This is one of the activities we were most looking forward to while planning our trip to Bali: a hike up the towering Mount Batur (also known as Gunung Batur), an active volcano, to enjoy majestic sunrise views. It definitely seemed like the experience of a lifetime and, having since done the hike, it certainly did not disappoint! The views from the summit are simply spectacular, and the entire adventure was one of our favorite Day Trips from Ubud. To help you decide if this is something you want to do and to help plan the activity itself, we put together this Bali hiking guide on the Mount Bature Sunrise Trek. It’s not a very long hike, but you will still need to get up very early in order to be at the summit before sunrise.
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You might also be interested in these pages (coming soon):
Best Things to See and Do in Bali
Best Things to See and Do in the Gili Islands
The Perfect Three-Week Bali Itinerary
Everything You Need to Know About Visiting Bali
Mount Batur: Location & Map
Mount Batur is located near the town of Kintamani in Bali’s Bangli Regency (link to Google Maps). It’s about a 1h30 drive northeast of Ubud.
About Mount Batur
Mount Batur (Gunung Batur) is an active stratovolcano in northeast Bali. Its first documented eruption was in 1804, and there have since been 25 recorded mild to moderate strombolian eruptions with the most recent one occuring in 2000. The last eruption with significant lava flow was in 1974.
Although active, Indonesia’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation considers the volcano safe for climbers. Whenever there are geological and seismic signs that an eruption could be imminent, access to the mountain is closed and all hiking activities are suspended. This last happened in 2009, for about 10 days, following several deep and shallow earthquakes, but an eruption never materialized.
Mount Batur was named in 2012 as one of UNESCO’s Global Geoparks Network. On average, Mount Batur sees between 300-600 hikers per day, making it by far the most popular hiking destination on the island.
Mount Batur’s summit is located 1717 metres above sea level and rises 700 m above the surrounding terrain.
Mount Batur: How to Get There for Sunrise
For several reasons, the simplest way to do a sunrise hike is to join an organized tour:
-They take care of transport logistics for you
-They also arrange for local hiking guides to lead small groups up the volcano, since it’s not a great idea to hike in the dark on unfamiliar terrain, especially since many different paths and routes go up to the summit.
We highly recommend this organized tour to do the Mount Batur Sunrise Trek, which includes a guided hike before sunrise and also includes pick-up and drop-off service from various locations across Bali, including Ubud, Canggu, Kuta, Legion, Sanur and Seminyak.
The provided pick-up and drop-off service is from your hotel to the Mount Batur base camp. The tour also includes a small-group guided nighttime hike (5 people + guide), hiking poles and head-lamp rentals (included in the tour price), coffee and cookies at the base camp, and breakfast at the summit (also included in the tour price).
We honestly had a fantastic experience and couldn’t recommend this guided hiking tour more highly!
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If you would prefer to do the hike during the day or reach Mount Batur by other means than by organized tour pickup, see our How to get to Mount Batur Without a Tour section further below.
The Mount Batur Sunrise Trek: What to Expect
Hotel Pick-Up Time
Depending on where you are staying in Bali, your driver is likely to pick you up around 1h-2h am. We were based in Ubud at the time and were picked up at 2 am. Yes, that’s a brutal time to be ready for, but given the sunrise experience on Mount Batur, we definitely think it was worth it.
If you are staying further south (Canggu, Kuta, Legion, Seminyak), pick-up time is generally around 1 am.
Depending on the size of your group, you are likely to share a ride with a few other tourists heading to Batur to do the same sunrise hike as you. Typically, after you finish the sunrise trek, you’ll head back to your hotel with the same driver and other passengers that you drove up with.
Arrival at the Base Camp
You will probably arrive at the Batur base camp around 3h30 am. There, coffee, tea, and some cookies await you. There are also washrooms and showers. The basecamp, also referred to as the Mount Batur Lounge, is located near Songan B village, in the Serongga hamlet (Link to Google Maps)
If you were sleeping during the car ride, which is quite likely given the pickup time, you will no doubt be quickly awoken by the number of people at the base camp. There were probably 80-100 people there by the time we started to ascend.
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When you arrive, your group will be assigned a private hiking guide that will be responsible for your group only. The guide will welcome you upon arrival, will provide you with hiking poles and headlamps, and will let you know when it’s time to start the ascent. We waited around (with coffee and cookies) for about 20-30 minutes before it was our turn to start the ascent – group departures were somewhat staggered to avoid everybody leaving at the same time. We hiked up with the same group we drove in with, so it was just the five of us along with our hiking guide.
The Hike to the Mount Batur Summit
The hike starts (and will continue to be) in pitch-black darkness. Thankfully the provided headlamps allow us to see where we are walking while the guide leads the way up to the trail.
Unexpectedly, most of the trail was quite sandy, making the ascent slightly more difficult due to the reduced footing/grip. We briefly stopped several times along the way, basically whenever anyone in our group needed a quick breather.
Overall, although not very long (it took us about 50 minutes to reach the summit from the base camp), the hike up was rather steep. It is a nonstop uphill slog with few flat portions, which made the occasional breaks welcome.
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The trail we followed was actually one of the easiest routes you can take to ascend Mount Batur (despite the steep grade of the trail). All of the other routes to the summit start further from the summit and are thus quite longer and require that you start even earlier in the night. Other guided tours use different trails and starting points, as once we had reached the summit, there were definitely more people there than there were at the base camp.
We tracked the route on AllTrails is this is the path that we followed, which isn’t an official curated trail on the hiking platform:
The total hiking distance covered was 5.2 km, with a steep 520 meters of elevation gained. It took our group about 1h50 to complete the trail (excluding the time spent at the summit).
The return was almost as slow, if not slower, than the ascent. This was because of several reasons, including the steep grade of the trail, the sandy footing, and the fact that a lot of people started to descend at the same time. On the plus side, it was like seeing a completely new trail since we ascended it in the dark.
We returned to base camp around 7h45 am and departed towards Ubud not long after that.
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*Along the way to the summit, you’ll reach a few trail sections that intersect with motorcycle trails, and you will have to option of riding on the back seat of one the rest of the way should you feel that you can’t go on. Although we continued on foot, we did notice a few people from other groups accepting the motorcycle proposal.
The Summit and Breakfast
We arrived at the summit around 5 am, which is about 1h30 before sunrise, which is typically around 6h30 am throughout the year. Why arrive so early? Because the show starts around 5h30 am when the sky colors start to change, the night sky goes from pitch-black to dark blue, with a faint orange glow over the horizon that progressively gets more intense.
We were also one of the first groups to start the hike, as other groups continued to trickle onto the summit until around 5h30-5h45.
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Upon reaching the summit, you are invited to take a seat on one of several wooden benches that are set up on the northern part of the caldera, at which point your guide will leave you to prepare breakfast in a small shack with the other hiking guides. The breakfast typically includes a banana sandwich, eggs and coffee or tea – the neat thing about the eggs is that they are cooked with the steam emanating from various spots around the volcano summit.
Once you are done with breakfast, you are free to either remain at your seat to enjoy the sunrise, or to wander around the caldera to check out different vantage points. We did a bit of both, but be careful if you wander around, as there are some steep drop-offs (pictures taken after sunrise).
You’ll also likely notice a bunch of people on the eastern part of the caldera, that came up a different trail.
The Epic Sunrise from the Top of Mount Batur
We will let the pictures do some of the “talking” now.
From the summit, you’ll get spectacular views of Mount Agung (Bali’s tallest mountain and most active volcano) and Mount Abang (which partially overlap in the following pictures):
You’ll also be able to enjoy distant views of the towering Mount Rinjani on Lombok, which is about 150 km away and has a summit elevation of 3726 m above sea level (more than twice as high as Mount Batur).
And if you need a reminder that you are on top of a volcano, you’ll notice steam coming out of the ground from various places around the caldera.
What to Wear for the Mount Batur Sunrise Hike
First, you’ll want to wear proper hiking shoes (or at least good running shoes). This is definitely not an activity you want to do in your flip-flops.
Although it will be cool out for the ascent, a long-sleeve shirt and shorts will typically do the trick (though some people prefer sports leggings). And although you might initially find it cold, the steep ascent will quickly build up your body heat and you will quickly want to take off any excess layer.
You will however want to pack extra layers for the summit, it’s particularly cool there (and more windy), and you won’t be generating any hiking-related body heat anymore. A good sweater or fleece should do the trick (it’s typically between 10-15° Celsius at the summit before sunrise).
The Mount Batur Sunrise Hike: Is it Worth It?
The views are simply stunning, and it was one of the most magical sunrises we ever experienced – so we do highly recommend experiencing this activity.
The main drawback is the amount of people that are on the summit together – it’s much less of a personal experience than you might have hoped for. However, most people stick to the bench area where breakfast is served, meaning that if you wander around a bit, you can still find your own personal spot from which to enjoy the sunrise (which is what we did).
Best Time to Do the Mount Batur Sunrise Hike
It’s best to avoid Bali’s rainy season (November to April) to maximize your chances of having clear skies. Low clouds aren’t an issue as the Batur summit rises above them.
Hiking Packing List
All Trails subscription – This comes in really handy for areas with little or no cell reception, as the annual subscription allows you to download trail maps for offline use.
External Battery – If you are using your phone to track your progress along the trail or to help with navigation, you certainly don’t want your phone to die on you. That’s especially true in the unlikely event that you might get hurt or need assistance.
Hiking poles – These can be particularly useful in steep trails or muddy/boggy trail conditions.
Other Routes and Mount Batur Ascent Options
There are also two trails you can follow on AllTrails, both of which are significantly long: the eastern route (9 km), and the southern route (8 km).
However, we wouldn’t recommend you attempt these trails on your own at night, as the trails are often poorly marked – these are best used for daytime ascents of Mount Batur.
If you intend to hike Mount Batur on your own, you might have to negotiate with local guides to let you pass (or pay for their services without using them). The Mount Batur local guides tightly control access to the mountain and solo hikers may face hassle. This system ensures safety and supports the local community.
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If you would really like to experience the sunrise from Mount Batur’s summit but aren’t sure if you can handle the hike up, you can also join a sunrise jeep expedition tour.
How to get to Mount Batur Without an Organized Tour
Drive times can be highly variable depending on the traffic conditions.
Distance from Ubud: 40 km // Average Drive Time: 1h15 – 1h30 min
Distance from Kuta: 80 km // Average Drive Time: 2h25 – 2h45
Distance from Canggu: 70 km // Average Drive Time: 2h15 – 2h35
Distance from Sanur: 65 km // Average Drive Time: 2h – 1h15
Distance from Sidemen: 40 km // Average Drive Time 1h30-1h45
In our opinion, the two best transport options to reach Mount Batur are: renting a scooter or hiring a car and driver (which really isn’t as expensive as it sounds).
You can also use Bali ride-hailing apps such as Gojek or Grab, and make use of local taxis, but these options will typically cost more, especially if you plan on visiting several sites and attractions on the same day. Also, Gojek or Grab are not authorized to pick up people in certain locations where local taxi unions limit their services, including Canggu, Sanur, and Ubud. For more information on getting around the island and the different available options, check out our guide on How to Best Get Around Bali.
Regardless of your chosen transportation method, you are likely to enjoy the ride there. The road leading to the waterfall is very scenic. You will pass small villages and beautiful rice fields.
We highly recommend Airalo (eSIM card) for your connectivity needs when travelling abroad. Airalo is the world’s first and largest eSIM store with eSIM plans for 200+ countries and regions worldwide.
Getting to Mount Batur by Scooter: Once you get to Bali, you’ll quickly realize that scooter rental operators are everywhere. Although most street-side vendors will regularly be the cheapest option, they come short in several other aspects compared with more reliable and established vendors. For instance, most won’t offer roadside assistance or insurance that covers theft, nor do they regularly sanitize the helmets or have their scooters undergo regular maintenance. For this reason, we highly recommend using Bikago for your scooter rentals. Renting from them might be slightly more expensive (but still can be rented for as low as 12-15 US$/€ per day) but you get great peace of mind as among many other perks, all scooters undergo extensive quality checks.
What you get with your Bikago rental:
-Helmets
-Full tank of petrol and unlimited mileage
-Free Delivery and Collection at your Hotel
-24/7 Roadside Assistance and First Aid Medical Kit
-Charging Mobile Phone Holder
By Car and Driver hire: Hiring a car and driver to explore Bali can be a practical and cost-efficient way to experience a full day of sightseeing. Although this option is more expensive than renting a scooter (typically 40-60 US$/€ per day), you don’t have to worry about navigating the Bali roads and traffic, Also, most cars are modern and air-conditioned, which is welcome in Bali’s humid heat, and the local drivers always know the best routes to take and can optimize your ideal itinerary. Here are some of the best options to choose from:
Planning a Trip to Bali?
You might be interested in these pages: (coming soon)
Best Things to See and Do in Bali
Best Things to See and Do in the Gili Islands
The Perfect Three-Week Bali Itinerary
Everything You Need to Know About Visiting Bali
We also highly recommend these guidebooks:
Bali: The Solo Girl’s Travel Guide
Lonely Planet Bali, Lombok & Nusa Tenggara
Photography Gear
If you like our photography, you might be interested in some of the gear we use to shoot our travel and hiking destinations.
Camera Body – Nikon Z 6ii Fx-series Mirrorless Body
Main Lens – NIKON 24-120mm F/4G ED VR AF-S
Zoom Lens – Sigma 745-306 150-600mm f/5-6.3
Polarizing filters – Urth Circular Polarizing (CPL)
Camera Tripod – K&F Concept 64-inch Camera Tripod
Mini-tripod – Lammcou Flexible Camera Tripod
Camera/hiking backpack – Vanguard Alta Rise 48 Backpack
Universal Travel Adapter – VYLEE Universal International Power Travel Plug
Other Travel Essentials
Travel Insurance
SafetyWing is a travel insurance company that offers comprehensive coverage for travellers. Includes Medical Insurance and Travel Insurance. Primarily geared towards long-term travellers, digital nomads, and expats.
e-Sim cards
Airalo is the world’s first and largest eSIM store with eSIM plans for 200+ countries and regions worldwide. With Airalo eSIMs, travellers can get connected the moment they land at their destination and avoid nasty data roaming charges
eSIMS are a sustainable alternative to single-use SIM cards – they are 100% digital, require less energy to produce and be re-used rather than disposed of.
Car Rentals
Discover Cars is our go-to website for car rentals. We almost always find our preferred rate there.
Transfer from Airport
Welcome Pickups is our favourite private transfer service, which you can pre-book at a fixed price. Currently available in 220 cities all over the world (mostly in Europe, but with several major cities in Asia, the Middle East and the US).
Kiwitaxi is another private transfer service – we haven’t tried it yet, but it’s currently available in a few more countries (102 as of 2024).
Hotels and Accommodations (coming soon)
Photography Prints
If you found this blog useful, you can help support our blog by purchasing low-cost digital prints. Printed physical prints are also available for purchase.
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Well, that wraps it up! We hope you enjoyed our Mount Batur’s Sunrise Trek – A Bali Hiking Guide and that it will prove useful for planning your trip.
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