Gokhon Guesthouse, TukTuk, Lake Toba

A couple of weeks ago, I went on a 4 days 3 nights trip to Lake Toba. When I was googling for places to stay around Lake Toba, most internet forum suggests staying over either at Parapat or TukTuk.

I finally settled on TukTuk because of the seemingly livelier F&B scene and more things to do. There were a plethora of affordable accommodations, but very little hotels - the accommodation are mostly family-run guest house in TukTuk.

I had a tough time deciding where to stay as most of the place looks really beautiful (almost all are by the lake!), the reviews were great, location ws awesome (because TukTuk isn't that big anyway! You can easily go around the whole ofTukTuk with a bike) and the price point was really affordable. 

In the end, I decided to stay at Gokhon Guest House because the reviews suggests that it has consistent hot water 24/7, WiFi seems to be OK, there are two gazebo outdoors for guests to chill out, it is close to some good restaurants and guests have direct access to the lake (Do take note that some accommodation are next to the lake, but there isn't a 'beach' so you can't access the lake easily).

As this property has its own landing point, the wooden ferry from Parapat could drop us off easily here! We were the first customer to be dropped off from that ferry, probably because Gokhon is located right in the heart of Tuk Tuk!

There are only eight rooms (I think) at Gokhon Guest House, four on the ground floor, and another four on the first floor. We read reviews on the internet and many recommended getting the rooms on the first floor for a better view, and a little "more privacy", as there are two gazebos on the ground floor, you would feel a little "less private".

The pathway leading from the landing point to the rooms

We were greeted by the staffs upon setting foot on Gokhon, who kindly showed us to our room. The main office is located opposite of the accommodation block, just across the road.

 There's a library for guests to use. Most of the books are for rent, and renters are require to pay the price of the book in full as a deposit. After you returned the book, you will then receive back a huge chunk (almost 80%) of the deposit back.

Our room on the first floor! It was a double room (IDR 275,000/RM80/23 USD per night) and there is space to add an extra bed (for an extra charge of IDR 100,00/RM30/10 USD per night). All rooms come with an en-suite toilet with hot water 24/7! A very important factor to consider in Lake Toba, as the weather can be quite chilly in the morning and at night.

I thought our room was extremely comfortable - there was no air-cond, only a wall fan but trust me, it gets pretty cold at night so it's alright. There were also plenty of storage & hanging space for your luggage and clothes. Electric kettle was provided upon request. It was pretty awkward using the electric kettles, as most of the plug points were far away from any table/counter top so we had to use the electric kettle in the bathroom. WiFi was acceptable, don't expect your typical smooth and fast connection. Time to time I couldn't connect to the internet, but it's ok, we're here to relax and disconnect anyway.

Our double room comes with a balcony with two sun chair. The views were stunning! The photos here do no do any justice to the view there - it was prettier than what we expected. The walls of the balcony were pretty low, so be careful while hanging around the balcony. We could peep over our next door neighbour easily too!

At night, guests are advised to keep their volume low, as sound travels easily. We could hear some of our Dutch neighbours chatter (but couldn't understand a single word of it LOL!)

View from our balcony on a foggy morning.

Views from our balcony on a sunny day.

There is no restaurant at Gokhon Guest House, hence, breakfast/lunch/dinner is not available. However, there are many restaurant just along the road where Gokhon is located so one will not be deprived of choice!

Gokhon Guest House
Jl. Lkr. Tuktuk No.26,
Tuktuk Siadong, Simanindo,
Kabupaten Samosir,
Sumatera Utara 22395, Indonesia


One of our favourite place for breakfast is Orari Restaurant!

My breakfast at Orari Restaurant just next door! Homemade bread and avocado (IDR 30,000/RM9/2 USD). To be honest, the menu of all the restaurants in TukTuk are almost the same. Price wise as well (there's probably just a disparity between IDR5,000-10,000). But Orari is definitely my favourite among all the place we've tried!

Orari Restaurant
Jl. Lkr. Tuktuk, Tuktuk Siadong,
Simanindo, Kabupaten Samosir,
Sumatera Utara 22395, Indonesia

We tried out another restaurant just next door called Popy's Restaurant & Guest House the other day and these are what we had!

Continental Breakfast - Toast with eggs and bacon, served with fresh fruit juice, and coffee/tea IDR55,000/RM15/USD3.5

Cheese and tomato toastie IDR 20,000/RM6/USD1.5

View at Poppy's

And one of the best thing of these restaurant is you get a picturesque view of the lake :)

Poppy's Restaurant & Guesthouse
Jl. Lkr. Tuktuk No.Kelurahan,
Tuktuk Siadong, Simanindo,
Kabupaten Samosir,
Sumatera Utara 22395, Indonesia

View at Orari