Malang

Malang sits at between about 440 and 670 metres in a basin ringed by volcanoes, which gives it a climate the Dutch liked enough to develop it as a colonial hill town - Thomas Karsten planned the garden suburbs of Ijen and Oro-oro Dowo in the 1920s and 1930s, and the broad tree-lined boulevards and Indies villas survive as one of the better preserved pieces of colonial urban planning in Indonesia. It is now a university city with a large student population, which shapes the food and the cheap end of the economy. Kampung Warna-Warni Jodipan, a riverside neighbourhood painted in blocks of colour from 2016 as a student project, turned a slum-clearance candidate into a paying attraction. Malang is also the base for Bromo and for the East Javanese temples.

History

The city was known historically as Tumapel and its history goes back to the Singhasari kingdom. The name Malang has been in use since at least the 12th century, though its origin is uncertain; one theory links it to Malangkuçeçwara, a sacred building named in two inscriptions of King Balitung of Mataram, the Mantyasih inscription of 907 and another of 908, whose location experts have not agreed on (Wikipedia, Malang).

What you'll find

• Karsten's garden suburbs - the 1920s planned boulevards and Indies villas.
• A painted riverside kampung - Jodipan, colour-blocked from 2016 as a student project.
• A student city - the food, markets and cheap end shaped by the universities.
• A Bromo base - the usual departure point for the Tengger caldera.

When to go

May to September. Two days.

What to expect

The painted kampung is a working neighbourhood charging entry - opinions on it vary. Traffic is heavy. Colonial buildings are privately owned and seen from outside.

Nearby

Bromo is east; Batu is north-west; Singosari temple is north.

Key facts