Crossing Samosir island in Lake Toba

A funny thought isn’t it: Samosir is an island in an island. We arrived after a long day of travel from Ketambe and honestly I didn’t expect that much. I knew we were staying close to the lake but that only became clear in the morning as we arrived when it was pitch-dark. Samosir turned out to be a beautiful surprise. We hopped on a scooter and crossed the whole island in a (long) day. One stunning view came after another, and I was so happy we didn’t just stick close to the hotel.

Samosir travel information

• Transport: By minivan from Ketambe to Samosir (which took the whole day again).
• Stay: Romlan hotel has rooms right next to the lake. You can even take a dip (although it was quite cold when we tried but hey: it’s a vulcanic lake, we had to try). The hotel is run by a German lady and it was nice to have some mashed potatoes and meat for a change. We were in “touristville” anyway.
• Things to do: The town center is quite touristy so do take the time to explore the whole island.
• Food: We went European in Samosir. Next to the German menu at our hotel we also found a Belgian baker running a restaurant with his wife, and we just couldn’t say no to fries and “bitterballen“.