Sumatra – Indonesia ‘s largest island – is known for its beautiful nature and orangutans. Together with Borneo, Sumatra is the only place in the world where orangutans still live in the wild. With this 2-week Sumatra itinerary you will see the most beautiful places of this beautiful island and have one of the most special experiences of your life: jungle trekking to the Mentawai tribe.
Tip: In this itinerary Sumatra 2 weeks we link to more extensive articles about the destinations. Clicking on the link will take you to the article.
Content of this blog:
Day 1: landing at Medan
Medan is the largest city in Sumatra. For tourists, there are not that many activities in Medan, so it is advisable to travel on to your first destination of the Sumatra itinerary: Bukit Lawang.
If you arrive later than 1 p.m. you will most likely have to stay overnight in Medan. We ourselves stayed at the Four Points by Sheraton in Medan for one night, which is a very nice accommodation.
By bus from Medan city to Bukit Lawang
You first take a cab to the Mawar Bakery & Cake Shop. You can use the Grab app in Medan to arrange a cab. There are many of these shops so click here for the correct Google Maps location. This bakery is the first stop of the buses leaving through the Pinang Baris bus station.
The reason you want to navigate to the bakery and not the bus station is because the locals at the bus station are very pushy. They try to rip you off with wrong prices and some even pretend to sell bus tickets but are actually trying to scam you. Therefore, it is wiser to wait at the bakery for the bus (which is often waiting there as well) to avoid the pushy salesmen. The buses leave every 20 minutes so you don’t have to arrive here at a specific time.
From the bakery, you can catch a bus directly to Bukit Lawang. We paid 50K Rupiah (€3) per person, including luggage. In fact, luggage is placed on the seats, so you pay a little extra for this. The ride takes an average of 3 – 5 hours, depending on the number of people getting on and off and traffic jams along the way. It can be quite hot and uncomfortable on this bus, but that’s part of it when you’re traveling from time to time, right?
By private or shared cab to Bukit Lawang
The last option is to take a private or shared cab to Bukit Lawang. This is best arranged through your accommodation in Bukit Lawang. The cost of this averages 750K Rupiah (€45) for a car.
Orangutan spotting in Bukit Lawang: 4 days
Activities in Bukit Lawang: Bukit Lawang is known for its multi-day jungle treks in Gunung Leuser National Park where you can spot orangutans. Besides orangutans, you will find a lot of other animals such as turtles, birds and other monkey species. But honestly, the orangutans are of course the reason you want to travel to Sumatra. This is such a cool experience and the reason why you come to Bukit Lawang. Read all the information about jungle trekking (packing list, where to book, what to expect) in our comprehensive blog.
Besides the orangutan jungle trekking, Bukit Lawang has a number of fun activities to offer. For example, you can take a guide and mountain bike to the local villages in the area. The children along the way will melt your heart and you will see some of the “real” local life in Sumatra. Furthermore, you can take a cooking course anywhere in Bukit Lawang, which is highly recommended. You will not find anywhere in Sumatra as good food as in Bukit Lawang. Furthermore, you can also make your own wooden statues or natural products. There is plenty to do!
Unfortunately, in the vicinity of Bukit Lawang you also see a huge number of palm trees, which have been planted for palm oil production. It is heartbreaking to see how the animals are chased away from their habitat and this destroys nature.
Staying overnight in Bukit Lawang: Indra Valley Inn is a great accommodation in Bukit Lawang because they have a seating area above the river where you can look for wildlife. Across the river is Gunung Leuser National Park so you’ll often see monkeys or monitor lizards taking a look at the riverbank. Fantastic! In addition, Charly’s Little House is also a very good choice because Charly and Jimmy are super nice hosts. If you do the jungle trekking with Jimmy he can teach you so much about nature and jungle, really cool.
Alternative to Bukit Lawang: Ketambe
Deeper into Gunung Leuser National Park is the town of Ketambe. From Bukit Lawang it is about 8 hours on bad roads to get to Ketambe. Here you can also do a jungle trek to the orangutans, which are really wild at Ketambe. In Bukit Lawang the orangutans are semi-wild: they were first taken care of at a rehabilitation center and then put back in the jungle. Because it is such a long journey to Ketambe, we did not visit this place ourselves, but to form a complete picture we wanted to mention it in this Sumatra travel itinerary.
Berastagi: 1 day
After Bukit Lawang or Ketambe, it’s time to continue the Sumatra itinerary: on to Berastagi.
What to do in Berastagi: Many travelers skip Berastagi. This is because it is not touristy at all, and you really only come to Berastagi for one activity: climbing the Sibayak volcano. This is a super fun climb that you do early in the morning so you can see the sunrise coming over the valley. A beautiful view and a nice hike further you will go to the hot springs, where your muscles can relax. Then you can continue the same day to the next destination in your Sumatra itinerary.
How to get to Berastagi: From Bukit Lawang you can take a “tourist bus” to Berastagi. This is a kind of minivan, where as many tourists as possible are put in. So it’s not always very comfortable, but it’s a 5-hour ride, so you’ll be fine. By Sumatra standards this is still fairly short, since it is a huge island. You can arrange tickets for the ride to Berastagi at your accommodation in Bukit Lawang.
Sleeping in Berastagi: You only need to spend one night in Berastagi and we would recommend this. There is almost nothing else to do. We stayed at Nachelle Homestay and found this great: the hostess has great recommendations and knows a super nice guide for the early climb of Mount Sibayak. We had a fantastic time with him.
Lake Toba/Tuktuk/Samosir: 3 days
After climbing the Sibayak volcano, it’s time to move on to the next destination: Lake Toba!
How to get to Lake Toba: From Berastagi, your accommodation can arrange tickets for the bus for you or arrange for you to share a cab with several travelers. You will then drive in 5-6 hours from Berastagi to Lake Toba. On the way you will pass the beautiful Piso Piso waterfall, where – if you are by cab – you can get out and take beautiful pictures.
Lake Toba is the name of the lake. This is the largest lake in Southeast Asia. The island in the middle of the lake is called Samosir and the village where you will probably stay, which is the most touristy and cozy, is called Tuktuk. Then you know where all the names come from.
What to do in Lake Toba: To be honest, Lake Toba was a bit disappointing to us. We also had bad luck with the weather so we were not able to rest at the pool as nicely as we had initially hoped. Of course, there are still some fun activities in Lake Toba and Tuktuk. For example, you can jetski on Lake Toba itself, which is super fun to do. In addition, you can also visit the old, local houses of the Batak tribe. Also, it is just fun to rent a motorbike, tour around the island of Samosir and see the beautiful nature and views.
Still, we certainly did not find it the most special or impressive visit of this itinerary Sumatra. Other travelers we talked to did find it a very nice destination, it always depends per person what you think of it.
Staying overnight in Tuktuk: Juma Cottages is the perfect accommodation in Tuktuk. From your balcony you have an insane view of Lake Toba. It is truly fantastic waking up. The rooms are beautiful, spacious and the beds are very comfortable. A big plus is the pool, where you can relax. In addition, Toba Sunset is also a good budget option from €22 per night with a nice host Maya who gives you lots of tips to do in Lake Toba.
Mentawai Islands: 5 days
The visit to the Mentawai tribe was for us the highlight of the itinerary Sumatra and actually of our entire trip through Southeast Asia.
How to get to the Mentawai Islands: due to its remote location, getting to the Mentawai Islands at all is quite an adventure. You will first have to travel to Padang. From Lake Toba you can choose to take a night bus to Padang, which takes 20 hours. This is a hefty trip, in a fairly uncomfortable bus. You can also choose to travel back to Medan first and fly to Padang the day after.
Then you will need to buy tickets in Padang for the next day’s boat. Always check with your accommodation in Padang, because the boats to and from the Mentawai islands only go a few times a week. The boat from Padang to Siberut goes only 2 or 3 times a week and the boat from Padang to Sipora also only 2 or 3 times.
So you have to plan your trip well for this, or not be bound to certain days and just chill out in Padang (where there is little to do). So always check with your accommodation in Padang, where they are used to helping you plan your trip to the Mentawai Islands. Also read our 9 tips you should know before you go to the Mentawai Islands to prepare yourself well.
What to do in the Mentawai Islands: the Mentawai Islands in West Sumatra are a true paradise. Both for surfers and other travelers. In fact, the Mentawai Islands are known as one of the best surfing spots in the world. Because of the fantastic waves, but also because of the fact that it is still visited by few tourists so you share the surf spots with only a handful of others. For this, the island of Sipora is the ideal base.
Even if you don’t surf, the Mentawai Islands are the place to be. You just need to be a little adventurous. On the island of Siberut you can visit the Mentawai tribe, that lives in the middle of the jungle. You go – together with a guide – for several days into the jungle to get to know the local tribe and all its customs. Together with the shaman you will explore the moist, muddy jungle in search of trees that can be cut down, where larvae can be found and clothing can be made from them.
Furthermore, you will go with the flow of the day: sometimes someone in the tribe is sick and the shaman will act as doctor. Another time, some pigs are missing and the shamans will look for the culprit: a python. This is no joke, we really walked through the jungle while looking for a python….
The fact is that you just really feel very safe with the shaman and the rest of the tribe. You feel that they know exactly how the jungle works and do everything by feeling and jungle wisdom. This is a hugely inspiring experience and for us the highlight of this Sumatra itinerary and also of our years of world travel. Read all about our visit to the Mentawai tribe here.
Alternative beach destination: the Banyak Islands
If you don’t want to travel all the way to West Sumatra for the Mentawai Islands, you can also choose another tropical option with beautiful white beaches: the Banyak Islands. These are closer to Lake Toba so you can get there faster. It is still a long way to travel and also a long boat ride. We have not been here, but we have considered this. We want to inform you that this is also an option.
And from Padang to….?
From Padang you can then go in all directions. You can travel further in Sumatra by, for example, going all the way north to discover the province of Aceh with its paradise island of Pulau Weh. You can also choose to travel from Padang to neighboring island Java or choose one of the other Indonesian islands. From Padang you can also travel (back) to Kuala Lumpur, the gigantic metropolis where quite a few fun activities can be enjoyed. Plenty of choice!
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