Medan is the largest city on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. It’s the capital of the province of North Sumatra, and if you are visiting Lake Toba and/or Gunung Leuser National Park (for the orangutans) then you will pass through here.
I have a soft spot for Medan as it was the first place I visited in Indonesia. Most Aussies go to Bali first (and only Bali), but when I saw there was a ferry from Penang to Medan I thought that would be a good way to arrive in Indonesia. That was an arduous ferry ride (I wish I blogged about it), and cheap flights from Penang have killed off that service. It was at least a more memorable introduction to Indonesia than a Jetstar flight from Melbourne to Bali.
I viewed my first visit to Medan as a stepping stone to Bukit Lawang f(or Gunung Leuser National Park) and Lake Toba. This time I was returning as an urbanist, so I wanted to see what the city was like as a city on its own merits. I also came back to ride Sumatra’s railway system.
These are my notes from my visit in August 2023.
New airport and airport rail link
The last time I was in Medan I had flown out of the old airport in the city centre. The airport has now moved to Kuala Namu International Airport, which was how I arrived. There is a rail link from Kuala Namu to Medan, making it one of the few airports in Southeast Asia with an airport railway.
There were no westerners on the flight from KL. Usually you would at least see a random backpacker, business person, or expat. Medan used to see more international tourists when overland travel was more common (before the age of the internet and the rise of low-cost airlines). There used to a flight from Amsterdam to Medan, and then overlanders would make their way across the archipelago.
A central railway station in front of the town square
Not only does Medan have an airport rail link, but the main train station is located in the actual city centre.
[Medan Railway Station.]
Medan Railway Station is opposite Merdeka Square. This is the main city park/town square, though at the time of my visit it was being dug up to build an underground plaza.
[Merdeka redevelopment.]
Next to Merdeka Square is the old post office. The building has been turned into a shopping plaza and food court.
[Medan Post Office.]
Jalan Jenderal Ahmad Yani – the future coolest street in the world
On the other side of the Padang is the remnants of the old city area. Jalan Jenderal Ahmad Yani is the main street of this area, and it has a great collection of historic buildings.
The street was also being renovated when I was there. The footpaths were being widened and trees planted.
[Jalan Jenderal Ahmad Yani under renovation.]
There are many old shops here that are in need of renovation.
[Old shophouses on Jalan Jenderal Ahmad Yani.]
In addition to the shops, there are grand commercial buildings, such as the Mandiri Bank building.
An old theatre waiting to be repurposed.
The historic Tjong A Fie Mansion is on Jalan Jenderal Ahmad Yani.
The London Sumatra building would be a sought-after apartment block anywhere else.
Wikipedia has a surprisingly-good list of colonial buildings in Medan. If this was anywhere else it would be a famous street. I’m hoping that this renovation will bring more shops and cafes to the street. It has all the right ingredients to be featured on the TimeOut list of coolest streets in the world. I will check back in a decade.
One place I remembered from my first trip is Tip Top Restaurant. This cafe is an institution on Jalan Jenderal Ahmad Yani that has been operating since 1929.
I was happy to see that this old place still exists, though you wouldn’t come here for the coffee.
Cafes
The good news is that there is a great cafe scene emerging in Medan. My go-to cafe was Common Folks PosBloc at the old post office.
I also found another Common Folks branch in my wanders.
DeCoco Coffee Shop looks more like what I think a coffee shop in the tropics should look like.
I didn’t go here, but I had to admire the brazenness of this new cafe being named the old cafe.
Religious monuments
If you are ever stuck for ideas of what to see in a city, just pick out the religious monuments on the map and walk towards those.
The most famous mosque in the city id the Masjid Raya Medan.
The Great Mosque of North Sumatra was under construction when I walked by.
Nearby the Great Mosque is the Protestant Church in West Indonesia.
The Setia Budi Temple is a Chinese Taoist Ttmple near the train station.
The Sri Mariamman Temple is Medan’s oldest Hindu Temple.
Little India
The Sri Mariamman Temple marks the start of the Little India of Medan. The Little India Gate was inaugurated in 2018, making it an official Little India.
The area is also known as ‘Kampung Madras’ or the ‘Madras Village’ area, named after the Southern Indian city now known as Chennai.
[Masjid Madras.]
The Little India here isn’t as obvious as the Little India of KL or Singapore, but there are shops with Indian names in the surrounding streets.
Other notes
There are more remnants of old Medan beyond Jalan Jenderal Ahmad Yani, but you have to put in footwork to find them.
I did a lot of walking, and I would occasionally find some remnants of old Medan, I wondered what Medan would be like today if they had as many preserved old buildings as Singapore.
One building I’m looking forward to seeing restored and repurposed is the Warenhuis building. This is in another old town street that was being dug up when I was there, so I really have an incentive to come back to see the old town.
I admired this Man vs Nature battle unfolding in slow motion.
Part of my trip involved checking out new buildings under construction. I made a list of projects on the Future Medan page.
[Podomoro City.]
Medan has a bad traffic problem, so I also walked along the roads of the proposed Medan LRT.
One of the great things about wandering around a non-touristy city in Indonesia is that lots of people talk to you, and if you are taking photos they will ask for a photo as well.
North Sumatra railways
[Medan Station.]
On my first visit to Medan I was using it as a hub to visit Bukit Lawang and Lake Toba. This time I was here to check out the railways of North Sumatra. There is a railway network here that will eventually form part of the Trans-Sumatra Railway.
At the time of my visit the railway was most useful as a commuter service and it wasn’t useful for tourism. Still, that didn’t stop me from riding the rails. I got the train to Binjai and back, and then I got the train from Medan to Rantau Prapat. This section is on the way to Pekanbaru, and there are plans to extend it.
The most useful line is the train from Medan to Siantar. This train goes 3/4 of the way to Lake Toba, and it’s possible to travel from Medan to Lake Toba by train and bus if you plan in advance. There is a plan to extend the railway from Siantar to Paraapat, making it possible to get the train from Medan to Lake Toba.
Greetings James Clark,
Thank you so much for providing information about Medan. That a city of nearly 2.5 million souls has been so neglected is most interesting.
I have an Indo trip planned this year part of which allows for a three night stay in Medan. After reading your Medan walkabout, I am considering rearranging some dates and places so as to allow for more time in Medan.
Any suggestions for places to stay? Or conversely, places to avoid.
You are to be applauded for providing some much needed depth for Medan visitors.
Hi Jeff, thanks for that! Medan is not everyone’s cup of tea, but it is of interest for urban explorers. If you are going to Bukit Lawang and Lake Toba, then you will have to pass through Medan again to get to either. In that case if you are stopping there twice you should be able to cover everything. The main area is around the train station, which is the best area to explore from.
Hello James
I read your travel blog with photos from Medan /Sumatra Indonesia. I lived there from 1959 to 1952.
My father was the minister of the Dutch Protestant church there. We lived in the vicarage next to the church.
I saw on the photographs that it is now a Chinese Taoist temple. I visited in 2003 and it was still Protestant.
A school or conference building was being erected and the vicarage was no longer there. I could not locate an address.
Do you know it? My son and his wife want to travel to Indonesia and visit Medan, names have changed now.
I loved all your photographs of buildings it brought back happy memories of years ago. I hope you respond.
Hi Jolien, thanks for the message. My photo of the Taoist temple is near the train station on the east side of the track, on Jl. Irian Barat. It is not marked on Google Maps for some reason.
Sometimes it is hard to retrace steps from previous visits. I remember staying in a budget hotel area near Polonia Airport. I remember it being so close that I thought I should have walked instead of getting a taxi. The airport is closed now, but I went to the area to see where i stayed, and I couldn’t find it. At least the street with Tip Top Restaurant was still as I remember it. Hope you can find the old vicarage site!