Padang Panjang

Padang Panjang – Mountain city of higher education

West Sumatra's smallest city, Padang Panjang, spans only 23 square kilometers and is nestled in the province's highlands at an elevation of 700-900 meters above sea level, beneath the volcanoes of Mt. Marapi and Mt. Singgalang. It is here that the city's 58,627 inhabitants get to enjoy cooler weather while also putting up with an average of 254 rainy days per year. The city is noteworthy for being an early 20th century pioneer in Islamic education in Sumatra as well as for historically serving as a gateway to Central Sumatra.

Today, the city continues its educational legacy by housing the Padang Panjang Indonesian College of Art and the Minangkabau Cultural Documentation and Information Center. The city is also a hub for Minangkabau culture. Visitors can explore the Asasi Nagari Gunung Mosque, the oldest mosque in the province, showcasing distinct Minangkabau architecture.

There is also the Taufiq Ismail Poetry House that showcases collections of Minangkabau poetry and literature. The aforementioned documentation center is a museum, which is open for the public. No less attractive are the city's natural wonders, such as the staircase-shaped Tujuh Tingkat Waterfall, as well as the Batirai Stone Cave with its stalactite and stalagmite shaped like curtains.

Throughout the past three years, the city has enjoyed modest and steady upwards growth, going from 3.46 percent in 2021 to 4.39 percent in 2022, before enjoying an even greater growth of 4.84 percent in 2023. Its Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) at current prices has also seen a similar trajectory, with it raking in Rp 4.47 tillion in 2023. Its biggest GRDP contributor was the wholesale and retail industry (at Rp 811.99 billion or 18.15 percent), followed by transportation and storage industry (at Rp 545.70 billion or 12.2 percent) and the construction industry (at Rp 432.56 billion or 9.67 percent).