Malang

A shanty settlement on the Brantas riverbank became an attraction in 2016, when university students painted it house by house. A glass-floored bridge links it to the far bank. Trains into Malang cross a bridge right above it.

Laid out under the town plan of Dutch architect Thomas Karsten, it runs between rows of palms past colonial villas. A Gothic-style cathedral stands along it. Sunday mornings the cars vanish and runners, walkers and stalls take over.

An independence monument rises from the round square facing city hall, ringed by a lotus pond. Under the Dutch it bore a governor-general's name. After sunset the pond is lit and people settle on the benches on the city hall side.

Step behind the main shopping road and Dutch-style houses from around the 1920s still line the narrow lanes. Many have the year they were built marked out front. Residents still live there, so ask once at the door before taking photos.

A Hindu stone temple raised in the late 13th century for Singhasari's last king. Only the upper part is carved and the lower stays smooth, read as work done top down and halted. A few hundred metres west, two giant guardian statues stand by the road.

Dated to around the 8th century and the Kanjuruhan kingdom, it is reckoned East Java's oldest temple. Its fallen stones were stacked back up in the 1920s, and a linga and yoni remain inside. Wedged among houses on the city's western side, it is easy to miss.

An active volcano smoking amid the sand sea of the Tengger caldera. Sunrise jeeps from Malang leave after midnight to reach the viewpoint by dawn, when it drops into single digits, so pack a thick jacket. A raised eruption alert shuts the crater path.

The name means widow's waterfall, after the legend of a bride left waiting for her groom. It lies in pine forest west of Batu, with a hedge maze garden nearby. In the wet season mist and rain roll in each afternoon, so the morning is the better time.

Dozens of streams pour together off a semicircular cliff like a curtain. With clear skies Mount Semeru shows behind. Reaching the bottom means bamboo ladders and a stream crossing, so wear shoes that can get wet. Malang is roughly three hours' drive away.

A transport museum in Batu that sets old cars, carriages and aircraft out in zones dressed as a Hollywood street or a European lane. Further in is a floating market selling food from boats. A full round needs half a day, so do not arrive late in the afternoon.

A terraced stone temple in Tumpang, east of the city, raised for the 13th-century Singhasari king Wisnuwardhana. The top has fallen, but reliefs crowd the lower tiers with animal fables and hero tales. They are carved to be read walking anticlockwise.

A small, slender 13th-century temple honouring the Singhasari king Anusapati. Three sides of the base each carry one panel of the tale of Garuda freeing his mother from slavery. Over the doorway a glaring kala face looks down.

An army museum on Ijen Boulevard, tanks and guns in the forecourt. Visitors linger longest at the Death Wagon, a rail car into which Dutch forces crammed prisoners in 1947, many of whom died. Weapons and banners of East Javan independence-war units hang there.

An Indian Ocean shore south of Malang. A long bridge crosses to the Hindu shrine of Amerta Jati on a rock islet, often likened to Bali's Tanah Lot. The southern surf is heavy and few swim. Town is a two-to-three-hour drive away over the hills.

A south-coast cove where coral and sand split the water into three colours. A mangrove conservation group runs it: entry needs booking in advance, a guide comes along and time is limited. Plastic you bring is logged at the gate and checked on the way out.

A Dutch-era resort park on the slopes north of Batu, its flower beds laid in tiers down the hill. The pool fills with cold mountain water, and local children crowd in at weekends. Heart-shaped frames mark each photo spot among the flowers.