Malang

Alun-Alun Tugu, Kayutangan and Candi Singosari, then a jeep to Bromo

Malang fills a day before a Bromo sunrise. Start at Alun-Alun Tugu's lotus pond and monument, wander the colonial shopfronts and kampung alleys of Kayutangan, see the villas and Gothic church on Jalan Ijen, and visit the Singhasari-era Candi Singosari temple north of town before a midnight jeep to Bromo.

Day one, morning. Start at Alun-Alun Tugu, the round park with a lotus pond and independence monument in front of the city hall. Walk down to Kayutangan, where the colonial shopfronts on the main road hide a maze of kampung alleys with old houses and small cafes. Continue to Jalan Ijen for the villas and the Gothic spires of the Ijen Cathedral, finished in the 1930s.

Afternoon. Take a Grab to Jodipan, the riverside kampung painted in bright colours, and cross the glass bridge to its neighbour Kampung Tridi. Later, drop in at Toko Oen for ice cream in a room that has barely changed since colonial days.

Evening. Eat bakso or cwie mie and go to bed early.

Day two. Leave at about 01:00 on a jeep tour via Tumpang for the sunrise viewpoint above the Tengger caldera. As light comes, the cone of Bromo appears from a sea of cloud, with Semeru behind. Walk across the sand sea and climb the stairs to Bromo's crater rim, then return to Malang by late morning.

Afternoon. After a rest, ride 10 km north to Candi Singosari, a 13th-century temple linked to the kings of Singhasari, and see the two huge Dwarapala guardian statues a few hundred metres away. If you have time, Candi Jago and Candi Kidal, east of the city, are carved with scenes from Javanese tales.

Bakso Malang, cwie mie and tempeh chips from Kampung Sanan

Malang's best-known export is bakso Malang, a clear soup of beef meatballs, fried and steamed wontons, stuffed tofu and noodles, seasoned at the table with chilli, soy and vinegar. Try bakso bakar, grilled meatball skewers, cwie mie noodles, and tempeh chips from the makers of Kampung Sanan.

Malang's most famous export is bakso Malang, a meatball soup that goes far beyond meatballs. A bowl brings beef balls of several sizes, fried and steamed wontons, tofu stuffed with meat paste and noodles in a clear broth; you add chilli, soy and vinegar yourself. Look also for bakso bakar, meatballs grilled on skewers with a sweet glaze. One of the city's best-known bakso houses sits right beside the railway line, with trains rattling past the tables.

Cwie mie is Malang's own noodle dish: thin, springy wheat noodles topped with minced chicken, spinach and crisp wonton skins, served with a bowl of broth. For something more Javanese, try rawon, a black beef soup coloured with keluak nuts, or pecel, vegetables in a peanut sauce with rice and crackers.

The hills around the city grow food too. Batu's orchards produce Indonesia's best-known apples, especially the green manalagi, sold fresh at roadside stalls or as keripik apel, crisp apple chips. In the city, Kampung Sanan is a whole neighbourhood of family workshops making keripik tempe, paper-thin tempeh chips, and you can watch them being sliced and fried.

On cool evenings, street stalls grill jagung bakar, corn on the cob brushed with chilli butter, and the student strip on Jalan Soekarno-Hatta stays open late with coffee and cheap plates.

Coban Rondo, Tumpak Sewu and the Batu orchards in the dry season

Visit Malang from June to September, when rain almost disappears, about 15 mm in August, mornings are clear and lows drop near 19C. From December to March the hills take over 330 mm a month and trails turn muddy. Day trips include the Coban Rondo and Tumpak Sewu waterfalls and the apple orchards of Batu.

Malang's mild climate is the reason to be here, but rain decides what you can do outside the city. From December to March the hills take more than 330 mm a month, trails turn to mud and Bromo is often lost in cloud.

Coban Rondo, in the pine forest near Pujon on the road to Batu, is the easiest waterfall to reach, a short walk from the car park. In the dry season it is a gentle cascade; after heavy rain it thunders.

Tumpak Sewu, about 2 to 3 hours south-east on the border with Lumajang, is far more dramatic: a wide curtain of falls dropping into a horseshoe gorge, with Semeru behind on a clear day. The steep descent to the bottom uses ladders and wet rocks, so go only when the trail is dry and with a local guide.

Batu, 20 km north-west, is a cool hill town with apple-picking farms, the Museum Angkut transport museum and paragliding from the ridge above the town. Weekends are busy.

The south coast, two hours away, has rugged beaches such as Balekambang, where a small Hindu temple stands on an islet. The sea is rough here, so watch from the sand and do not swim.