On 15 December 2017, I hopped on an early morning flight with a handful of friends to Medan, a city along the northeastern coast of Sumatra island, Indonesia, and had tons of fun exploring one the major cities of Indonesia. Just a quick geographical fact, the infamous Lake Toba is located outside of Medan, while Samosir is an island in the middle of the lake, reachable by ferry or boat from Parapat.

I was lucky enough to have a friend from Medan whose mom took the liberty of planning our trip and showing us around their hometown. I thought I’d share with you our itinerary for this trip, which you can read for inspiration, guidance, or mere fun.

Day 1 (KNO Airport – Siantar – Parapat – Lake Toba – Samosir)

• We arrived early in the morning in Kualanamu Airport and rode a privately rented bus, headed towards Lake Toba which is a few hours’ drive away.
• In the small town of Siantar, we had lunch in RM Sehat, a restaurant serving Chinese cuisine.
• The rest of the day was spent on the road until we arrived in Parapat, from whence we took the ferry across Lake Toba to Samosir.
• At nightfall, we checked into Samosir Villa Resort, where we stayed for 2 nights and had dinner.

Day 2

• After enjoying the hotel breakfast, we went to Museum Huta Bolon Simanindo where we watched a traditional Batak dance and enjoyed some home-cooked lunch.
• It turns out Lake Toba has its own beach complete with water activities like Banana Boat, and we spent a few hours playing at Pasir Putih Parbaba.
• For dinner, we had some warm Italian dishes (including a mouthwatering cheese pizza!) in Rumba Restaurant, Tuk Tuk.

Day 3 (Samosir – Parapat – Siantar – Medan)

• Breakfast in the hotel, check out, and we drove straight towards Medan.
• On our way, however, we stopped in Siantar for a quick lunch of Bakmi Awai, as well as some delicious coffee and toast at the local coffeehouse Sedap.
• Finally, we ended the day in Selat Panjang, where we had a dinner of Tiong Sim Noodles and martabak piring (a type of stuffed pancake cooked on a plate)
• For accommodation the next 3 nights, we all stayed in Fave Hotel.

Day 4

• The morning’s breakfast was a bowl of warm Soto in RM Sinar Pagi.
• We dropped by Brastagi, Cambridge (a supermarket in a shopping mall) to pick up boxes of staple food which we’d planned to donate to a local orphanage that night.
• We had free time for pretty much the rest of the afternoon, and we decided to go to a nearby mall, Sun Plaza, for a quick visit.
• Dinner was some dimsum from Babura, with a piece of delicate mocha cake from Tiptop.

Day 5 (Ultimate Culinary Day)

• For breakfast, we had a bowl of curry rice noodles in Tabona.
• Sightseeing: Maimun Palace and Tjong A Fie Mansion.
• For the most delicious cup of avocado coffee, head to Macehat coffeehouse.
• Lunch had been a table of unique Batak cuisine in RM ONDO.
• For dinner, we went to Kwetiaw Ateng to taste the classic Medan fried rice and kwetiaw, or flat noodles.
• Last but not least, we closed the night with a quick bite of Durian Pelawi, the signature fruit of Medan.

Day 6

• Our last breakfast in Medan had been in a local market, Pasar Hindu.
• We took the train to Kualanamu Airport and by mid-afternoon, we were sitting on a plane headed back to Jakarta…

Overall, this itinerary is a little bit stretched and I think you can explore both Medan and Lake Toba in just 3 nights and 4 days. We had the afternoon free for resting and chilling in our hotel rooms on day 4 and 5. If you were short on time, you can always tighten things up.

I made a travel video of my trip to Medan, which you can watch here!