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Gunung Papandayan, Java (2,675m)
Despite the bumpy road leading up to the crater, Papandayan makes for one of the very best days out in the whole of Java. If you live in Pangandaran you could do it as a day trip. There is a car-park, a guide’s post and several warungs (small shops) next to the main active crater and this parking area is somewhat bizarrely known as Camp David locally! The place can get quite busy during weekends. To what extent you explore the range is entirely up to you. You could take the family there for an hour’s stroll around the main crater with many active fumaroles and hot bubbling mud, or make a whole day or weekend of it by continuing on to Pondok Salada and the many mysterious Edelweiss-covered meadows higher up. For the most adventurous hikers, it is possible to follow the wide cobbled track onto the saddle between the main range and the outlying Gunung Puntang, past the remains of the Ghober Hut (no longer standing on my last visit) right the way over the range and down the other side towards the vast and remote tea plantations near Cileuleuy. The best place to stay is Cipanas (‘hot water’, not to be confused with the town of the same name in the Puncak area) just outside Garut itself and about 45 minutes away from the crater car-park above Cisurupan.
