Mount Batur, a small stratovolcano in north-central Bali, is the prime location to watch the sun rise. It’s an adventure with the ultimate reward and 100% worth the early wake up and trek to the top. Difficulty level depends entirely on your activity levels. I don’t hike often but generally I’m very active and we literally ran up and down it. If you don’t find yourself exercising often but want to accomplish this hike, it’s 100% possible. You’ll just want to start a little earlier and take it slow. There’s a couple logistics you’ll want to figure out before you go, including transportation, finding your guide, and wardrobe. Lucky for you, I’ve compiled it all in one easy guide.

Full disclosure: I can’t guarantee the weather will support your adventure. We got about 5 minutes of sunrise and then the clouds rolled in. So keep the weather in mind while you’re planning out your itinerary if you can.

1. To and From

One of the most incredible things about visiting Bali is how affordable everything is. Transportation included. If you’re staying in a resort, even all the way down in Nusa Dua, you should be able to hire a driver for the drive and a guide for the hike up Mt. Batur for about $100 USD or less. If you’re hiring through any other service outside a resort, expect to pay less than $70 USD for the driver and guide. Adding additional stops on and/or lunch will cost additional in most cases. I highly recommend you stop at a local coffee plantation afterwards to warm up. There’s several, but my favorite is Wedang Sari Agro Wisata, more on that later. Don’t get me wrong, you can absolutely hike a mountain by yourself, we didn’t find it at all challenging. But the guides are local, cheap and cook you a small traditional breakfast at the top. They also know all the short cuts, the harder routes vs the easy ones, etc. Our guide was amazing, He was totally down with running up and down the mountain and he was QUITE the photog.

2. What to Wear

Listen, I don’t care who you are, a 5600ft altitude change is cold. The hike starts at about 0130-0230 from your hotel (depending on wear you’re staying of course) to make it to the top for sunrise. It’s pretty chilly at the top so I 100% recommend pants and a light-weight jacket or at the very least dress in layers. I personally wore shorts and it was fine for the entire hike, but sitting at the top for an hour waiting for the sun to rise was pretty miserable. There are locals at the top renting warm blankets for a small charge. I got 2. Footwear is a non-issue. I hiked in my running shoes and had zero issues. If you want to wear hiking boots that’s fine but totally unnecessary. I saw a dude wearing chacos sandals, again, don’t stress about footwear.

3. What to Bring

Pack light. I had a drawstring pack with water, bug spray, extra socks and a couple snacks. and Jared carried our camera stuff. The hike itself will take you anywhere from 1.5-2 hours depending on how many breaks you take so think about how long you want to carry that stuff on your back. Additionally, you’ll want to bring your camera or something to capture the sunrise. We brought both our DSLR camera and DJI Mavic drone. The cloud coverage was a little too much for the drone that day, but I highly recommend it if you have one. The views are AMAZING.

4. Post-Hike

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I’ll be honest, we were both exhausted after we made it back down and then spent just under an hour at the Wedang Sari Agro Wisata coffee plantation. At the time I was bummed we didn’t plan better and explore Ubud while while we were in the vicinity. But then we both slept for over an hour in the car on the way back. Since our resort was all the way down in Nusa Dua, the 0145 wakeup had us spent. If you’re staying closer to Mt. Batur, there’s definitely room in your day to do more exploring in the area if you’re so inclined.

Overall, we really enjoyed our trip to the top of Mt. Batur and back. We booked our entire trip through our resort but Voyagin is a highly recommended way to book online. You definitely have options when booking this tour, so shop around. I recommend first seeing if your concierge has any tips or guides they recommend. Then look online.

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