Gunung Tangkuban Parahu, Bandung, Indonesia

Gunung Tangkuban Parahu or Tangkuban Perahu is one of the volcanic mountains located in the province of West Java, Indonesia - in the border of Bandung and Subang. It is located approximately 20 km to the north of the city of Bandung, with a lush pine trees and expanses of tea gardens in the vicinity. 

Gunung Tangkuban Parahu has as high an altitude of 2,084 meters. The shape of this mountain is Stratovulcano with the eruption center that moved from east to west. The types of rocks produced by eruption are mostly lava and sulfur and the mineral produced is sulfur. While the volcanic mountain is not active, the mineral formed is sulfur vapor. The average daily temperature on the mountain is 17°C during the day and 2°C at night.

The origin of Gunung Tangkuban Parahu is associated with the Sangkuriang legend, which was said to be in love with his own mother, Dayang Sumbi. To put a stop to her son’s intention to marry her, Dayang Sumbi put a condition for Sangkuriang to make a boat (perahu) overnight. When his efforts failed, Sangkuriang got angry and kicked the boat which landed upside down. The boat is then formed the Gunung Tangkuban Parahu. You can read the full story of the Indonesian legend here.

This was my first view of a volcanic mountain and I was a bit excited. We were very lucky that the day we visited the mountain, the weather was very good. We went there early in the morning right after breakfast, hence the clear view with only few tourists. The view of the mountain and Kawah Ratu was magnificent and breathtaking.

Kawah Ratu

Some tips if you want to visit Gunung Tangkuban Parahu:

• Try to visit the place at early hours in the morning to avoid the tourist crowd so that you can take beautiful scenery pictures. Moreover, the mountain will probably be covered by fog by noon and the beautiful scenery view will be limited.
• Be ready to be approached by some locals there selling some kind of accessories and following you wherever you go. The prices of the items are seriously higher than the one you could find in Bandung town. DO NOT attend to them at all if you do not intend to buy. 
• If you really want to buy souvenirs from Gunung Tangkuban Parahu, buy from the side shops instead – and keep bargaining.
• If you can stand the heavy smell of sulphur, bring face mask.
• Try to go to Kawah Domas as well. We didn’t managed to go – but I will try to come again!

Hot jagung bakar tasted so good in the cool weather.

This is taken before we left Gunung Tangkuban Parahu. You can see the fog started to appear.