What to wear
People pack for Bali and then go up a volcano at three in the morning wearing what they wore to dinner. That is the whole problem in one sentence. Up on the rim before sunrise it is genuinely cold, the listings say so themselves, and the wind has nothing to stop it. Nothing exotic is needed — a warm layer, closed shoes with a sole that grips, and something to keep the dust out of your eyes will cover almost any trip on this site, whether you are walking up for $27 or being driven up for $45. This page goes through it item by item.
Quick answer
The short answer. Wear the shoes you would walk a hill in, take a warm layer you can put on at the top and take off on the way down, and add a windproof shell if you have one. If your listing includes the hot spring — $36 and $45 both do — put swimwear and a small towel in the same bag. Everything else is optional. Nothing on this mountain requires technical clothing, and nobody needs to buy anything for it.
How it works
Two things stack up. The first is height: the rim of the caldera sits well above the coast, and the air up there behaves differently from the air in Ubud or by the sea. The second is the hour. You arrive before the sun does, which is the coldest part of the night anywhere, and then you stand still in it while you wait for the light. Standing still is the part people forget. Walking up keeps you warm; sitting on a rock at the top for half an hour does not.
On the walking listings. $27, $27, $27 and the rest of the guided climbs take roughly two hours up. You will be warm after fifteen minutes and you will be damp by the top, and that damp shirt is what makes the wait cold. This is the argument for a layer in the bag rather than a layer on your back: you want something dry to put on when you stop moving.
On the jeep listings. $45, $20 and $20 drive you to the viewpoint, so you arrive dry. That is better in one way and worse in another: you have not generated any heat of your own, and you step out of a vehicle straight into the wait. A warm layer is not less important on a jeep trip, it is just needed at a different moment.
And then it turns. Once the sun clears the rim the temperature changes quickly, and by the time you are back down at the hot spring or at breakfast you will be carrying everything you were wearing. Every item on the list below has to be something you are willing to take off and stuff into a bag.
Every trip, current fare
The climbs, where two hours of walking in the dark decide your shoes, and the jeep trips, where the standing still decides your jacket. The cost-per-hour column compares a five-hour sunrise with a ten-hour day honestly, because those are not the same purchase.
| Tour | Length | Price | What is included | Cost per hour | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From Ubud: Mount Batur Shared Jeep Sunrise & Hot Spring TourFrom Ubud: Mount Batur Shared Jeep Sunrise & Hot Spring Tour | 5 h | $20 | A shared jeep from Ubud to the sunrise viewpoint and a hot spring | $4.00 | 4.8 · 3,857 |
| Bali/Mount Batur: Private Sunrise Jeep Tour & Hot SpringBali/Mount Batur: Private Sunrise Jeep Tour & Hot Spring | 5 - 9 hours | $45 | A private 4WD to the viewpoint for sunrise, then a hot spring | $6.43 | 4.8 · 4,664 |
| Bali: Sunrise Mount Batur Guided Hike with BreakfastBali: Sunrise Mount Batur Guided Hike with Breakfast | 5 h | $27 | The guided climb before dawn, with breakfast at the top | $5.40 | 4.8 · 11,261 |
| Bali: Mount Batur Sunrise Trek With Guide and BreakfastBali: Mount Batur Sunrise Trek With Guide and Breakfast | 5 h | $27 | The guided climb, breakfast, coffee and showers in the lounge | $5.40 | 4.8 · 3,987 |
| From Ubud: Mount Batur HikingFrom Ubud: Mount Batur Hiking | 5 h | $27 | Pickup in the Ubud area and the climb, meal included | $5.40 | 4.8 · 764 |
| Bali: Mount Batur Sunrise Hike and Tibumana WaterfallBali: Mount Batur Sunrise Hike and Tibumana Waterfall | 5 h | $27 | The climb at dawn, then Tibumana Waterfall, with pickup | $5.40 | 4.8 · 744 |
| Bali: Mount Batur Sunrise Hike with Breakfast & Hot SpringBali: Mount Batur Sunrise Hike with Breakfast & Hot Spring | 4 h | $34 | The climb with breakfast and an optional stop at the springs | $8.50 | 4.7 · 148 |
| Bali: Mount Batur Sunrise Guided Hike and Natural Hot SpringBali: Mount Batur Sunrise Guided Hike and Natural Hot Spring | 7 - 11 hours | $36 | The guided climb, then the natural hot spring afterwards | $4.00 | 4.8 · 10,176 |
| Bali: Mount Batur Guided Sunrise Trek with BreakfastBali: Mount Batur Guided Sunrise Trek with Breakfast | 10 h | $50 | A long guided day on the UNESCO-listed volcano, with breakfast | $5.00 | 4.6 · 321 |
| Bali: Mount Batur Sunset Trek with PicnicBali: Mount Batur Sunset Trek with Picnic | 7 - 10 hours | $27 | The same slope at the other end of the day, with a picnic | $3.18 | 4.8 · 419 |
Item by item
On your feet: closed shoes with a grip. This is the only item that is not negotiable on a walking listing. The surface is loose volcanic material — grit and small stones over harder ground — and it moves under a smooth sole in both directions, but especially on the way down, when your legs are tired and gravity is doing the steering. Trainers with a proper tread are fine. Walking shoes are better. Sandals, flip-flops and smooth-soled fashion trainers are the things guides quietly dread.
On your legs: something you can move in. Long trousers or leggings beat shorts for two reasons: the cold at the top, and the dust. Nothing about the climb requires a special fabric. If you are on an ATV or a quad morning instead, long trousers stop being about warmth and start being about the fine black grit that comes off the lava field.
On top: a layer, then a shell. A fleece, a hoodie or a light down jacket does the work. On top of that, anything windproof is worth having, because the wind on the rim is the thing that takes the warmth out of you while you wait. A packable rain shell doubles as both. It is worth repeating that none of this needs buying — what you already own for a cool evening at home is what you want here.
Hands, ears and head. Small things, disproportionate effect. Thin gloves are the item people are most surprised to be glad of, because you will be holding a phone or a camera in the cold for the best twenty minutes of the morning. A hat is worth the space it takes.
A light to see by. On the guided climbs a torch is normally part of what the guide brings, and the walking listings on this site are all guided. That said, the only honest instruction is to read the inclusions on your own listing: if it names a torch, it is handled, and if it does not, a head torch from your own bag costs you nothing to carry. Your phone is a poor substitute on a two-hour climb, because you will want your hands.
Swimwear, if the pools are in your fare. $36, $45 and $20 all finish at the natural hot spring by Lake Batur, and the pools are the best part of the morning for a lot of people. Pack swimwear and a small towel where you can get at them.
The bag
One small daypack covers every listing on this site. This is what earns its place in it, and what tends to happen when each item is left behind.
| What | Why it is on the list | When you need it | If you leave it |
|---|---|---|---|
| A warm layerfleece, hoodie or light down | The listings themselves advise warm clothing for the top | The wait for the light, and the first hour afterwards | A cold half hour spent looking at your watch instead of the caldera |
| Closed shoes with griptrainers with a tread or walking shoes | Loose volcanic ground on the way up and, worse, on the way down | Every minute of a walking listing | Slow, careful descending and a pair of shoes full of grit |
| A windproof shellor a packable rain jacket | The wind on the rim is what makes still air feel cold | Standing at the top before sunrise | A warm layer doing half the job it could |
| Thin glovesand a hat if you have one | You will be holding a camera with bare hands in the dark | The twenty minutes people most want photographs of | Hands in pockets during the part you came for |
| Swimwear and a small towelif the springs are in your fare | Several listings finish at the pools beside the lake | The last hour of the trip | Sitting by the water watching everybody else in it |
| Water and a small snackeven where breakfast is included | Breakfast is served at the top, not at the start | The climb itself | Two hours of walking on whatever you had at midnight |
Book direct
The listings where the kit list above matters most, with the current price, the rating and the number of reviews behind each one. Every tour on this site has free cancellation.
★ 4.8 · 4,664 reviews
★ 4.8 · 11,261 reviews
★ 4.8 · 10,176 reviews
★ 4.8 · 3,987 reviews
★ 4.8 · 3,857 reviews
★ 4.8 · 419 reviews
What to expect
All of it comes from what the listings advise, or from the shape these mornings have in common on the rim.
It lasts from the moment you stop walking to shortly after the sun clears the rim. That is a short window, and it is also the window you booked the whole trip for.
Two hours of climbing leaves most people wet through. The layer that helps is the dry one in your bag, not the shirt you climbed in.
On $20 you step out of a vehicle into the same air as everybody else, without having warmed up first.
Some mornings the caldera is clear and some mornings it is not, and no operator on this mountain can promise you which you will get. What you wear is the one part of the morning entirely within your control.
Black volcanic dust gets into laundry, bags and shoes. Wear things you do not mind, and put the pale linen back in the wardrobe.
On $27, $27 and the rest of the listings that name it, the meal comes after the climb. Take water for the climb itself.
It applies to every tour on this site, which is worth knowing when you are packing for a trip you booked from a different climate.
Through the year
The rim is cool before dawn in every month of the year. What moves with the season is the wet, not the temperature at the top.
Dry months
Clearer skies are more common, but a warm layer is exactly as necessary. Nothing about a dry month makes the pre-dawn rim warm.
Shoulder months
This is when a windproof or rain layer earns its place in the bag twice over, on the climb and at the top.
Wet months
The loose ground holds water, which makes the descent the part to take seriously. Shoes with a tread stop being advice and start being the point.
Any month, at the pools
The natural hot spring beside the lake is the same temperature whatever the weather did to your sunrise, which is why so many listings finish there.
The verdict
If you are walking up, book $27 and wear real shoes. Five hours, the guided climb before dawn with breakfast at the top, rated 4.8 across 11,261 reviews — the most booked trip on this site, and the one where your footwear decides how the descent goes.
If you want a warm finish, book $36. Seven to eleven hours: the climb, then the natural hot spring, rated 4.8 across 10,176 reviews. Pack swimwear where you can reach it.
If you would rather not climb at all, book $45. A private 4WD to the viewpoint and then the springs, rated 4.8 across 4,664 reviews. Bring the same jacket; you will use it standing still.
If the fare matters, book $20. Five hours from Ubud in a shared jeep, rated 4.8 across 3,857 reviews.
And if you would rather go up at the other end of the day, book $27. Seven to ten hours with a picnic at the top, rated 4.8 across 419 reviews — you climb in daylight and come down in the dark, so the torch matters more and the jacket just as much.
Wondering whether the climb itself is within your reach? The hours, the ground and the honest answer about who finds it hard are on the difficulty page.
See how hard it is→Common questions
Cold enough that the listings themselves advise warm clothing, yes. You are high up, it is the hour before sunrise and there is wind on the rim. It is not a mountaineering cold — a fleece and a shell cover it — but arriving in a t-shirt is the single most common regret on this mountain.
No. Closed shoes with a sole that grips are enough, and plenty of people climb in ordinary trainers. What does not work is a smooth sole, because the ground is loose and the descent is where it catches people out.
The climbs on this site are guided, and a light is normally part of what the guide brings. Read the inclusions on your own listing to be sure, and if you own a head torch, bring it anyway — it weighs nothing and it keeps your hands available.
A packable shell does double duty here: it keeps the wind off at the top and the rain off on the way up. It is the most useful single item you can put in the bag.
Ordinary swimwear, plus a small towel. The pools sit beside Lake Batur and several listings finish there, including $36 and $45. Where the springs are not in your fare, the entry ticket is sold on its own at $8.
On the trips with a private vehicle the car is with you, which is one of the quiet advantages of $45. On a shared climb you carry what you bring, so the smaller the bag the better the morning.
Go deeper
Twenty-three ways up Mount Batur, by how you get there and what it costs.
Sunrise hikeThe 2 a.m. start, the two hours up, and what you see at the top.
Jeep toursRiding to the viewpoint instead of climbing in the dark.
Hot springsWhat the pools are, which tours include them and what the ticket costs.
Without hikingFor anyone who wants the light but not the climb.
ATV & quadThe lava field on four wheels, morning or after sunrise.
Bali/Mount Batur: Private Sunrise Jeep Tour & Hot Spring
★ 4.8 · 4,664 reviews · Free cancellation 24 h