I am not a fan of package tours, I always look for beautiful spots and places to explore individually. Which does not mean alone. I mean not as a tourist in large groups, flocking squares and places, sights and restaurants. My profession as an 747-Airline Captain flying to far and near and staying at my destination for some days definitely leaves me room for this individuality. Therefore I share my experiences and adventures with you. But stop: When it comes to traveling on my own, a few things come to my mind immediately: It must always be safe. Accommodation ought to be comfortable and clean while being not posh and expensive and the food has to be local and delicious. Those things are a MUST. But while every adventure should be individual, I am not always able to find the “off-the-beaten-path” track. Otherwise I would not see areas of interest like the Eiffel Tower, the Egyptian Pyramids or the Red Square in Moscow. Trying to avoid crowds and tourists is simply not always possible. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow. But then I make it personal by finding unknown Hot Spots, Cafes, viewing points and methods of traveling to make it unique and worth remembering. You like that? Cool, so let´s dive in. This time it´s about 5 days in North Sumatra.
Flying into Medan is easy. Grab a longhaul flight to Singapur, KL or Jakarta, then take a local flight Medan. I recommend Garuda, Air Asia and Lion Air (yes, despite the crash of 737 MAX, it´s ok to fly with them). Get an AirBnB or start in style (not expensive) by staying one night in Grand Mercure Hotel. Fantastic place, friendly staff (like ALL Indonesians by the way, I love that country!). Find yourself a car rental WITHOUT driver. That will make it particularly adventurous. It´ll cost you about 80-100 USD for 4 days. If you rather want to let someone drive you, not a problem. Cars with driver will cost you about 30-40 USD a day including gas. But you will have to pay the room for the driver though.
I rented a Toyota without driver. Delivered to my hotel, Grand Mercure in the evening. Next morning, coffee and nice breakfast, then off I went. I had booked 2 nights at Samosir Villa Resorts the night before, price 28 USD per night incl. breakfast and stunning view. Reaching the city limit of Medan will take you about 90 minutes. So take it easy, it´s left side driving! If you like fresh fruits, stop somewhere along the road and get it. Ensure you fuel the car before leaving Medan, packing drinking water and some snacks. It´s gonna be a long day.
As it is only 110 miles (170km) to reach the beautiful Lake Toba (Danau Toba) and it´s island Samosir, it will take you 5-7 hours driving on badly paved roads through the jungle. A hint: Never speed around a corner. You never know how the pavement is gonna be behind it! And breaking your car out there will put you in lots of trouble. Hence I checked oil, spare tire and some other stuff before departing Medan.
I won´t tell you where to stop on the way. You´ll have lots of choices like grilled pork restaurants (the meal is called BPK and signs on the side of the road will tell you where to stop). And yes, pork is available in the area as the local crowd (Batak) are mostly non-muslim. So don´t worry, you´ll get beer too. Other places to stop on the way: Two Colors waterfall, churches local market in Berestagi, etc. Just check on Google.
I took the east side road along the top of Lake Toba. It´ll serve you with stunning views and intimate jungle feeling. Make plenty of stops enroute and take pics. It´s fantatsic. For info about Lake Toba, simply google it. It had downloaded an offline Google map on my mobile phone, which was very useful. This way I always knew where sights and places to see were and I simply decided where to stop and what to do spontaneously. The only thing that was fixed for me on day 2 (day 1 was arrival day in Medan) was getting on the ferry from Parapat to Samosir island. Last ferry leaves at 930PM. But when you leave Medan at about 8AM you will get the one before at 630PM.
Reaching Parapat (east side of the Lake), take the ferry. Don´t worry, it´s safe even though one of them drowned in 2018 leaving hundreds behind. The ferry is paid at the pier (7 USD one way) and the cars are being backed up onto it. Get out the car and watch the kids jumping off the ferry and swimming around it awaiting some donations. I exchanged some coins (pennies!) to through them into the water. Kids love it and will dive for every single coin. Lovely to see and interact with them. Like on the whole trip, when you as a Westerner are being called “Bule” all the time. Locals will take lots of pics with you.Trust me, you´re gonna feel like Beyonce or George Cloney after a while. But it´s never rude or pressured. Everyone is extremely polite and many speak English well. Get used to the questions “Where you from Mister?”, “Take picture with you MIster?” and “What´s your name Mister?”
Ferry to Samosir takes 50-60min. When driving off the ferry, simply follow the only road (ring road around the island) to the Hotel. 15min and you re there. Check in is quick, the place is fantastic. But be aware: Rooms have no WiFi. So to text your friends and making them jealous grab a local beer (Bintang) at the bar and sit with locals around the hotel pool. No one will stop you if you want to use it. Just outside the Hotel (10min walk, I had enough driving!) there are plenty of good bars and restaurants. I tried a BPK and loved it. For 10 USD I had 2 large Bintang and too much pork with veggies.
Next morning (Day 3) I took the car and drove around the island. Many nice places to stop, like local villages, nice buildings, markets, souvenir shops, beaches (Pantai) and Cafes.Stopping here and there, it´ll take you about 2 hours to reach the west side of the island. Take the bridge there and drive up the mountain to Tele (a view point overlooking the lake and caldera of the volcano). There are dozens of cool spots to take spectacular pics and have a rest. Go to the Efrata and/or Simangande Waterfall. You can take a bath there. Those “objek wisata” (places of interest for tourism) normally charge you 1-2 USD to get in. Sometimes you´ll have to pay the parking extra (look around for a man with “Parkir” vest on). I reached the Hotel again in the evening, had another great local dinner and a Bintang.
Now comes day 4. Leaving Hotel after a tasty banana pancake, omelette and local coffee (it´s poured into the cup without filter, so be careful, don´t steer it, just drink it, its awesome). I left the island agin using the ferry to Parapat. You could also take the bridge, but´s its gonna take you 2 hours more to get to Berestagi, my AirBnB destination for the next night. I book Nachelle´s Homestay for 20 USD. Mery, the host, speaks fluent English and will give ALL information needed to explore the area. Parapat to Berestagi will cost you about 3 hurs, but it´s a fantastic drive through the deep jungle. Stop on the way, visit small villages, interact with locals and take pics. Have a snack on the top of the caldera and chill. Awesome.
Make sure you stop at the Mount Sibayak and walk up to the top of the active volcano. It´s on the way to your accommodation and will cast you about 3 hours. BUt it´s fully worth it. Entrance is cheap and the 50min to the top walk a real cool hike. Sit up on top, enjoy the
FInding Nachelles Homestay is easy when you have Google maps downloaded. I reached the place at 5:30PM. Mery has ice cold Bintang (large ones!) for 3 USD. Take one or two and sit on the roof top looking at Mount Sinabung. The sunset will be something to remember. At 7:30PM, I drove to JABU Restaurant and had 30 Sate sticks for 9 USD. They are served only half done on a 1 Meter charcoal grill. Prepare them yourself while sitting in a very lovely place with the locals. Bytheway: JABU has one of the best coffees around.
Next morning (day 5), I visited the local market, it´s 20 Meter next to Nachelles Homestay. I tasted some local food for breakfast and enjoyed the vibe. It´s really something! Then I drove to back to Medan. On the way are many serpentines, make sure to stop for a coffee and another last BPK. It´ll take you about 2-3 hours, depending on traffic. You can then either arrange car drop directly at the airport (if you fly out that evening) or stay one more night in Grand Mercure (or elsewhere). The car will be picked up there too.
Have one more Bintang and look at your pictures. You won´t believe what you had just experienced!
Unfortunately I cannot add all my pictures here. So let me know if you want to see them.
Hope you like the adventure. Text me for Q´s. I am always happy top help.