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Few visitors come to Medan for itself, yet it is worth more than a transit stop. The guide describes a large, chaotic, rather litter-strewn city on Sumatra's north coast, the capital and largest city of North Sumatra province, and a convenient stepping stone to places like the weekend getaway of Berastagi, Lake Toba and Bukit Lawang. With about 2 million people it is the fourth-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta, Surabaya and Bandung, and the largest outside Java. No ethnic group forms a majority; the biggest are Javanese, Batak, Chinese, Minangkabau, Malays, Acehnese and Indians.
Medan skyline. Photo: Bluesatellite, CC BY-SA 4.0.
A city of many peoples and many dishes
Each community adds to the food. The guide counts thousands of dishes, dozens of food streets and hawker centers, and cooking available around the clock, from sweet Javanese fare and Batak grilled pork to hot Padang dishes, Chinese noodles and Indian curry. Medan is well known among Indonesians for food tourism. Typical sights include mie pangsit (a wonton-noodle variant), nasi padang, fried noodles and rice, bakso meatball soup and sate padang, with local specialties such as soto medan, mie sop, mie rebus medan, mie balap and bihun bebek. A historic coffee house in the Kesawan district, started by its owner's father in 1922, serves local coffee and kaya toast.
Mie balap, one of the abundant breakfasts in Medan. Photo: Nafisathallah, CC BY-SA 4.0.
The city also contrasts old Dutch-style green areas, with parks, lawns and huge old houses now used as offices or businesses, against hundreds of newer, shoddy shophouses in the commercial areas and a few modern malls. Medan has many Art Deco buildings from the Dutch colonial era, including the Old City Hall, the Post Office and the Great Mosque, mostly along Jl. Ahmad Yani; some are in bad shape, but most keep their old splendor.
What to see
| Sight | What the guide says |
|---|---|
| Great Mosque (Masjid Raya) | Built 1906–1909 by a Dutch architect, mixing Moroccan, European, Middle Eastern and Malay styles; during Ramadan the street outside becomes a night market. A graveyard of the sultan's extended family lies around it |
| Maimoon Palace | The Sultanate of Deli's royal palace, built 1887–1891; it covers 2,772 m² and has 30 rooms, with interiors mixing Malay, Islamic, Spanish, Indian and Italian elements. Only a few rooms can be visited |
| Tjong A Fie Mansion | Built by an important businessman and leader of the local Chinese community, who worked with Dutch authorities, plantation owners and traders and gave to mosques, hospitals, temples and orphanages; the house tells his story and parts of the city's past |
| Temples | A Taoist temple (Vihara Gunung Timur), the Tamil Hindu Sri Mariamman temple, a Sikh temple, the large Buddhist complex Maha Vihara Maitreya and a Catholic shrine with Tamil Hindu-style architecture |
| Tirtanadi Water Tower | A Dutch-built icon of 1908, 42 m high |
| Rahmat International Wildlife Museum | Opened in 1999, a huge taxidermy collection created by its founder |
| Medan Zoo | Home to Sumatran tigers; the guide calls them the only surviving tiger population in the Sunda Islands |
| North Sumatra Museum | The largest museum in the province, with historical and cultural relics and crafts of its ethnic groups |
The hall of Maimoon Palace. Photo: Mirza Baihaqie, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Tjong A Fie Mansion, the command center of the local Chinese community at the turn of the 20th century. Photo: Pratyeka, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Getting around and practical notes
Becaks (rickshaws, both motorized and pedal-powered) and taxis are everywhere; the guide prefers taxis, and advises using the meter, with Bluebird and Express named as the most reliable companies. Ride-hailing apps such as Grab and GO-JEK fix the fare in the app, so no bargaining is needed. Becak fares call for bargaining, and the guide warns of drivers who quote one price and demand ten times as much at the end. Public transport is haphazard: minivans called angkot or sudako carry route numbers that even locals do not memorize.
Everyone speaks Indonesian; ethnic Chinese often speak a local variant of Hokkien. Many younger people speak English well, and the guide says visitors who try Indonesian are warmly appreciated. Pharmacies are plentiful, and the guide advises choosing a private hospital over a government one in doubt.
Where to go next
- Berastagi: a mountain resort about 1½ hours away, popular for weekends, near the Sinabung and Sibayak volcanoes (check with local authorities before hiking).
- Bukit Lawang: about 3 hours away on the edge of Gunung Leuser National Park, with orangutan feeding sessions and jungle treks.
- Lake Toba: formed by a volcanic eruption and one of the biggest fresh water lakes in the world, with the large island of Samosir and rich Batak culture.
- Kabanjahe: the capital of Karo Regency, for visits to Karo villages and a base for climbing Mount Sinabung.
Sources
- Wikivoyage contributors, “Medan,” Wikivoyage (https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Medan), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/); authors are listed in the page history. Photos: Bluesatellite, Nafisathallah and Mirza Baihaqie (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Pratyeka (CC BY-SA 3.0), each credited in its caption. Changed here: rewritten in hubnx's own words and shortened as an overview; phone numbers, opening hours, prices, addresses and the lists of hotels, restaurants, shops, bars and clinics are left out, along with the other pictures.
许可协议： CC BY-SA 4.0 · 改编自 en.wikivoyage.org
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