Places to visit

The main tourist attraction in this city is the mining tourism attraction, where visitors can take a tour of the former mining areas that were built during the Dutch East Indies era.

As part of the historical relics, a public kitchen which previously could produce a large number of food for thousands of forced laborers and the train station where coal transportation activities were carried out were transformed into museums in 2005, they are Goedang Ransum Museum and Sawahlunto Railway Museum respectively. Meanwhile, a power plant building which was built in 1894, since 1952 has been used as a mosque under the name Masjid Agung Nurul Islam or known as the Great Mosque of Sawahlunto. The mosque has one large central dome surrounded by four smaller domes and a minaret that reaches 80 meters in height.

Coal mining activities in the city of Sawahlunto also left several other relics such as silos. These silos function as coal stockpiles that have been cleaned and ready to be transported to Teluk Bayur port. The silo is still standing in the middle of the city, even though it hasn't been used for a long period. In addition, the siren at the Silo still sounds every 07.00, 13.00 and 16.00 local time. During the Dutch East Indies period, the siren at the Silo indicated the working hours of the Orang Rantai, or convicts who were used as coal laborers.

Since 2017, the government has built three new museums, namely: the Sawahlunto Culture Museum, the Dance Museum, and the Museum of Wood Painting and Ethno.

Sawahlunto has numerous old Dutch heritage buildings. Some buildings have been designated by the local government as cultural heritage and tourist objects, one of which is the Sawahlunto Cultural Center Building (Gedung Pusat Kebudayaan Sawahlunto). Another building is PT Bukit Asam Unit Pertambangan Ombilin Office (formerly called Hoofdkantoor van de Steenkolenmijn Ombilin) which was built in 1916. The building has a tower in the center, and around it, there is a garden called the Triangle Park (Taman Segitiga).

Not far from Triangle Park is Lubang Suro, which is taken from the name of a forced labor foreman, Mbah Suro. Next to the Lubang Suro is the Info Box Building which was established to provide various information and documentation about the history of coal mining in the city of Sawahlunto.

The city also has other tourist attractions such as a zoo which has an area of around 40 hectares and the Kandi Tourism Resort with an area of 393.4 hectares. There are 3 lakes formed from former coal mining excavations at the Kandi Tourism Resort, namely Kandi Lake, Tanah Hitam Lake, and Tandikek Lake. In addition, there is also a family recreation site known as Waterboom Sawahlunto.