Lake Maninjau, Sumatra, Indonesia

5donnie1965 5:00 PM Sep 23, 2011

Muaro Bungalows at Maninjau
Lake Maninjau is located within Western Sumatra - Padang area. I stayed at the wonderful Muaro Bungalows / Restaurant - great place and only around 50,000IDR per night; double bed, private Mandi, wired to mains but low wattage light bulb, but my bungalow was naturally bright throughout the day and looked onto the lake - basic rooms - my heighbours had been there for a month!! Owned by Neni and helped by her two brothers - perfection, easy going people. The restaurant is open all day and does good food, both western and Indo Hire m/bikes from Neni; internet next door. By far the most popular of the accommodation at Maninjau - at one time she had to turn someone away due to having no spare bungalows. Most people seemed to stay only one or two nights. A very popular place to stay, but yet still quiet. Lake Maninjau is less touristy than Toba (North Sumatra). I hired a bike and used that for two of the days and even went to the coast - a two hour ride took me to an empty beach!!!! Some good (easy) walks to the top of the crater (old volcano) surrounding Lake Maninjau with beautiful senery at the top. A great place to visit and I was quite sad to leave after my 5 days but had to only due to having booked a flight before I got to Maninjau. I enjoyed it so much that I will probably visit again for a longer period during my impending 12 month career break. Overall Maninjau is a great place to visit. Relaxed and easy going with options of eating expensive or local Warungs. Internet easily available and agents to help with transport. There is a bank with ATM - definately acepts Mastercard (i had problems with my Visa). Hope this is helpful - enjoy Maninjau!!!!

4christong8 5:00 PM Mar 28, 2013

Magnificent view from the Top, Puncak Lawang (Lake Maninjau)
A visit to Lake Maninjau is not complete without visiting “Puncak Lawang” (or Lawang Top). The breath-taking scenic view is beyond any description of words. The view from top of the mountain overlooking the lake and its surrounding area is spectacular. Instantly, it reminds me of an advertisement for cigarettes called “Salem High Country”. It is refreshing & you would have an imminent peacefulness of mind. They do collect a small entry fee of about IDR5,000. Paragliding is available here but we didn’t try it. In comparison, “Embun Pagi “ (in my opinion) is not worth visiting as it is sited on the lower ground than Puncak Lawang and most of the views at Embun Pagi are hindered by trees. Journey from Bukittinggi to Puncak Lawang takes about an hour. Half way through the journey to Puncak Lawang, you may want to try out the tasty & crunchy groundnuts (sold in packs, price range from IDR10,000 – IDR20,000) along the main street in a small town (can’t recall the name). If you miss that, you won’t find it elsewhere.