A few weeks ago, I went backpacking to Batu, Malang together with my little sister. Woooo! It was a kinda spontaneous trip so we only had a week to prepare for it.
Our trip was 3 days and 2 nights (3D2N) on weekend (Friday-Saturday-Sunday). Since my little sister wanted to go to theme parks, I spent the first two days exploring Jawa Timur Park groups in Batu. I spent the first day on Jatim Park 2, second day on Jatim Park 1. Then on the third day, we went to the magnificent Mount Bromo. Now I have some tips for you to plan your trip to Batu, Malang, from accommodation to itinerary!

1. Location?
First, maybe you're confused whether the place is called Batu or Malang since a lot of travel agents put them in one package. Here is the answer, they are actually two different cities. However they are located very close to each other, less than an hour drive by car. To make it simple, Malang is the bigger city that have the airport and train station, meanwhile Batu is the smaller "holiday" city where most of the tourist attractions are located. So usually tourist will go to Batu via Malang. Malang also has great culinary spots too! It was too bad that I didn't have enough time on the itinerary to tried them.

2. How do I get to Batu/Malang?
Like I explained before in point 1, if you want to go by train or plane, you must get the one to Malang. In my trip, I went to Malang by train. I took Malabar Train from Yogyakarta (Tugu Station) and stopped at Malang (Malang Baru Station). How do I buy a train ticket in Indonesia? I will share it next time in another post.
After arriving in Malang, you can get a taxi or online transportation to go to Batu. In my trip, I ordered an online taxi from G*jek application. It only cost us IDR 67.000. Very cheap compared to normal taxi.

3. Where to stay in Batu/Malang?
If your main goal is exploring Batu and now you are still deciding whether to stay in Batu or Malang, then I will totally recommend you to just stay in Batu. There are many cheap guest houses to expensive hotels all over Batu to choose. And they are very close to those tourist attractions!
Otherwise, if you stay in Malang, it would take you additional 1 hour of drive only to go between the attraction site and your hotel. However it is true that as Malang is a bigger city then you have more choice of good starred hotels/accommodation.
In my trip, I stayed in a hotel that is only 5 minutes drive away from Jatim Park 1 and Jatim Park 2. The hotel was clean and provided delicious buffet breakfast. The staff was also helpful and kindly helped me to find a car rental to go to Mount Bromo. There's also a famous Rawon restaurant just across the hotel. Neat!
If anyone's interested, I have a list of other accommodations that I considered too.

4. Getting around in Batu

5. How do I get to Mount Bromo from Batu?

6. Itinerary (3D 2N)
This is probably what you have been waiting for. The time efficient itinerary that I made to visit most of Jatim Park group + Mount Bromo!

7. Additional tips!