Medan

About Medan

Medan grew rich in the late nineteenth century on tobacco from the Deli plantations, and that boom left one of Indonesia's largest cities with a remarkable mix of palaces, mansions and places of worship. The Deli Sultanate built the yellow Maimun Palace and the great domed mosque nearby, Chinese tycoons built ornate mansions in Kesawan, and Tamil workers founded the Hindu temple at the heart of Little India.

Today the capital of North Sumatra is a energetic city of Malay, Batak, Chinese, Javanese and Indian communities, and the mix shows best on the plate. Medan is famous across Indonesia for its durian, soto Medan, bika ambon cake and Chinese-Indonesian street food, served late into the night along streets such as Jalan Semarang.

Most visitors pass through on the way to Lake Toba, the Berastagi highlands or the orangutans of Bukit Lawang, but a day or two in the city repays the effort. The old colonial buildings around Merdeka Square, the striking Velangkanni church and the huge Chinese temples are all within a short ride of each other, best explored by becak motorised rickshaw.