Pulau Samosir (Sumatra)

Advantages: Beautiful place, friendly people
Disadvantages: Take 3-4 hours from Medan

...Lake toba is one of the biggest lake in Sumatra island and in Indonesia, too. Lake Toba is about 285 km from Medan City, a capital of North Sumatra. Lake Toba is about 100 km long and about 30 km wide. Lake Toba is also called Parapat by a people of North Sumatra. From Jakarta, we needed a trip about 2.5 hours by plane, whereas from Medan to reach the lake Toba we needed 3-4 hours trip by car. To go to location of lake, we drive a car or a bus from Medan through an area of hill and It take about 3-4 hours until we arrive to lake Toba. . In a middle of lake, there is an island called Samosir island. To reach a samosir, we might use boat and there is also bigger ship which transports cars and busses sailing to Samosir. A cost to sail to Samosir is only Rp 25.000. When we are in Medan, we feel so hot, not like on Toba, cause in Toba we... Read review

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Advantages: scenery
Disadvantages: persistent souvenir sellers

...A trip to Sumatra for many is not complete without a trip to Lake Toba. Danau Toba is the local name for this lake which is the biggest in Indonesia. The lake itself is three times larger than Singapore and is about 450 metres deep. Lake Toba is accessible from a small town called Parapat on the north eastern side of the lake. The lake itself is stunning and reminds me somewhat of Lake Windemere. There is a huge island in the middle of the lake called Samosir island which was originally inhabited by the Batak people of Indonesia. The Bataks are an indigenous tribe of cannibalistic people who came from the northern regions of Cambodia and Vietnam and settled in the highlands of Sumatra. There are three settlements on the island still and if you go to Tomok village on Samosir you will be able to see a few tombs of the Batak King and his... Read review

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Advantages: Beautiful paradise & relaxation - recommended
Disadvantages: Lack of tourism

...in it (Samosir Island) over 5km long. The lake itself is around 35km long if I remember correctly, pretty amazing, and quite deep (half a kilometre, you wonder what lurks under there at that depth!). So based on the size of the lake (20 miles?), take a moment to imagine the size of the original volcano... pretty impressive. Toba was populated originally by the Batak from Bali, and still has many of the old settlements you can visit as well as tombs and relics. MEDAN - SMOG PORT OF ENTRY Our first place of entry to Sumatra was Medan, the main port in the north of Sumatra and WELL worth avoiding if you possibly can. Unfortunately, it is the quickest way to get to Toba whether flying or coming over by boat, so you really can't get around going through Medan unfortunately. My recommendation would be to catch the first bus out of there and head for your... Read review

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