Kediri Things to Do

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It takes an effort to see the "Hot River of Kelud Baby" and the "Sulphuric Spa", but they are well worth it. You have to go down a long stairway of 598 steps, not counting the descent into the spa or the short ascent to the hot-water falls.

A billboard points to the stairs, which are near the parking. We were slightly disappointed when we arrived downstairs: the pretty girls on the billboard are not there! There was (on a workday) a steady trickle of domestic visitors. They come for the hot-water pools or "spa". If you intend to join them, bring your bathing suit; a tarpaulin booth for changing is available.

One has to take some care when bathing in the pools. The water from the volcano is scalding hot, and is mixed with cold water from a river. But the mixing in the pools is not perfect. When one thinks one has found a spot with a comfortable temperature, a whiff of hotter water may spoil the comfort.

While enjoying the "spa" you must wonder where the water comes from. The answer can be found by ascending the few steps beyond the bridge. When the vapours allow, there is just visible the man-made tunnel leading to the lake bottom. In a series of steaming falls and cataracts the water finally arrives at the "spa". See Travelogue Hot River of Kelud Baby.

The tunnel must be the last one of a series excavated since 1919 to drain the lake and avert a possible disaster of millions of cubic meters of water rushing down the mountain after an eruption. This last one was dug in 1967 (after the 1966 eruption). The water temperature was at most 36 °C until the eruption that created Anak Gung Kelud in 2007. Nowadays the lake has disappeared, but the tunnel delivers scalding hot water.

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Just outside the tunnel, before one goes down to the lava dome, there is a flight of 498 stairs climbing up de crater ridge to a lookout point. From there one overlooks the whole crater with the lava dome as well as Blitar plane to the south.

To the summit?
We saw a path leaving the lookout in the direction of the highest point of the ridge. That would be the summit at 1731 m above sea level. But we did not attempt it, because clouds were already gathering around it.

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What they call Anak Gunung Kelud, litterally the 'Child of Kelud Mountain', is a smoking lava dome which has arisen in the crater when the volcano was active in November 2007. Before that time there used to be a lake on the crater floor, of which only a small pool now remains.

Visitors used to be allowed to approach the lake, but nowadays a locked gate and some barbed wire try to keep you at a distance from the lava dome. It was not too difficult to creep through the barbed wire to make some close-up pictures. But indeed we wouldn't dare set foot on the dome itself!

Try googling "Kelud volcano" for pictures of the fiery lava dome in 2007!

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If we may trust the distance posted at the safety gate, then one has to walk 1.7 km from the parking to Anak Gunung Kelud, the lava dome in the crater. Some 120 m (our estimate) of this distance leads through a tunnel in the caldera rim, a shortcut from the outside to the inside of the caldera. You may bring a torchlight, but actually the walkway is quite smooth so that one may feel one's way through in the dark. Right at the start the tunnel makes a bend, so that one cannot see the exit. But once around the bend the exit is visible straight ahead.

When one exits the tunnel one has the lava dome in view, and a flight of 148 stairs leads down to it.

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At about 30 km of Kediri town, Kelud volcano has long been a favourite destination of domestic tourists. When the volcano had quietened down after its eruption in November 2007, the government of Kediri regency ordered the access road to be upgraded, so that now one can comfortably get into walking distance of the crater by car or motorbike. For the last few kms the road runs over steep ridges, quite an achievement of road building! Do not go near the roadside if you are subject to fear of heights.

Directions: As Blitar is the better place to stay, and at the same distance as Kediri, we give here directions for the shortest itinirary to Kelud from Blitar.
Take Jalan Ir Soekarno north out of town past Makam Bung Karno and Penataran. At 2.7 km from the Penataran temples turn right, direction Kediri and Wates. At 6.5 km do not take direction Wates, but take the road to the right. At 8.3 km at a crossing do NOT follow the sign pointing to Gunung Kelud, but turn right again to Sempu village. And at 11 km from the Penataran temples turn right another time. You now pass through Sempu village and pineapple plantations, until you reach Ngancar village at 17.7 km. Here take the road through Ngancar to Kelud mountain. After 3 km you reach the plantation gate where you pay the entrance fee. From there it is another 8.6 km through Margomulyo plantation to the iron saftety gate (closed at night) and 800 m more to the parking.

Entrance: The plantation collects Rp 5000 from domestic visitors, Rp 15,000 from foreigners and Rp 2000 for a car.