Jiwa Jawa Resort Ijen

Spectacular mountain resort in the foothills of Mt Ijen. Incredible artworks and historical artifacts. The best feature is the incredible view of Mt Ijen, which seems so close on a clear day. Lovely friendly staff, beautiful rooms, delicious meals, lush gardens and spectacular infinity pool with breathtaking views across the valley and up to Mt Ijen. This is the ultimate magical paradise.

Jiwa Jawa is a stunning and peaceful resort on the slopes of Ijen Volcano. The ambience is tranquil, the food is delicious, the staff are so cool. The new pool is epic! We saw draco flying lizards on the coconut trees during breakfast. Good price, and visiting the Terra cotta statues at Jawa Banana is so cool. I am looking forward to the next Jazz festival.

Do you want to spend your time in paradise with the best service ever?!! If the answer is YES – it is. Great location, great hotel, actually a resort. Beautiful art gallery, best service in Indonesia:). Good breakfast – maybe they should work a bit on the cuisine a la carte. Would you like to have breakfast on the terrace overlooking the rainforest? There you go ! Very helpful people. I was cheated by a tour guide and got a complete help package including proposal of a new tour guide, transport to Bali etc. Wonderful people, beautiful hotel, that’s all you need for a nice holiday.

I booked a superior double room for two nights with a plan to relax by the pool between early mornings at Bromo and then Ijen. Arriving late at night (Jiwa Jawa can arrange pick up from train station for 350,000) I found that my room was not anywhere near the main reception, restaurant and pool area. It was actually at the adjoining Taman Gandrung Terakota. Thankfully you could have breakfast at the cafe above the rooms, and the views of the Terakota decorative gardens were very nice. There was no information on the booking page about this room being so far away so that was frustrating as it was almost 10mins up a very steep road to get to reception and pool. If you call reception they will send a car to pick you up but it's annoying having to pack all your things to go to the pool. The room itself was nice but had one vital flaw. NO CURTAINS! The windows are a coloured glass but there is an outside light that shines through all night and the sun comes up by 5am, very hard to sleep! Once you got up there, the pool was nice and looked over mountains but no umbrellas for sun loungers and you can use undercover areas if wet (even though they are by the pool??) The hotel did organise breakfast box to take on Ijen tour which was good. I had dinner at restaurant above room, the only one dining, but beef sate was good and price cheaper than main restaurant (which I didn't want to walk to in dark). The hotel organises private Ijen tour for 950,000, I booked shared tour with Yukbanyuwangi and they picked up from Jiwa Jiwa (I told them to pick up from Terakota, and there is security at night in this area to help), then drop at Ketapang or Banyuwangi for 400,000. Overall, be careful which room you book. It is a nice resort but I wouldnt stay here again due to distances between properties, no curtains and umbrella by pool.