If you’re spending a few days in Banyuwangi/Ijen, we recommend you hire a bike so you can get around easily and quickly. If you’re not comfortable on a bike though, you can either hire a private driver for a few days, or take Grabs/Gojeks. 

De Djawatan Forest is around 45-60 minutes from Banyuwangi, depending on where you’re staying, and how fast you drive. This is 80,000-85,000 on a grab bike, or 130,000-150,000 on a grab taxi car. The road is paved the whole way with some potholes. Around half of the road has two lanes - a car lane and a thinner motorbike lane, although cars and bikes will drift between both. If you’re a bit nervous, just drive slower. Very few people drive above 60km p/hour on this road, most drive at 50km p/hour.

The entrance to De Djawatan Forest is incredibly cheap and definitely worth it. It is a beautiful area populated by giant Trembesi trees, which are each covered in ferns and moss, creating a prehistoric atmosphere. The trees are around 100-150 years old, and this is an absolutely stunning spot for photography. We got caught in a very intense downpour of rain whilst visiting (that’s the risk of travelling during wet season!) which made it even more incredible as the smell of the forest came to life. We took refuge at the little café and had coffee and lunch for an hour while the storm passed, before spending another two hours wandering through the forest and taking some incredible photos. We were the only foreigners there but there were some domestic Indonesian tourists visiting, who were all very lovely to chat to.

Here are the costs of an afternoon at De Djawatan Forest:

• 20,000 - entrance per person to De Djawatan 

• 2,000 - motorbike parking at De Djawatan 

• 16,000 - hot coffee with milk 

• 5,000 - hot tea

• 8,000 - “concerto” ice cream (like cornetto)

• 15,000 - nasi goreng

• 4,000 - powdered donut 

• 50,000 - bottle of Osing Honey (to take home)

• 50,000 - ride on a horse and carriage (like a tuk tuk) around the forest

• 50,000 - hire a photographer to take pictures for you. 20 pictures for 50k. 

You do not have to do all of these things, and you could easily just spend 20k per person and 2k to park your bike.  It’s a very cheap and beautiful destination, and not very heavily visited!

Want to get amazing photos? 

The purpose of this website is to share local businesses and help people travel like the locals, with your money going directly into local communities to support them through sustainable tourism. Here's a great one for you!

I had the pleasure of meeting Anie and her husband. Anie is an incredible photographer based out of Banyuwangi. She does photography for tourists to De Djawatan Forest, although you can also talk with her about hiring her for a full day and visit multiple sites. 

Here are some photos. Annie charges only 50,000 (AU$5) per 20 photos at De Djawatan as she is usually based here. She and her husband will then plug their camera SD card directly into your phone (they provide all the adaptors) so that you can download the pictures immediately in HD resolution. If you are interested in private photography tours, message her directly. I usually do all my own photography, but there was something about Anie that made me love her instantly, and I'm so grateful to have done these photos with her and kept in touch afterwards!

Instagram @anie_photo_grafer is her main method of communication and she usually responds within 24 hours. Follow this link to her Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/anie_photo_grafer/