Samosir Island in Lake Toba

Part of the Lake Toba travel guide — see every topic in All Lake Toba Guides.

Samosir sits in the middle of Lake Toba and is roughly the size of Singapore — a substantial island in its own right, with mountains, villages, rice terraces and a population of over a hundred thousand. It was formed by the resurgent uplift of the caldera floor after the eruption, which is why it rises so steeply from the water. Tuk Tuk, a small peninsula on its eastern side, holds essentially all the tourism; the rest of the island is ordinary Batak farming country and is where the interest is.

Tuk Tuk

A hooked peninsula on Samosir's east coast with a single ring road, guesthouses and small hotels along the shore, restaurants, a few bars and a general air of pleasant torpor. It has been the backpacker centre of Lake Toba since the 1970s and has never entirely recovered from the drop in visitors after the Asian financial crisis, which is why prices are low and several properties feel like they have been there a long time. Almost every place to stay has a lawn to the water and a jetty you can swim from.

The historic villages

Tomok, a few kilometres south of Tuk Tuk, has the stone sarcophagus of King Sidabutar with a carved face, a row of traditional houses and a market, plus performances of the sigale-gale — a life-size wooden puppet, traditionally used in funeral rites, that is made to dance by strings and levers. Ambarita, north of Tuk Tuk, has the stone chairs of King Siallagan: a circle of carved stone seats where the village council met, and a second set where, according to the site's own account, offenders were tried and executed.

Around the island

Samosir's ring road is around a hundred and twenty kilometres and a scooter is the way to do it: a full day, with the highland interior reached by a steep climb through Pangururan on the west coast. The interior holds Lake Sidihoni, a small lake on the island in the lake, rice terraces and villages that see no visitors at all. Pangururan is connected to the mainland by a bridge at Tano Ponggol, and just beyond it hot springs run off the flank of Mount Pusuk Buhit, which Batak tradition holds as the origin place of the people.

Practicalities

Ferries cross from Parapat on the mainland to Tuk Tuk roughly every hour during the day, taking thirty to forty-five minutes; they drop passengers at individual jetties, so tell the crew where you are staying. A car ferry runs to Tomok. Scooters rent for 80,000–150,000 rupiah a day and there are few working ATMs on the island, so bring cash from Parapat or Medan. It is cool at four hundred metres, particularly at night, and the lake water is genuinely cold and clean enough to swim in.

Samosir Island at a glance

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