Kuching is a great riverside city, but it’s also the least pedestrian-friendly place I’ve ever been. I walked nearly everywhere during my two weeks there, and almost got hit by two different cars. (One per week!!!) I came away with a new appreciation for life and some tips for how you can cross the street in Kuching, Borneo’s second-biggest city.
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Why walking around in Kuching in so treacherous
I wasn’t just unlucky or bad at walking — Kuching is pedestrian unfriendly for a few reasons.
Zebra crossings? Purely decorative.
If you’re coming from other parts of Southeast Asia, you might be used to the walk-into-traffic-and-trust-the-process method. Like in Hanoi, you step out into the road with nothing but a prayer and the motorbikes miraculously flow around you like water. There’s an unspoken understanding between drivers and pedestrians that keeps things moving.
Kuching, is not like Hanoi. Drivers here don’t slow down for zebra crossings. Tbh, I’m not even really sure why they bother painting them on the road at all.
The first time I almost got hit was at a crosswalk.
We’d only been in Kuching for like 48 hours and hadn’t quite figured out the crossing situation. At first, we waited at the zebra crossing waiting for cars to slow down — absolutely no one did. But we’d just come from Thailand where the cars don’t really slow down to let you cross unless you make the first move. So I decided if I simply stepped into the street — the marked pedestrian crossing in the street — the cars would stop. But hey guess what? I was wrong.
I kinda skedaddled my way to the other side like a game of Frogger, but the last car came about an inch from my leg. Truly made absolutely no effort to even slow down with a human straight ahead of it. Wild. And so embarassing (for me).
The second time I almost got hit by a car was kinda my fault.
It car came hurdling around a blind corner as we were jogging across the street (no crosswalk). Hard to avoid a speeding car you can’t see, but I’ll take half the blame. I suppose we could have gone to a part of the road with a better vantage point.
The saving grace is that Kuching isn’t all that busy of a city. Traffic is light enough that your best strategy is simply to wait for a proper gap and cross when it’s clear. No trusting eye contact with a driver, no assuming that because someone has seen you they’ll stop. Just patience.
Sidewalks? Godspeed.
Even when you’re not crossing the road, walking around Kuching requires focus. Can’t take your eyes off the prize.
Sidewalks technically exist, but in practice they’re often blocked by parked cars, crumbling to bits, and/or interrupted by random bits of exposed metal sticking straight up. The grates/drains are also smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk, so heels and even flip flops could mean a faceplant if you take the wrong step.
In some stretches the sidewalks disappear entirely, leaving you on the road whether you like it or not. Look, I’m probably being a little dramatic with the delivery here, but it’s all true.
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Is Kuching walkable, though?
Despite everything I just said, Kuching is compact, so you don’t actually need a car to get around. The waterfront, the old town, the weekend market, the famous cat statues — it’s all within a reasonable walking distance.
Then you also have Grab (Asia’s Uber), which is widely available and very affordable. I’m talkin’ 17 MYR from Kuching International Airport and 6 MYR for a 10-minute drive.
There’s also a good public bus network if you’re feeling adventurous. The timetables/routes are a little unclear, but get the Bas.my app for Kuching to help. Buses run out well beyond the city centre, including to Bako National Park — one of the best day trips from Kuching.
Naomi Lai
Naomi is a Canadian travel editor and writer with 13 years of international travel across Southeast Asia, Europe, South America, New Zealand, and beyond. She covers everything from budget backpacking to luxury travel — always from personal experience.
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