Minahasa Highland tour

Explore the cultural side of North Sulawesi

During the Minahasa Highland tour you get to see some of the best spots around the Minahasan Highlands. Your guide will take you around the region he grew up and knows very well.

Your Minahasa highland tour starts after breakfast in an air conditioned car. En route you will make some quick stops where you get your first impressions of life in the Minahasan Highlands. Along the road to Tomohon you get to see the first rice fields in Taratara village.

From there it’s 10 minutes to some 300 year old “waruga” (ancient Minahasan gravestone) with amazing views over a valley full of rice fields. This same village is famous for the traditional house building and you’ll stop there to have a look at one of these houses.

After a short ride to Tomohon you will visit the local market. The market is full of people and fresh products, just the smells of fresh herbs & spices alone is a special experience. You can opt to visit the extreme section of the market. This is where they sell all kind of meats. It is not for the faint-hearted but part of daily life in this region.Tell your guide if you want to skip this part.

Next up is the climb to the crater of Mount Mahawu. It is still classified as an active volcano but hasn’t erupted in hundreds of years. The hike is a walk up a few 100 steps from the car parking lot just below the crater.

By that time it’s lunch time and you’ll have lunch at the lake of Tondano. Several restaurants serve fresh grilled or fried fish which you’ll eat while overlooking the biggest lake of North Sulawesi.

After lunch we visit Polutan village. This is a village where the villagers are all specialized in pottery. Quite a unique experience to see all that pottery work around the village.

From Polutan we take a short ride to the hot water springs in Karumenga.Next stop is Kawangkoan, also known as the peanut village. You’ll see why!

From there the way home starts going slowly down the mountain. You’ll pass by more villages that are all specialized in something else. We stop for coffee at the color changing lake “Lake Linow”. This volcanic lake changes color with sun light and temperature changes. Then it’s back to Lumbalumba Resort via Manado.

This is only a sample of a typical Minahasa Highland tour. It is possible to change the route as there are many more objects of interest. One and another can be arranged with your guide. Tell the guide to stop when you see something interesting al0ng the road, worth checking out of taking a picture.

We need a minimum of two persons for all tours. If it turns out that you will be the only one, we can make a special arrangement so the tour can still happen.

Make sure to check out our other adventurous excursions to Tangkoko National Park or go hiking on Lokon volcano.