Sumatra: Padang > Bukittinggi

May 5-7 2025 |

Section 1 of my West Sumatra tour. After a short stay in Padang, I headed to Bukittinggi via Lake Minanjau.

I arrived at Padang on Scoot Airlines, a 60-minute flight from Singapore. The views from above were excellent, especially of the many perfectly round small islands just offshore. I applied for a visa at the airport, caught a Grab car to the Ibis Hotel, then a Grab bike to Rental Motor Padang_Auto to collect an Nmax. They are 10 minutes from the Ibis, located at a house just off a main road. The bike was immaculate, like new, service was great, and I left a bag in storage there. My 1-week rental was 150,000 INR/day. I toured around Padang a bit, but decided I would wait until I finished my regional tour and then explore the city. It looked like a very cool place, with amazing Minkabau culture and architecture, and a solid mix of colonial Dutch and Straits Chinese heritage.

The next morning I hit the road. The first stop was Ombat restaurant, on the way out of town. It's a legendary and original "Padang" food place, where they put 20 plates on your table - many spiced to "thermonuclear" - and you select whatever you want to indulge in. I have loved Padang food for many years, so it was very cool to be at the geographic source, at one of its most famous purveyors.

From there I headed north on the main road to Bukittinggi. There are 2 routes you can take: either follow the main road the whole way (nice, I heard); or ride about 45 minutes and take the lesser-traveled rural road via Lake Minanjau. The main road was full of smoke-belching trucks, so I took the alternate route. This route goes from fairly dull to amazing once you arrive at the lake, a steep-walled volcano crater with rice farms around one side - just another stunning sight in Indo.

After a 30 min ride around the north side of the lake, the real action started when I hit the legendary 44 curve road up and out of the crater. This a world-class ride that takes you through jungle, rice paddies, and by many pointy-housed villages, with excellent views down to the lake.

Once you reach the top, it is a quick ride to Bukittinggi. Just outside town you pass through Sianok Valley, which looks straight out of the Badlands of Alberta (Canada). Next, you are in Bukittinggi, which is built on hills, similar to Baguio in the Philippines.

I stayed 2 nights at Hotel Hello Guest House in the center of town, a Chinese-style house converted to a guesthouse. The manager Ling is a legend in tourist circles and a great host. The only issue is the 2 incredibly loud and verbose mosques in the area. Bedudal Cafe, is 2 minutes away, a great watering hole for locals and tourists.

There are plenty of great activities available in Bukittinggi. Panorama Bukittinggi is a park right in town, with great views of the previously mentioned river valley,

inhabited by a troupe of photogenic monkeys. Interestingly, it sits upon a Japanese WW2 tunnel network that is definitely worth checking out.

Raffleasia, the world's largest flower, can be seen 20 mins away. You can get a guide in town, or ride there and hire one, like I did. The 20-min hike was harder than expected - but seeing the flower was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, not to be missed.

One activity I did not do was visit the Bukittinggi Zoo! I went there in 1991 - and I am still trying to unsee it. Will leave it at that.

Lastly, I broke a molar biting into a date (I know, how is that possible?). I went to GAIA Dental Clinic and received excellent service, along with a solid recommendation on how to manage my issue. If you need some dental treatment in Bukittinggi, I highly recommend them. I later saw another dentist's office in town, it looked like a temple.

Ride: 170 km / 4.5 hrs

Stay: Hotel Hello Guest House / $15 ****

Questions or comments?

Drop me a line terraxplor1@gmail.com