Kingdom Of Atuliya: Lake Toba

Trip To Lake Toba.

Lake Toba is the 4th largest lake in the world. It was formed by the volcanic eruption and is as large as 1707 sq km. The lake itself is surrounded by mountains and is still untouched by the tourist crowds. So you can be yourself and not bombarded with cheap goods and services and all the tourist trappings.

It is a wonderful place for a short holiday. Though, some of the Europeans have chosen to retire in this small place. Hotels are cheap and food quality is good. The place to stay is Samosir Island, which is on the other end of the lake and dotted by mountains.

There are number of hotels in Samosir. But after doing some research on the Net, I booked " Tabo Cottages "

A trip to Lake Toba is quite a bit of adventure. One has to plan many parts of the trip in advance to have a smooth sailing. It starts with first flying into the city of Medan. While, there are taxis from the airport directly to Lake Toba, but it may be worth taking a break in Medan City and driving over next morning.

I laid back at the " Aston Hotel" for that night and did more research to find a taxi company, who would give the best price to reach Toba. Finally made it next day with Rp550K.

Though the best way to reach Lake Toba would be via the Train, that leaves the station around 11am and drops you at Siantar ( 2.5 hours) and from Sinatar, take a taxi to Parapat. Which is around 1 hour and is a mountainous stretch. The last leg being on the boat from Parapat to Samosir island. Again a 45 mins sailing. This is the best way to reach Samosir .

Though there is a flight out of Medan, the small airline " Sushi" has no online booking and if you call reservations, the clerk speaks only Bhasa. So for a foreignor it is almost impossible to make a booking. Usually it gets full and hence atleast a week before needs to be booked. But if you can find you way to book, it is an easy way to reach Lake Toba.

The arrival at Parapat, don't forget to buy lots of mangoes and other fruits, before leaving for Samosir.

If you choose to take " Tabo Cottages", one has to be careful in getting the right room. The best would be to have the Batak Long House on the first floor on the right side of the reception. As these rooms have unobstructed view of the Lake Toba. Or choose the extreme left first floor rooms . Most other rooms don't offer the unobstructed view.

The hotel is run by a German lady, who got fascianted by the place and married the local Batak and has since got settled there. The cottage is nice and clean and reasonably priced.

The restaurant is quite nice and serves a good assortment of vegetarian food. Don't miss the special Tomato soup.

There is another nice veggie restaurant in the nearby village with a Buddha statue. Serves nice Indian curry.

The extreme left villa first floor offering the best view of the lake.