Malang
Where to lay your head
Where to lay your head
The vast majority of good accommodation is located in the quieter northern part of town although there are few options favoured by locals to the south.
Hotel Emma is a real find for the budget traveller seeking something more than a bare-bones cheapie, with features such as hot water and air-con only costing slightly more than the basic cold water fan rooms. The rooms contain big springy beds with clean sheets, TVs, Western-style bathrooms and towels, and are very clean. We also found the staff to be extremely helpful. Included in the tariff is... Read our full review of Hotel Emma.
All the sizeable rooms here have hot water bathrooms with Western-style toilets and showers, are generally clean and represent great value for money. In some of the rooms, however, we did find in-ground dirt that would require more than a cursory scrub to remove, but it's a minor complaint in an otherwise clean budget establishment. The location on a busy road at first glance is a turn-off, but... Read our full review of Hotel Margosuko.
Hot water, fan, TV, non-aircon/aircon: 170,000/180,000 rupiah Hotel Riche is an older style place right in the heart of town across from the alun-alun. The economy rooms here are very basic with foam mattresses and immaculately clean squat toilet bathrooms. Paying a little more gets you a bigger room, TV and hot water in a similar old style -– think 1960s. We'd suggest this place over Hotel... Read our full review of Hotel Riche.
Natural light is not a feature of many Indonesian hotels but Hotel Tosari bucks this trend by using skylights in hallways to brighten things up, and it really makes a difference. Cleanliness is also not an issue here, with bright white walls, spotless bathrooms and clean floors. The cheapest rooms share cold water squat toilet bathrooms and are an absolute bargain. The air-con rooms are more... Read our full review of Hotel Tosari.
Much like a motel in the West, the modern rooms here surround a car park, which does have the advantage of ensuring the rooms are positioned to catch plenty of natural light but the obvious disadvantage of noise from the occasional car coming and going. Accordingly, the rooms are bright and airy, have soft beds with crisp sheets and plush duvets, air-con, modern TVs and hot water bathrooms with... Read our full review of Hotel Trio Indah 2.
Hotel Tugu is a fully-featured five-star hotel with rooms decorated in a traditional Javanese style. The traditional beauty of this place, however, doesn't mean that modern fittings are replaced by antiques. On the contrary, flat screen TVs are tastefully housed in old-style wooden cabinets, large plush beds sit on polished hardwood floors and the bathroom is modern in every sense. The real draw... Read our full review of Hotel Tugu.
Each room in this homestay on the quiet yet ritzy Jalan Dr Sutomo is priced differently, giving you a dizzying array of options when you arrive. When simplified, however, rooms come either with private hot water bathroom and air-con, or don't. Those that don't are generally cheaper and are one of the better value options in Malang, particularly given the backpacker-style ambience of the property.... Read our full review of Jona's Homestay.
One of the better budget options in Malang, Helios has a handful of concrete cell-like economy rooms which are little bigger than the two beds and table they contain. These clean rooms share two hot water bathrooms, have spring mattresses, almost no ventilation and get quite a bit of noise from the lobby. Move up through the price range and a fan and private bathroom are included, as is breakfast... Read our full review of Hotel Helios.
The newly renovated Hotel Kartika Graha is oddly billed as a business entertainment hotel but is more like a run of the mill business hotel. For a hotel with generic business-style rooms, the hotel certainly does charge a premium, but that's probably because there are not many hotels in Malang with this sort of quality. Large soft beds with tastefully accented linen, flat screen TVs, modern... Read our full review of Hotel Kartika Graha.
If 1950s motels are your style, then Splendid Inn is for you. This hotel seems to be unintentionally caught in a time warp and usually this spells disaster, but strangely enough in this case it adds loads of charm. The old-looking hot water bathrooms could do with a good scrub and the ancient furniture is a bit rickety, but it all adds to the feel that you've just stepped through a time portal... Read our full review of Splendid Inn.
The aptly named Grand Palace has over-the-top palatial styling that sometimes works and sometimes feels fake. Massive columns, gold fixtures, swirls and details try and portray a lavish place, but for a midrange price. Despite some of this faux-luxury, the rooms are like standard modern business hotel rooms and do the job with comfy beds, clean hot water bathrooms and decent TVs. The Grand Palace... Read our full review of The Grand Palace Hotel.
Bare, dirty walls, mouldy and grimy hot water bathrooms and so-so springy beds: it sounds like a nightmare and it's not far wrong when paying the prices charged here. The air-con in the more expensive rooms is cool enough, the hotel grounds are appealing and the staff are pleasant but the rooms just don't get enough light and haven't had a deep clean in a long time. There's a good chance you will... Read our full review of Hotel Kartika Kusuma.
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