HOW TO GETTING TO TUK-TUK
Most visitors fly to Medan and then travel by land to Parapat, the town by Lake Toba.
There are cheap flights from Penang,
Kuala Lumpur and (new!) also from Phuket by Air Asia. Parapat is about 4
hours by car from Medan). Public Busses are leaving from Amplas
Busstation, 6 km south of town. The fee is 22,000 IDR.
If you speak the language try to
contact. Bagus Taxi +62 (0)619 114 1010. It operates a shared cab service
leaving from their Medan office on Jl. SMraja at scheduled times that
costs 75,000 IDR per person. You might have to cope with waiting times
and drops/pick ups of other passengers before you get to your
destination.
We can arrange for a charter of private
air conditioned car for 600.000 IDR that takes you all the way to
Parapat’s harbor of Tiga Raja.
Parapat is connected to Tomok and Tuk
Tuk on the Samosir Island by boat/ferry that run every 1-2 hours, the
last one at 6:00PM (Rp 7000).or until 9 pm to Tomok. Self proclaimed
‘Tourist Hunters’ may befriend you on the boat but are harmless and
often helpful to find things, arrangements etc. Tuk Tuk is the main town
to stay on Samosir. Please take note that the only ATM machine on
Samosir Island takes only master card and cirrus maestro, however, at
Tabo you can pay by credit card with 3% charge.
Another great, but not very easy way to
get to Lake Toba is by train. The trains leave each day at 11 am to
Pematang Siantar The train is a wonderful way to travel. Once you are in
your seat and have a stream of buskers, food vendors and friendly local
passing by you will know why this is often the best way to travel
overland. From Siantar (1 hour Taxi) you will need to hire a taxi or
take a bus for road transport to Parapat.
The ferry ride over is fantastic, just
truly peaceful, The boat is supposed to drop you right at the Jetty of Tuk-tuk for 7000 IDR.
It is also possible to go to Parapat
from Dumai by mini-van, leaving in the afternoon. The trip takes around
11 hours, and costs 150,000IR
There are also night busses going from Bukittinggi to Parapat .
Passanger Boat Time Schedule – Lake Toba
| Parapat/Tiga Raja -> TukTuk/Samosir Island |
TukTuk/Samosir Island -> Parapat/Tiga Raja |
| 08:30 |
07:00 |
| 09:30 |
08:00 |
| 10:30 |
09:00 |
| 11:30 |
10:00 |
| 12:30 |
11:00 |
| 13:30 |
12:00 |
| 14:30 |
13:00 |
| 15:30 |
14:00 |
| 16:30 |
15:00 |
| 18:00 |
16:00 |
The passenger boat takes around 30 minutes to Tuktuk. The boat drops
you right at your hotel. In low season the trips in the middle of the
day can be irregular, so better count in an extra hour to travel back.
Don’t trust the touts that hang around the harbor if they try to tell
you all kinds of reasons why to come to the place they work for
instead. They work on commission basis and can be quite dishonest and
annoying, However, they are harmless |
Car Ferry Time Schedule – Lake Toba
| Parapat (Ajibata) -> Tomok/Samosir Island |
Tomok/Samosir Island -> Parapat(Ajibata) |
| 08:30 |
07:00 |
| 11:30 |
10:00 |
| 14:30 |
13:00 |
| 17:45 |
16:00 |
| 21:00 |
19:30 |
| The car ferry ride takes around ONE HOUR |
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