What Yogyakarta can learn from Siem Reap (and vice versa)

Yogyakarta Trip Report: Yogyakarta should look to Siem Reap’s street reconstruction project, and Siem Reap should have an airport rail link like Yogyakarta.

Yogyakarta is the capital city of the Special Region of Yogyakarta in Central Java. The city is 20 km away from the Borobudur temple complex, which is the largest Buddhist temple in the world and the most visited monument in Indonesia.

Yogyakarta is the support city for Borobudur, similar to how Siem Reap is the support city for tourists visiting Angkor Wat. This fact got me thinking of the similarities between Yogyakarta and Siem Reap.

On my most recent trip to Yogyakarta in May 2024, I saw what Siem Reap can teach Yogyakarta, and what Yogyakarta can teach Siem Reap.

Reclaiming the streets of Yogyakarta (like Siem Reap)

I have often thought that Yogyakarta would be more famous as a city if it were more walkable. Yogyakarta has Malioboro Street, which is one of the most famous walking streets in Southeast Asia. Beyond Malioboro, the streets are more typical of an Indonesian city.

Malioboro Street

Malioboro connects the train station to the Beringharjo Market, near the Royal Palace of Yogyakarta. It’s not a true pedestrian street as it still has a road for traffic (including the Trans Jogja BRT).

Trans Jogja BRT on Malioboro

What Malioboro has is generous pedestrian space on either side that makes it feel like a walking street.

Malioboro walking street

What if more streets were as easy to walk as Malioboro? A good example of a city reclaiming streets is in Cambodia.

Siem Reap undertook a city renovation project during the pandemic (the ⁠38-road expansion project), which has transformed the inner city area. Not only was this a great city transformation project, but they were fortunate to get it done while there were no international tourists.

An opportunity for a city-wide makeover is unlikely to happen again, but Yogyakarta could reclaim the city for pedestrians, one street at a time.

This has already happened at Tugu Station (Yogyakarta Railway Station). The road along the main passenger entrance has had the sidewalk widened and fenced off from the road.

Yogyakarta Railway Station pedestrian walk

There is no chance for cars to park here or for motorbikes to use it as an extra bike lane. The sidewalk is a crush of people when a train arrives, and it is hard to remember what it used to be like before the area was enclosed.

Pedestrians near Yogyakarta Railway Station

An opportunity to rebuild 38 roads at once is not going to happen, but why not pick 38 roads that could be connected by pedestrian walkways?

The importance of building an airport rail link (like Yogyakarta)

I was travelling across Java by train, but while I was in Yogyakarta, I couldn’t resist having a look at the new airport. Yogyakarta opened its new international airport in 2019, and it even built an airport rail link to go with it.

It’s an impressive airport on the inside, and when you walk outside, you are greeted with the incredible scenery of Central Java.

The view from Yogyakarta International Airport

Yogyakarta International Airport is 45 km from the city centre, and I would not have visited if it weren’t connected by the airport rail link.

This distance reminded me of the new Siem Reap–Angkor International Airport, which is a whopping 50 km from Siem Reap. There are plans to build an airport rail link from Siem Reap to the new airport, but it is nowhere near being approved.

To be fair to Siem Reap, the Yogyakarta airport rail link uses an existing rail line with a new 4 km spur line built to the airport. Even so, if a city is going to build an airport 50 km from the city centre, then part of the construction deal should have included an airport rail link to open with the airport.