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Medan is the most-populous city on Sumatra, so there are dozens of daily flights from Jakarta. It takes approximately 3.5 hours of driving time to reach Lake Toba, heading south from Medan. One of my co-workers recommended a tour guide she knows, and I booked a one-day tour of Lake Toba through him. If you don’t have any personal connections, you can reserve a tour through your hotel (if you are staying at a chain with a concierge desk), or via a simple Google search to find an independent guide, or online through a large tour provider like Viator. Be careful when you choose to go, because the road to Lake Toba is jammed almost as bad as rush-hour Jakarta traffic during weekends and holidays, as I learned from painful experience.
Lake Toba was my primary destination, and I was using Medan as the basecamp. However, I discovered a couple of interesting sites during my stay there.
I am interested in religious architecture, so I took a taxi to the outskirts of Medan to visit the Graha Maria Annai Vailankanni, a unique Catholic church built in Indo-Mogul style. I was fortunate enough to meet the elderly Father James, a priest from India who spent most of his adult life constructing this church. He took me on a tour and described his vision of constructing a Christian place of worship built using local motifs and design. It’s a one-of-a-kind creation that’s worth the side visit.
The Grand Mosque of Medan is also an impressive building. It was completed in 1909 and was designed in an eclectic style, heavily influenced by Spanish design. It’s easy to find in the center of the city.
Certainly the gem of North Sumatra, I was not disappointed by my visit to Lake Toba. It’s one of the largest volcanic calderas in the world and is a UNESCO Global Geo Park. The caldera was formed over 70,000 years ago when a massive volcano exploded and collapsed, leaving a massive crater that filled with water over the millennia. My guide picked me up at my hotel at midnight and we arrived at the lake in time to see the sunrise. We took a tour along the shore of the lake during the course of the day. One of our stops involved a pleasant hike (about 20 minutes) through a canyon to Siringo Waterfall. Siringo is only about 8 meters high, but it’s a delightful cascade.
We also went to an overlook from which we viewed the majestic Sipiso-piso Falls. This 120-meter-high waterfall is the tallest in the region. Finally, we drove to the top of the caldera to a viewpoint where we could get a great view of the southern part of the lake.
I just got a small taste of this beautiful area with my one-day tour. I would suggest that a person take a few days and stay at one of Toba’s lakeside resorts to fully enjoy what this picturesque region offers.