Tangkuban Perahu is an active volcano, 30km north of Bandung in West-Java and the major attraction of the Bandung area. It is more than 2000m tall. The name means "overturned boat," originating from a local legend. It tells the story of a man sent away by his mother because he was disobedient. The mother gained eternal youth from the gods after her loss. Years later the man returned and mother and son did not recognize each other. The two fell in love, but the mother found out that the young man was his returned son. She told here son that they could only marry if he build a large boat to sail away before the sunrise. When the morning came the son had almost finished his boat. The mother decided to simulate a sunrise with red silk cloth. Upon seeing this the son thought that he failed, and in his anger he turned over his almost finished boat, thus creating the volcano.
The Tangkuban Perahu is still very active, its last major eruption was in 1969 and a minor one happened in 1983. Currently the volcano shows an increased activity, so the government has closed the area. If you are allowed to come here, you should take public transport to Lembang (20km from Bandung, 5000Rp or 50¢) and walk the next 10km, or take a trip from the Bandung bus station that will bring you to the entrance gates (4km walk to the rim, 10,000 to 30,000Rp). If you are not into walking, you can take a Jeep taxi from Bandung all the way to the rim, but this can be quite expensive (at least 100,000Rp if you bargain hard), or take a jeep from the entrance gates to the rim (cheaper). Where the road ends are a few souvenir shops and small eateries, where you can have a drink or an Indonesian meal like nasi goreng (fried rice). You can hike all around the crater, but this is very far, so we only did part of it. From the food stalls, we did a second hike that goes down into the forest to the smaller Domas crater with a hot bubbling pool inside. The whole Domas crater area has got a terrible smell of sulfur.
From journal The Most Populous Island in the World