The Best Things To Do in Banyuwangi, Complete Guidance

07 Dec The Best Things To Do in Banyuwangi, Complete Guidance

THE BEST THINGS TO DO IN BANYUWANGI

Banyuwangi is one of the pearl of tourist destinations in Indonesia, you will know how the amazing this small town before you explore it. Banyuwangi is known by people because its phenomenon of Blue Fire that comes out from Ijen Volcano and Gandrung Dance performance, that has a unique story behind it. Besides of that, Banyuwangi has many things that will enchant for anyone who loves to enjoy not touristic places and being like local.

Banyuwangi is located in East Java. Located in most eastern part of Java Island. Banyuwangi also called as the sunrise of Java because of its location that located at the eastern part of Java Island. Banyuwangi is easy to find out from Google Maps, you can just type it and you will know where is it. Banyuwangi has everything you need during your holiday here such as beautiful volcano, peaceful beaches, fascinating waterfalls, huge savannah in the national park, cool river spot for rafting or river tubbing, sacred heritages, unique and humble local people and coffee, local herb, clove, rubber or any other plantations.

Banyuwangi was declared as Indonesia National Geopark in 2018 because of Banyuwangi has three sites that fulfilled of requirements to get that declaration. These are Bluefire phenomenona at Mount Ijen aka Ijen Volcano and its crater lake that has 0,5 Ph as the most acid crater lake in the world. The second is Pulau Merah Beach (Red Island) and the third one is Alas Purwo National Park that has more than 100 caves and it makes Alas Purwo National Park are listed as areas of high mineralization, as the former is a residual from magma circulating under an ancient volcano.

Banyuwangi has tagline of tourism that “Everybody who comes to Banyuwangi, they will want to come back again and again” . To get more deeply information about Banyuwangi, you can read more the detail below.

HOW TO GET BANYUWANGI :

• By Ferry :
  Banyuwangi town is very close to Bali, you only need an hour by ferry from Gilimanuk harbor (Bali side) to Ketapang harbor (Java side). When you reach Ketapang harbor, it means you already in Banyuwang. There is no special schedule for the ferry it, normaly the ferry leaves every 15 minutes for 24/7. So, there will be always ferries that bring you across the Bali strait.
• By Flight :
  There are some airlines that provide direct flight such Garuda Indonesia, NAM Air, Wings Air and Citilink. You can catch them from Surabaya City (Juanda International Airport/ SUB), Jakarta City (Soekarno – Hatta Airport/CGK) and Yogyakarta City (Yogyakarta Airport /JOG) then choose your final destination in Banyuwangi Airport/BWX). The airlines make your trip easier.
• By Train :
  If you prefer to land trip, that is possibility to catch the train from wherever you are for the journey to Banyuwangi such as Yogyakarta, Malang, Surabaya, Probolinggo or even Jakarta with stopover in Surabaya. Banyuwangi is the last town in Java Island, it means you will be arrived in the last station in the eastern part of Java island.
• By Car :
  Do you love road trip? that’s super possible to visit Banyuwangi by car. You can rent private car with a driver from Surabaya, Yogyakarta or Malang which the most common area where people to go to Banyuwangi. You can choose north route which will pass Probolinggo and Situbondo before Banyuwangi or south route that you will pass Probolinggo, Lumajang, and Jember before you get to Banyuwangi.

THE BEST TIME TO GO BANYUWANGI

You can visit Banyuwangi town anytime as you want but we recommend you to come when Banyuwangi has some interesting schedule of events that make you want to come and enjoy the event or you can just enjoy the natural beauty here. For the best weather, we recommend to come between April until November.

THE BEST THINGS TO DO IN BANYUWANGI

Spending times in Banyuwangi, you will need more and less 4 days to stay. Because, there are lot of places you can visit such as adventurous places, local culture area, and local culinary spots. And the government support the local people to make their creation about how to invite visitor to visit their village, for example Sunday morning market that sell traditional food that you will not find easily in the big city or even small city. Here below, we had summarized the best things to do when you are visiting Banyuwangi as your holiday, so you can make your own itinerary when you plan to visit Banyuwangi one day.

HIKE MOUNT IJEN

Ijen Crater is very known by most people in the world because of the famous phenomenon of Blue Fire and sulfur mining. To reach the top, you should hike around 3 kilometers, it takes about two hours. The trekking path is not quite hard but the moderate fitness is needed. There will be some steep paths that will challenge you in some point, so you must prepare what you need here.

mount ijen – ijen tour – kawah ijen

Beside of the Blue Fire phenomenon and sulfur mining, the view of the turquoise crater lake in Mount Ijen is one of the best highlights here.

EXPLORE BEACHES

The half of Banyuwangi town is surrounded by ocean, especially north east, south east and south west. That is the reason why Banyuwangi town has many beaches that you can explore. From north to the southern part of Banyuwangi, there are some good beaches that has its uniqueness and characteristic. There are more than 20 beaches in Banyuwangi cities. Here some beaches that we highly recommend to visit.

Red Island

Red island is a beach that has a unique landscape, such as long coastline, white brown sand, medium wave characteristic which is very good for a beginner surfer or even as expert surfer you can do surf paddling here. Beside of that, there is an island that appears in the middle of the beach that make this beach named as Red Island Beach, because of the red island that appears in the middle of beach and this beach is highly recommended to visit during the sunset time. Dry season is the best season to visit and lastly it’s located around 90 km from Banyuwangi town. It takes about 3 hours’ drive. There are some hostel, homestay or guesthouse to stay over if you feel tired to go back to Banyuwangi town after enjoying the sunset.

Green Bay

To get to Green Bay aka Teluk HIjau, you should go to Pesanggaran Village or Sarongan village which located 85 km from Banyuwangi town. You should ride the appropriate car because the road is quite bumpy to reach. So, we recommend to take a boat ride about 10 minutes away from fisherman village in Rajegwesi Beach. If you plan to do trekking, you cannot reach the parking area with normal car, it must 4×4 car or walking from Rajegwesi area.

From the parking place in Teluk Hijau aka Green Bay, you need to walk down to the beach more and less about 2 kilometers. Before you reach the Green Bay, you will pass the Stone Beach which quite impressive to see but not recommended to swim there. Surely, you will enjoy the path along the journey until you find out the sign of “Welcome to Green Bay”. Your eyes will be spoiled by the blue and green water, blue sky, white sand and forest in one sight. You still see some monkeys around that waiting for you. This beach has typical of low shore and big wave. So, please be careful when you decided to swim here.

Sukamade Beach

Sukamade Turtle Beach is an exotic remote beach where you can meet the endangered turtles who only come to this beach to lay their eggs and there is a local rangers that help to take care of the eggs from the bad human or predators from the nature itself and they keep the eggs in the proper place (like a nature) until its hatched and we can release the baby turtles to Sukamade Beach again when the age and the baby turtles are ready to get back to their own home.

Actually this beach is just 1H30M from Green Bay aka Teluk Hijau but to get to this beach is not that easy, the 4×4 car are required. The road here is very bumpy and non-accessible for standard car. You should across some rivers to get the basecamp of Sukamade Turtle Beach which only few rooms are available with super basic facility. There is the Turtle Conservations Centre or Turtle Foundation that will help us to see how to watch the turtle while lying its egg. You will learn all about turtles, how many turtles here, how to take care of the baby turtles, who will be the most dangerous predators and how they live in the ocean as a small or baby.

ATTEND THE FESTIVAL IN BANYUWANGI

Every year, Banyuwangi town has more than a hundred festivals that you can a look on the picture below. The festival is held not only in town square of Banyuwangi but also at the sub-districts. The local government wants to show the richness of Banyuwangi by through festival. Here some the most recommended festivals that you can attend when you are in Banyuwangi :

• Sewu Gandrung Dance (Thousand Gandrung Dance)
• Banyuwangi Beach Jazz Festival (Best Indonesian Jazz Artist)
• Sepuluh Ewu Kopi (Ten Thousand Coffee Festival)
• And many more

EXPLORE THE NATIONAL PARK NEARBY

When you are in Banyuwangi, please don’t skip your time to explore the National Parks nearby Banyuwangi. Banyuwangi town is surrounded by some National Park. Those are Alas Purwo National Park, Meru Betiri National Park and the last is very famous one with their name as the Africa van Java. Baluran National Park is located in Situbondo town but not too far from Banyuwangi town because the exact location is in the border between these two small towns.

HAVING THE BEST LOCAL COFFEE

Banyuwangi is known as a city that produces coffee. Almost 30% Banyuwangi Area has coffee plantations. Banyuwangi has two type of coffee that is Robusto and Arabica, but mostly the Arabica is taken in Blawan area which is Bondowoso area that is very close to Banyuwangi. Some areas in Banyuwangi also explort their coffee to European countries, such as Glen Nevis that located in Gunung Terong Plantation, Kalibaru area.

So, these are above just a few things to do when you are in Banyuwangi. We recommend to spend at least 3 days to enjoy the beauty of Banyuwangi. Have fun on your journey and we can only say to you this, “Leave nothing but footprints, Take nothing but pictures.”

Here is to plan your unforgettable trip to Banyuwangi and surrounding. Book yours now!