Journey to Malang: A Travel Insight
Apart from Bali, Malang is my favorite travel destination in Indonesia. It’s all for the same reason: just the perfect place to seclude myself from the hustle bustle of Jakarta within a limited travel budget. It is for the nth time I visited Malang, but this time I had the opportunity to travel solo and stay at my best friend’s family house located in the heart of Malang city. Also, this time there was no itinerary and no budget planning — please do not do this if you tend to overspend during vacations.
Staying with locals, in fact, gives me many insights google can’t tell; exactly the reason why I am excited to share these with you here. I am not going to tell you the things typically found on google when you search “top things to do in Malang”, instead I will share with you my travel experience during my 16-day travel to Malang during COVID-19 pandemic.
My journey to Malang
I left for Malang on Christmas day of 2020 by Jayabaya train. Departing from Pasar Senen in the late afternoon, I reached Malang station around 7 am in the morning the next day. I think this is the best timing to take if you travel Jakarta-Malang by train because the train reaches Surabaya at dawn and the journey afterwards has nothing but marvelous scenery along the way. The train travels south between 2 mountain areas: Arjuna-Welirang and Kawi mountains on the right and Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park on the left. As the train passes by, you can see the sun rises above the horizon on the left, clouds and fog surround the majestic mountains, beautiful paddy fields and plantations, and so much more.
There are a few things I would like to share about Malang, especially for those of you who have never been to Malang.
Malang city has a laid-back, tranquil vibe. The vibe is actually similar to Bandung when you omit two-thirds of Bandung residents and tourists: mostly cloudy, cool weather all year round, old buildings with Dutch colonial architecture, huge trees on the road side, houses turned to artsy cafes and restaurants, small alleys with hilly terrain. If your type of getaway is laid-back places where you can have serenity, closer with nature, and do lots of outdoor activities, you will love Malang. As for me, a Jakarta resident for life, I always search for this kind of vibe anywhere I travel to and I immediately sensed it since the moment I landed in Malang for the first time.
Malang also has fresher air and water compared to many cities I’ve visited in Indonesia. It is actually no surprise considering that the city is surrounded by mountains giving the clear water and oxygen supplies.
When it comes to the people’s hospitality, Japanese and Balinese are the best, but Malang people are as nice. They are quite tolerant, polite, friendly and do not exploit tourists (such as hiking up prices to tourists in tourist attractions like locals in many other places in Indonesia do). My latest experience was with parking officers all across Malang city. Contrary to those in Jakarta, they really helped us park and sometimes they did not show up to collect the parking fee when we were leaving.
There isn’t a lot to explore within Malang city, especially if you are an Indonesian (I know things like markets, museums and monuments do not interest you at all). Go to surrounding areas and you will find tons of interesting spots to explore. You can find pristine beaches going down south, highlands and mountains, camping grounds, and waterfalls on the east, south and west where you can go trekking, hiking, mountain biking and riding motocross, paragliding, etc. You can also go to Batu for amusement parks and enjoy breathtaking views from resorts and restaurants (you can google those attractions for more info).
I visited these attractions during my last trip:
Bedengan
Bedengan is a camping ground in a pine forest by a small creek. Located in the east of Malang city, Bedengan is accessible by driving a car passing through orange grove where you can do orange picking and eat oranges straight from the trees with less than USD2 per person. We didn’t camp there, instead we did some trekking and drank hot ginger drink and coffee afterwards.
Batu Bengkung and Parang Dowo Beach
Parang Dowo beach is the safest beach for children for it has a reef along the coastline serving as a barrier and wave breaker (similar to Pandawa Beach in Bali). We went there, sadly, during low tide so the beach became not so interesting for us. We then went to Batu Bengkung Beach and found the beach is much better, both for swimming and taking pictures. I recommend you to swim in the area with a barrier reef, especially if you travel with kids (it’s basically a salt water swimming pool that disappears during low tide, so it’s better to swim early morning or late afternoon). The coastline is quite rocky so it’s not very comfortable to swim there. I stayed in Parang Dowo beach but I would not recommend you to stay unless you camp bringing your own equipment.
Sumber Pitu Waterfalls, Tumpang
Let’s be clear first. There are two waterfalls named Sumber Pitu (seven fountain) in Malang located in two different areas: Pujon and Tumpang. I went to the one in Tumpang. The waterfall is accessible by 4-km trekking down from the main road. The track was steep and some were unpaved, hence quite challenging for an inactive person like me, but I did it anyway. I wouldn’t recommend it for small kids, elders, and adults having foot problems or without proper outdoor shoes. You could ask locals to take you there by motorcycle (they did not state any price but my friends paid IDR 120,000 for 2 persons round trip). They may not offer you the ride, so you have to ask around. What makes the waterfall worth the trip is that the water comes from water spring instead of a river. It is so clear that it is not just swimmable, but also drinkable.
Skydome at Golden Tulip Resort, Batu
Located in the Batu highland, the restaurant offers steamboat and Chinese food with stunning views facing valleys and mountains (the view and ambience got just better at night). They have a minimum charge of IDR 100,000 per person which is met by ordering a main course and a drink.
You don’t have to spare big bucks to enjoy Malang because everything is cheaper here in Malang, even compared to Bandung. However, I would recommend that you have proper outdoor shoes if you want to go to natural attractions because most of the places are not well-developed and still pristine.
Fresh produce (veggies, fruits, dairy products, poultry, seafood) in Malang is very fresh and very cheap. I love cooking and seeing fresh ingredients for cheaper price on the market is some kind of eye candy to me. Most food in Malang is not to my taste and I was very tempted to cook my own meals. And thanks to my local friend, I found a supermarket selling a wide range of imported stuff named Lay Lay (yes, we had a really nice Korean barbeque for NYE).
Food is not Malang’s forte, but they have the best Bakso (we call it Bakwan Malang in Jakarta) and STMJ (a hot ginger drink with milk, honey and egg yolk) no other region can compare. My favorite bakso places are Bakso Cak Toha and Bakso Samut (non-halal). As for STMJ, I recommend STMJ Glintung. They also have STMJ with herbal (having similar effect as drinking tolak angin).
Malang is a big coffee producer and local coffee shops are just a few steps away from each other. I went to many, but my favorite is Amstirdam. They roast their own beans and sell them for only IDR 40,000/pack (250 gr).
My trip to Malang has to come to an end, but I will definitely come back to see more. I flew back to Jakarta and I felt like the majestic lush green mountain ranges all around the airport wave me goodbye. Till I see you again, Malang. You will be missed.
