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.

Author

James Clark
August 11, 2025

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.

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