Belawan Hotsprings

The top secret is that you do not need a guide to hike Kawah Ijen and can do it buy yourself easily, cheaper, and more enjoyably. The SECOND most important top secret is that you shouldn’t head back down to Banyuwangi!! Only 40 minutes drive away from the entrance to Kawah Ijen is Belawan Hot Springs where you can relax and recover. It was 20,000 per person enter the hot spring, and absolutely worth it. We were there for three hours. A group of 4 locals were there when we arrived, then later 3 more of their friends came and joined them before they all left. We had the place to ourselves for a while, and then a local family with three young kids left. Somehow, no foreigners or Ijen hikers seem to know about this treasure. 

To get here, you’ll need to have your own motorbike, or have a private guide willing to take you there. To be honest, I think it would be quite easy to hitchhike as well, and we did see quite a few cars driving past us, but this may require some patience and flexibility with your timing as there are a few forks in the road and cars leaving the volcano may be going to one of the little villages nearby instead. 

The hot springs have 4x different pools. There’s a large one which is 30 degrees, two circular ones which are 35 and 40 degrees, and one medium which is 35 degrees. That being said, the 35 circular one was definitely colder than the 30 degree large one, and the 40 degree one was definitely scalding hot. So who knows! The point is, they’re definitely warm, and are each around 120cm deep in the very middle with smooth benches for you to sit on that are the perfect height for you to submerge comfortably. 

There are toilets (squat and western) as well as changing rooms at the hot springs. There are also sockets where you can charge your phone, provided you have the correct European adaptor. Women and men are both allowed in this hotspring, although whilst it’s not demanded, requested, or asked in anyway, I would strongly recommend that women ensure they have swimwear that fully covers them, just out of respect. I have swim pants that are full length and a cropped shirt, so I just chucked one of my daytime shirts over my top half. I don’t know whether anyone would have commented on it if I had worn a bikini, but I am certain it would have been very impolite and made them uncomfortable.