While in Bali I decided to do something I hadn’t done before: hiking a volcano: Mount Batur. Originally I wanted to go to Mount Agung, the highest in Bali at more than 3000mt, but I couldn’t.
Mount Agung sunrise trek
After asking in several different places and the answer being the same, I gave up on trying. Several travel agents told me that the tour was not available anymore, and even at my hostel I was told the same, but when I asked why, seemed like nobody knew or wanted to tell and later I understood why. It seems like they stopped the Mount Agung tour because of improper behavior from tourists. Mount Agung is holy for Balinese and a very important place for them, having foreigners disrespecting this fact proved too much for Balinese people. I heard people talking about littering being the reason why the Agung hike isn’t sold as a tour anymore, but I’m sure it was more than that. Improper behavior must have been the reason why because I heard stories of girls posing semi-naked in front of holy trees, temples, etc, something extremely rude and indecent for Balinese. But seems like everything is worth it nowadays as long as you have a picture with thousands of likes. Anyway, I didn’t find a way to hike Mount Agung, so I found an alternative, Mount Batur.
Later I met a girl who followed a couple on IG that had done a hike to Mount Agung recently. That was even more confusing, but apparently, they hired a local guide to take them and paid about 70 USD to do so. It was not within my budget anyway.
*This was in August 2023. Things might have changed
Mount Batur sunrise trek
So Mount Batur it was. I got a good deal at my hostel for 375K, (around 21€) a price below average. I was picked up from the hostel at 2 AM and arrived at 10 AM. The Mount Batur sunrise trek included breakfast, a pancake and tea/ coffee before we started the hike, and a second breakfast consisting of bread, banana, and egg, to eat up there at the summit, and a small water bottle too. I joined this tour from Ubud, so it took around 1h just to get to the base of Mount Batur where everybody started the hike.
Mount Batur- way up
I had no idea how this hike was and I had no clue how packed this place was at 4 Am. Yes, we started the hike at approximately 4 am, a bit earlier. It was freezing!!! I was so happy I brought a jacket and a sweater but even that way, I was shivering cold. There is a paid toilet at the beginning for 5K and another one further on for 10K, so you better use the one before you start your journey. We spent at least 30 min walking on a paved street. Why? That didn’t make any sense to me. Why would we walk here if cars can take us further… I thought we would hike a volcano, not go for a walk…
I thought this part of the walk was ridiculous but then I understood that if all the vehicles parked at the base went up there, it would be complete chaos, so it made more sense after realizing this fact. The street was filled with walkers, and having cars there would be terrible, but, if you go on your own, you can definitely get closer to the place where the hike really starts. If I was cold back at the beginning, when we reached the proper gravel path, I was already too hot haha
Reality check: there was a waiting line to hike haha!! What? A waiting line to hike a volcano!! OMG, this was something completely unexpected!! There were around 1000 people doing that same thing at the same time. Can you imagine that?? That was the reason why the waiting line. This line was kept all the way up until the very top. The hike was so slow that I wasn’t tired at all, but I saw some people struggling. Inclusively, I saw some girls that wouldn’t have made it without the guides. The guides were their walking sticks 70% of the time. I guess this is why the hike was so slow. Because there are all kinds of people doing it. From people that have never done a hike in their life, to people with more experience. For me, this hike was very easy, but others couldn’t say the same. We were so slow that at some point I started to feel cold again as my body was cooling down from stopping so often. Anyway, the way up took us about 2 hours, from the parking lot, but I think it can be done in almost half that time honestly. In any case, if you try to do it by yourself, you can’t escape this crowd anyway, so I think it can be a good idea cause you will not be on your own, which could be dangerous as the hike is done in complete darkness. We had torches with us and without them, it wouldn’t be possible to do this hike. If I looked up I would see hundreds of lights. Those lights formed a line all the way up.
The hike is very rocky. So many loosened rocks!! Dangerous! They are very slippery to step on as they keep slipping without a thing stopping them. Maybe I only found this hike easy because I’ve done it so slowly. There were no views on the way up, and once at the top there was already daylight, but we couldn’t see more than a few meters ahead of us. Once at the top, it is freeeeeezing cold! I mean it! There were people renting blankets up there and selling hot drinks too. We left earlier cause we couldn’t handle that frost much more, but before leaving we spent a lot of time shivering just waiting for the sunrise.
Sunrise at the summit
Well, I didn’t have a spectacular sunrise to see, bad luck. The place was so cloudy that our view was whiteness all around. When the sky opened but just a bit, everybody would clap and cheer. We were there for the views so we waited until we could see something. We waited and waited, and when we were about to give up, the sky opened up and everybody celebrated haha it was funny! We were all there for the same reason. We could finally see the lake in front of us, the mountains, and Agung standing tall, higher than all the clouds. If I had hiked Agung, I would have seen a sunrise above the clouds.
So, fortunately, we ended up having a view up there even though the sun was already high. And what a gorgeous view! Could stay there and stare at it for much longer if I hadn’t already spent so much time shivering cold haha. It was time to go down anyway and the way down had views 100% of the time. Simply magnificent.
If you think going down is easier, forget it, for me, it was actually more challenging.
Mount Batur- way down
The path down is different from the one we did to go up. We came across some fumaroles and a pretty cool landscape of the mountain just next to us and some fluffy monkeys as companions.
The path down is very different from the one to go up. It is not as rocky, but that doesn’t fix the problem. The dirt is completely flattened by so many footsteps. There is no grip on the ground. One bad step and you slide until you can no more as there is nothing on that path to stop you. It is flat and slippery as hell. I kept on listening to people slipping all the time, but not really falling. I myself slipped quite a few times. Strong knees will be needed at this point haha. There were also some motorbikes going up through the same path. They were taking foreigners, so I believe there must be some sort of motorbike tour to Mount Batur. It looked scary to see those motorbikes through that steep windy path! Must be an adventure.
We finally arrived at the park where our van was at about 9 am. The way down took longer than I expected because we needed to be extra cautious and even slower than on the way up. I handled it pretty well all the time, not feeling tired until the last 30 minutes of walking already on the proper street. At the base of Mount Batur, I was done for the day haha. I felt the pain and the tiredness once it was all over, but it didn’t bother me once during the hike. I think this was a worthwhile experience and depending on your luck you will be able to actually see the sun rising, or have a foggy morning and see nothing in front of you. No one can tell. Just go!
Check how to get a beautiful view of the lake in the pictures HERE!
