- Padang - Indonesia's capital of spicy food
- Bukittinggi - A mild weather city, to run away from the heat
- Padang Panjang - A pleasant market down near Bukittinggi
- Pariaman - The Sunset Beach City
- Sawahlunto - Little Holland of Sumatra
- Pasaman - The Wild Life Paradise at West Sumatra
- Solok and South Solok - Land of Thousand Lakes
- Batusangkar - The Heart of Minangkabau Culture and Spirit
- Payakumbuh- Land of Rocky Mountains
- Koto Gadang- Producer of silver and gave birth to a lot of leaders of national and even international caliber.
West Sumatra bounded in the north by the province of North Sumatra, in the west by the Indian ocean, in the south by the provinces of Bengkulu and Jambi, and in the east by Riau province.
85% of the population are Minangkabau, notable in the annals of anthropology as the world's largest matriarchal society: children take their names from their mother's side and, on marriage, the husband moves into the wife's family. Culturally, the hallmarks of Minangkabau culture are their famously spicy food, served all around Indonesia in Padang restaurants (named after the capital), and the soaring-eaved rumah gadang house, shaped like a series of buffalo horns.
On the other hand, the tribal inhabitants of the Mentawai archipelago, a group of islands about 100 miles off the coast of west Sumatra, cling to a traditional agrarian lifestyle that is totally different from that of Minangkabau.
Most people in West Sumatra uses Minang language in their daily conversation. It's somewhat similar to Malay language, due to the fact that Melayu language is the origin root of both languages.
By plane:
Minangkabau International Airport (Bandara Internasional Minangkabau - BIM) (PDG), located 23 km north-west of Padang, is the main gateway to West Sumatra, with frequent flights to destinations throughout Sumatra and Java, as well as Kuala Lumpur (AirAsia). Tiger Airways and SilkAir previously connected Padang to Singapore, but Tiger ended service October 28, 2009 and SilkAir no longer serves PDG.
Note that if you are flying internationally out of Minangkabau Airport, you are subject to departure tax (75,000 Rupiah as at Feb '08) which you would need to pay for in Rupiah so save some bills for the trip out. The domestic tax is Rp. 30,000.
Resources:
West Sumatra travel guide - Wikitravel:
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