Park for the night where I tell you, and this will be your reward.

You can't park your vehicle in many places on this planet, where you are able to open your curtains in the morning to a vista like this.

Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park
- which road to take, and where to spend the night

If you have your own transport, then there is a delight awaiting you in Bromo.

Approach the Park using the Wonokitri road.

The place to park is quite near the second lookout point at Penanjakan. Go passed the first lookout point (a very sharp left bend, with parking bays on the opposite side*), and continue uphill.

After a few kilometres, there is sharp righthand bend, with a compound containing a shelter and a building right in front of you. If you continue up the road, you immediately pass a white barrier (usually open and unmaned), and reach the second lookout point after a further kilometre, at the end of the road.

Note that there is only limited turning space at the top, and you'll be continually hassled to buy something from the local vendors.

Park in the quiet compound with the shelter, and reward yourself with the view shown here in the morning.

Not only that, your pre-dawn alarm clock will be automatically provided by the headlights and engines of the dozens of Toyota LandCruisers and minivans, ferrying grockles from the lowlands up to the lookout point. Roll out of bed, walk the kilometre up the hill (take a torch), and when the dawn show is all over and the grockles are dribbling back down the mountain road, all red eyed and with the prospect of a tired day ahead, you can quietly slip back into bed. Life can be so tough at times.

It is advisable to recce the lookout point zone the day before. As they've arrived in the dark, the hoards of grockles won't realise that the lookout shelter is not facing the Bromo crater, but looks in the direction of the sunrise itself.

* Note if you wish to descend to the sand bed, take the right fork at the first lookout point. The road is sealed all the way to the bottom, and for the lower few hundred metres, the gradient is almost 1:1. That's steep, but no problem if you have a low 'box.