A washing machine to do your laundry by yourself would be the cherry on top – though they do recommend Optimum Laundry nearby, which I can also highly recommend (very clean and professional, unlike many Southeast Asia laundry places). The outdoor courtyard is lovely, but I’d personally appreciate a more restricted smoking area – perhaps limiting smoking to the backyard only. As a non-smoker sensitive to smoke, the smell of smoke sometimes drifted into the indoor area.

Other than that: comfy bed, fresh sheets, clean towels, perfectly working A/C, nice and quiet neighbourhood – everything top-notch.

Would definitely come back and fully recommend this place to other solo travelers who value a calm, clean, and...

The absolute BEST place to relax before and after an Ijen trek! I was drawn to the clean, modern, minimal decor of this hostel; and it was even better in real life. There are so many cosy places to relax - my favourite is the big rattan couch with white cushion! The rooms are perfect to with bedside lamps, a clothes rack to hang up your clothes, plants and a full-length mirror. It feels soooo much like home. But without a doubt, the best thing about this hostel is the staff. Febi & Chita were friendly and helpful in the way a close friend or sister is (not trying to sell anything, unlike a lot of places nowadays.) They gave me honest advice, restaurant recommendations and accommodated to my strange dietary requests (plain white rice for breakfast as I'd just had my teeth whitened and couldn't eat coloured foods!). They helped me rent a scooter, gas mask & torch for a very good price (cheaper than advertised) and didn't try to talk me into booking a tour when I said I will drive myself. They went above and beyond and even prepared a breakfast box of pancakes for me the night before as I had an early departure. This, along with the hired items came with the loveliest little handwritten message on the bag. I HIGHLY recommend Snooze Hostel in Banyuwangi and wish I could have stayed longer...

The hostel itself is really nice 10/10 best hostel in Java for sure, ascetically pleasing, spacious, relaxed atmosphere, spotless clean kitchen facilities with free drinking water. The staff are also super friendly and helpful with booking tours, trains and finding nearby restaurants and laundrettes.

The biggest downside of the hostel is the lack of care in the private room bathrooms which have NO SINKS! Fundamentally bizarre as there is no where to wash your hands without leaving your room and touching the doors/handles in the process! Unless you use the communal bathrooms which defeats the object of having an en-suite its truest bizarre and doesn’t fit with the rest of high standards within the hostel.

For the Ijen tour through the hostel, it’s a very good price (around 330k pp) and a beautiful mountain, the tour size was around 15 people pick up in a large minivan. The only downside was the long waits!! On arrival in the car park we waited for 1 hour for our tickets before we could start the hike (we arrived at 2am when the gates open for hiking, but didn’t actually start hiking until gone 3am), loads of other tour groups all started the hike whilst we remained in the car park. Then after finishing the hike we waited again for an hour around the car park before...