Indonesia’s smallest city offers beaches, boat rides and seafood galore
Sibolga may not feature on the international tourist trail – unlike the nearby Nias and Mentawai Islands – but there is enough to do to make a short stop-over in Indonesia’s smallest city worthwhile
Getting to Indonesia’s most compact city is something of a tight squeeze.
It takes around nine hours to drive to Sibolga from Medan, the provincial capital of Indonesia’s North Sumatra, on winding roads that take you past some of the island’s greatest sights, including the majestic Lake Toba. But the real test comes when you are within sight of the city of 90,000 people.
Just before Sibolga proper lay what are known as the Goa Belanda (“Dutch caves”), two craggy tunnels in the mountains excavated during the Dutch colonial period (1815-1920) and which force the traffic to slow as cars are squeezed single file through the rock. (On the rare occasions the road is quiet, you can walk through the tunnels, which are surrounded by pounding waterfalls and drip with water from mountain streams high above.)
Once you have been tugged through the tight chambers, it is as if you have been newly born into Sibolga, a port city that sits on the western side of North Sumatra, looking out to the Indian Ocean.
It also operates as a transit hub for both Nias and the Mentawai Islands, which are known for their fearsome surf breaks – the only reason many international visitors pass through the city.
Although possessing just a few streets of shops, a cargo and passenger port and several markets, Sibolga feels extremely busy and at night, the roads are clogged with cars and motorbikes as residents come out to eat and enjoy the bustling night markets.
