Getting There in Lake Toba

Lake Toba

Lake Toba is the largest lake in Southeast Asia (1,707 square km) and one of the deepest (450 meters) in the world. Lake Toba is sometimes referred as the Lake Geneva of Southeast Asia. The mythical homeland of the Batak people, it was formed as a result of a mammoth volcanic explosion, believed to be the greatest in the history of the planet.

Getting There from Neighboring Towns

Coming from the south, your first view of Lake Toba will be from the hills above Balige, off the southeast shore of the lake 114 km north of Sibolga; Prapat is another 60 km on a good road. From Medan the direct route through Tebingtinggi and Siantar to Prapat takes about 5 hours. A longer but more interesting route (about 260 km) goes via Brastagi, Sipisopiso Waterfall, Permatang Purba (location of a raja's palace), and the Simarjarunjung Lookout. Arriving at Toba, travelers usually head straight for Tuk Tuk village on Samosir Island in the middle of the lake, where accommodations are widely available at good prices and the atmosphere is relaxed.

Getting There from Lakeside Villages

Many lakeside villages have market days. By using market ferries you can hop from village to village. Some of the losmen on Samosir Island charter excursion boats offer round trip tours of lakeside villages for around Rp10,000 per person, usually leaving Ambarita for Tomok  to pick up more people, then out to the hot springs near Pangururan, and finally back to Ambarita via Tomok.