Berastagi, a tourist town, is another lovely
town located in Karo highlands. The town is known for its plantations and
various kinds of flowers, vegetables and fruit, most famous which is Marquisa
passion fruit. It's 66 km southwest of Medan and is 4.594 feet above sea level. There
is a pleasant colonial-style hotel with a golf course. Other new hotels can
also be found. From Gundaling Hill a clear view of Mt.
Sibayak and Mt. Sinabung
volcanoes can be seen.
From this city, the
visitors will enjoy charming scenery to the active mountainside, which are Sibayak Mountain
and Sinabung Mountain. To climb Sibayak Mountain
require at least 3 hours trip and we could enjoy pretty scenery in these
mountains or 3 to 4 hours trip in the forest to see the nature wealth inside,
for both the flora and the fauna around this forest.
The atmosphere of green
nature from the reflection of the trees from the slope of Rangkap Sibayak
Mountain (well known as
Sibayak mountain) made the Berastagi city had flooded by tourists. The hill
line along with the agricultural field, are always ready to refresh its
visitor's eyes. Berastagi which rich with agro-industries became
the appropriate choice for recreation spot other than Toba Lake and Samosir Island, which has become a trademark of North Sumatra.
Berastagi has the strategic location to become
the stopping place, not just because several tourist attractions are easy to be
accessed from here, but also the hotels are well provided. Hotels can be easily
found with varying price, by offering the design typical to the locals. However
the visitor still have the choice to choose the hotels and villas that
historically were the legacy of colonial period.
Berastagi to Sibayak Mountain
distance are only 7 Km, this is why the hikers choose this City, as the closest
alternative to reach the mountain peak (2.094 meters from sea level). With the
currently available infrastructure, the vehicles could reach close to the
mountain peak that was known with its beauty nature. On the Peak of Sibayak
Mountain, we could see a sulfuric crater lake with wide around 200 x 200
meters, with temperature 119.6 Celsius and the temperature of surrounding air
is 21 Celsius. The other scenery of Sibayak mountain peak is Sinabung mountain
peak (2.451 meters from sea level), located in the west.
Lau Debuk-Debuk
Not just that, near Berastagi, on the side of Sibayak mountain peak
we could find Lau Debuk-Debuk Hot Water Springs. Located in Daulu and Semangat
Gunung village, this hot water springs flowed with the temperature of 35 Celsius
emerged through the lava cracks in the volcano slope that afterwards was
accommodated in the bathing place ponds. The climbers usually use this hot
water reservoir to release their fatigue from the trip. Now, there are also an
electrical generator (power plant) on the hot spring upstream that had the
temperature above 150 ° Celsius. The visitors could see a power plant, which
produces electricity from geothermal vapors.
Gundaling Hill
Berastagi also had Gundaling Hill which located
only 3 Km from Berastagi. This hill offered a beautiful garden
that was suitable as a spot to relax or to do some sports. From the hill peak,
we could enjoy Mount Sibayak and Mount Sinabung
panorama.
Tongging
Tongging was located 112
km from Medan City.
This area is located near to Sipiso-piso Waterfall with 360-foot height. From
this place, we could enjoy picturesque scenery of Toba Lake. In the intersection of Merek we could
turn to Sipiso-piso in Mount
Tandukbenua slope (1.947
m. from sea level). The surrounding panorama indeed is very much enchanting.
From the balcony of the two leveled guesthouse that was located in the south of
this plateau, the visitor could see the calm and beautiful nature of Toba Lake.