Jungle Lodges & Hotels I’d Stay at (Again) in Sumatra, Indonesia

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I just got back from my group trip through Northern Sumatra and walked away wishing I could spend a few more days poolside at Lake Toba or in the quaint village of Bukit Lawang at our gorgeous ecolodge. 🌿

While I’m usually slow traveling, this quick trip made me wonder: Would I repeat this exact trip to the T and stay at all the same hotels?

Would I bring my friends or family to the same places?

Or if I had hand-selected these myself, would I have wound up with a different itinerary altogether?

Now, with the hindsight of this privately organized trip for my Bootstrap Blogging course community, I wanted to put together this Sumatra accommodation guide to simply share my “HECK YES” (would stay again) to ehhh, maybe I might choose somewhere else next time.

We stayed in four different destinations (i.e., Medan, Bukit Luwang, Berastagi, Lake Toba) and accommodations, ranging from ecolodges to 4-star hotels.

While there are many more wonderful places to stay in Sumatra (particularly in North Sumatra, which my Sumatra itinerary covers) that this guide doesn’t include, my short list includes everywhere we stayed as a group (as 30+ female travelers) and my reflections and experiences at each.

Here’s where I’d stay again in Sumatra, based on my experience, and would recommend you check it out if you’re planning to head there soon!

Where to Stay in Sumatra for First-Timers (+ Best Hotels)

As detailed in my Sumatra itinerary, the best places to stay — destinations — in Sumatra are spread across North Sumatra. Regardless of your trip plans, everyone’s trip will start in Medan, the island capital.

From there, you have a few choices for splitting your itinerary, but if you have 10 days to 2 weeks, I’d recommend following our route and planning hotels for each destination below.

• ✈️ Arrival and overnight (or two) in Medan
  • Stay at the Swiss-Belinn Hotel
• 🦧 2–3 nights in Bukit Lawang for orangutan trekking
  • Pick the Bukit Lawang Ecolodge
• 🌋 2 nights in Berastagi for volcano hike + hot springs
  • Consider Sinabung Hills
• 🇮🇩 2–3 nights minimum on Samosir Island for Batak culture + Lake Toba serenity
  • Stay at the Toledo Inn around the Tuktuk Peninsula (would also consider Hub Tata or X)
• 🏙️ Final overnight in Medan

Below are the details of each place we stayed, along with my thoughts on whether it was worth it!

Medan

Medan, despite its draw as a cosmopolitan city with malls, restaurants, and resorts, is not a place I’d linger for very long. The traffic’s stuffiness quickly made me want to whisk out into the Sumatran countryside.

When planning my own trips, I usually avoid large, modern Western-style hotels. But our group’s stay at the 3-star Swiss-Belinn in Medan was just what we needed.

Swiss-Belinn is not the only upper-scale hotel in the city, but its location felt ideal for our short stay.

Central, fairly walkable (if you can confidently cross road traffic), and best of all, the rear entrance leads out to Medan’s top street food avenue, Selat Panjang, lined with local Sumatran and Chinese hole-in-the-walls and vendor carts.

Sure, the hotel offers 24/7 on-site restaurant service, including a free hearty breakfast (mostly Indonesian-style, but with a customizable egg station), but getting to step outside the door and be amid a famous food street?

That’s the type of hotel comfort-meets-local-discovery I can get on board with.

I ate solo on my first night in Medan at Mie Tiong Sim, a long-established Chinese noodle house, to try their best-selling Tiong Sim noodles with sweet pork and dumplings.

Staying in Medan for one or two nights is more than enough, in my opinion, especially if you’re hoping to get away from city chaos and into Sumatra’s more remote, lush landscapes.

Bukit Lawang

I think out of all the places we stayed, Bukit Lawang struck the strongest chord, leaving a first, wild impression on my adventurous heart. 🌿 This unassuming village has layers and layers of lively local life to discover — if you know where to look!

Most tourists come here for the chance to trek with Sumatran orangutans in the wild, which you can do as a day hike or, even better, as an overnight trip in the jungle (with camping).

But there’s more to enjoy in and around the village — a rickshaw tour, tofu tasting, tempeh-making, river tubing, and more.

If you choose to spend an overnight in the jungle, you’ll want to stay at least 2 nights in Bukit Lawang (+ a 3rd night in the jungle, which will be arranged by your trekking guide).

For those two nights in Bukit (sandwiching the jungle camp experience), I can highly recommend the verdant Bukit Lawang Ecolodge.

Important note: the rooms have no air-conditioning, but don’t let that stop you. The rooms/beds are comfy, with fans and mosquito nets, and are tastefully decorated with warm lighting and local art.

The best part about the ecolodge, aside from falling asleep to the sound of the very active jungle outside your balcony, is probably the location and the restaurant and lounge area.

This Batak-style boat-shaped building has a gorgeous, open-air ground-floor restaurant overlooking the river.

I loved the bamboo-shoot ceiling bar lamps, filled with colorful lighting, and the breeze. Also, the upper-level lounge area has bean bags and is the perfect spot to cozy up with a book or journal (or just girl chat!). Just beware of bringing food up because of the monkeys…! 🙈

The trek into Gunung Leusure National Park also begins right behind the ecolodge.

The location is also conveniently close to the town, without being smack-dab in the noisy bits. You can also walk down easily to the river for a swim with the locals, which was a core memory from staying in Bukit Lawang.

Berastagi

Whereas Bukit is for humid jungle trekking and river swimming, Berastagi is for cool mountain air and volcano hiking.

Unlike Bukit, Berastagi is definitely busy. Road traffic gets mad, and the atmosphere is faster-paced all around. It feels more touristy, too.

To offset that, I’d recommend a quiet retreat for 1 or 2 nights in Berastagi. Our group stayed at the sprawling Sinabung Hills property.

Again, normally I wouldn’t choose a larger-scale hotel like this, but this one actually felt worthwhile for our group. It reminded me of a budget North Carolinian mountain hotel, with a sweeping grassy lawn, a central fountain, and a pool. But ya know, replace pine trees with palms and the misty Blue Ridge Mountains with ashy stratovolcanoes.

The rooms were clean and spacious for two (our group mostly shared twin rooms, with one private queen), but the best part was probably the view from our private balconies. (Oh, and the proximity to a local coffee shop/roaster serving up delicious specialty coffee.)

Lake Toba / Samosir Island

Our last major stop on our North Sumatra discovery trip was to none other than Lake Toba. Leaving Berastagi and passing by Sipiso Piso Waterfall, we made it to our lovely lakeside Batak-style inn just in time for a little R&R and reading before dinner.

Samosir Island can take a while to reach and tour, considering it’s nearly the size of Singapore. That said, you’ll want at least 2–3 nights to enjoy Samosir Island and all it has to offer.

I wouldn’t hesitate to return to where we stayed, at the Toledo Inn, located on the western shore of the small Tuk Tuk Peninsula (Tuktuk Siadong) that juts out of the island.

Our twin rooms were spacious, well-cooled by AC, and comfortable. The open-style shower in the bathroom was also nice. It kinda reminded me of my bathroom in Bali.

The view of the lake, particularly during a clear sunset, can’t be missed! Nor can morning dips in the massive pool. The girls and I joked that this place definitely gave off Lake Como, Italy vibes, 🌺 with the blooming bougainvilleas, sparkly lake, stone walls, and retro-red poolside loungers.

But, this feels uniquely its own, too — especially with the Batak Toba architecture and carvings. My only quip with this place is that breakfast was quite lackluster. Instead, walk two minutes down the road to brunch at Hub Tata.

Beyond the inn’s grounds, you have multiple restaurants next door within walking distance. Most of the designated Batak tourism villages, and a handful of other activities, are also near the property.

That said, the Tuktuk area arguably has more places to stay, but all in all, we all left wishing we had stayed one more night at Toledo.

On our second morning, the local ferry picked us up right off our hotel’s dock and crossed over to Parapat, where we hopped in the van and headed back for a last night at Swiss-Belinn in Medan.

Opening the door to our room, I was hit with all the memories gained over those ten days. Gone in a flash. I fell asleep that night, wishing to do it all again.

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