Travel Tips to Lake Toba You Must Know – Page 2

Recently, Ministry of Tourism of Indonesia stipulated 10 leading destinations prioritized as "New Bali" for domestic and foreign tourists. One of the specified destinations is Lake Toba in North Sumatra. Lake Toba offers many charms ranging from natural destinations, culinary, to diverse attractions. Before visiting Lake Toba, we will give you several tips that you should ask for before visiting the largest volcanic lake in this world. Here is the recommendations to ease your plan for the next holiday to lake toba! Travel Tips to Lake Toba : How to Get There As one of the top 10 tourist destinations, promoted within Wonderful Indonesia campaign, Lake Toba has been actively improving to facilitate visiting tourists in recent years. Initially tourists must reach the Lake Toba area by using flights to Kualanamu International Airport or Ferdinand Lumban Tobing Airport (formerly called Aek Godang) in Sibolga. The effective operation of Silangit Airport in Siborong-borong, North Tapanuli, tourists from Jakarta can now make direct flights using several domestic airlines. Some of them are Garuda Indonesia, Batik Air, Citilink, and Sriwijaya Air. Not only that, Garuda Indonesia has now opened direct flight routes from Singapore to attract foreign tourists to Lake Toba. Arriving at Silangit Airport, you can use public transports in the form of rental taxis or public (DAMRI) buses to reach cities on the outskirts of Lake Toba such as Balige and Parapat. If you plan to go to Lake Toba from Medan and Sibolga, you can use public transport (called “angkot”) to travel (generally Colt cars) at a rate of around IDR 50,000 per person. You will travel through land for 3-4 hours. Travel Tips to Lake Toba : Accomodations Lake Toba is located between several districts in North Sumatra, so there are many cities that you find accomodations. You can choose lodging from budget hotels to star hotels in Muara, Balige, Parapat, or Pangururan. Hotel in Parapat Lake Toba If you want to stay on Samosir Island, you can spend the night in the Tomok or Simanindo area. These two locations are on the east and north of Samosir Island. In that area, you can choose a homestay that suits your needs and budget. As a suggestion, you can choose a homestay on the east side of Samosir Island which has a direct view of the lake. That way, you can see the stunning sunrise on Lake Toba. Travel Tips to Lake Toba : Tourist Attractions As an ancient caldera with an area larger than Singapore, tourists can enjoy the beauty of Lake Toba from various sides. Not far from Balige City, you can visit one of the famous beaches called Lumban Bulbul Beach. This coastline has a stretch of white sand and a direct view of Samosir Island. Travel Tips to Lake Toba : How to Reach Samosir Island There are many ways to cross from Lake Toba to Samosir Island. For those on the south side of Lake Toba, you can cross by ferry KMP SUMUT II for 45 - 60 minutes via the route Kota Muara - Sipinggan or Kota Balige - Onan Rungu. Nevertheless, this route is rarely chosen by tourists because of its location far enough to get to the tourist attractions on Samosir Island. Lake View Villa Tuk Tuk Samosir The popular crossing for tourists is Ajibata Port in Parapat City. From Ajibata, you can use ferries and fast boats. In addition, the Lopo Parindo motorboat can also take you to Tomok Port in Samosir for Rp. 8,000 per person. Before boarding a boat, it's a good idea to ensure the price first so that you don't feel cheated by irresponsible parties. The journey by boat itself will take around 30 minutes. While looking at the beauty around Lake Toba, along the way you can enjoy Batak songs that make the trip not boring. Interesting Spot in Samosir Once you reach Samosir Island, the thing you have to do is make a list of tourist destinations. First, you can visit various tourist attractions around Tomok Port, such as the megalithic site Batu Sidabutar Cemetery, a row of traditional houses in Kampung Tuktuk, Raja Siagilan Stone Chair, and Raja Sidauruk's House which features the Sigale-gale Statue. Sigale-gale is a famous mystical statue of Samosir Island. This statue is made of wood that can be moved during the show, so that it seems as if it is dancing agile. Accompanied by sordam wind instruments, tourists can watch Sigale-gale dance performances and young people dancing tor-tor. After touring around Tomok, you can rent a motorbike to ease your mobility while visiting various tourist attractions on Samosir Island. Every inn usually provides motorbike or bicycle rental services that you can pay daily. In addition, you can also rent motorbikes owned by roadside motorcycle taxi drivers (Ojek). You can get around on Samosir Island by visiting the Huta Bolon Museum, Menara Pandang Simanindo, and Sibolazi Beach in the northern region. Then, you also have to go to Pangururan and stop by the Parbaba White Sand Beach, as well as some locations for warm water. You can soak in a pool of warm water that smells of sulfur which is said to be efficacious for skin and beauty. Travel Tips to Lake Toba : Shop and Food Your trip is less complete if you haven't bought souvenirs and tasted food. Along the road from Tomok Port to Raja Sidauruk's house, you can find many souvenir shops. Ranging from clothing, bags, headbands, key chains and wooden crafts, to weaving ulos - Batak fabrics you can buy. Not far from the handicraft center, you can go to a restaurant that sells dishes from processed fish with a spice aroma. You can also find the same thing near the Market and Port of Ajibata. There are dozens of restaurants offering various types of rice and side dishes, ranging from carp arsik, gomak noodles, grilled fish, jerky, to saksang. For Muslim tourists, it's a good idea to choose a food stall that has written "halal" because there are many menus such as pork and dogs. Travel Tips to Lake Toba : Behave During Your Stay Behind the process of forming Lake Toba, there is a story about a young man who scolded his son and violated his wife's promise. The child cries when he knows the real identity of his mother who is a fish. This legend continues to be inherited until now, even the name of the child Samosir, was enshrined as the name of the island in the middle of Lake Toba. As a tourist area that is closely associated with legends in the community, it's good for every visitor to respect the local people's beliefs and stories and not to say carelessly. Because, not a few tourists who have certain mystical experiences when visiting Samosir Island and Lake Toba when not behaving well.

Travel Tips to Lake Toba : Accomodations

Travel Tips to Lake Toba : Tourist Attractions

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