Things to Do at Maimoon Palace
Complete Guide to Maimoon Palace in Medan
About Maimoon Palace
What to See & Do
The Throne Room
Step onto the 1900s Belgian tiles and you’ll SEE your own reflection in the high shellacked ceiling, HEAR the echo of your sandals bounce off empty stucco walls, SMELL camphor trying to mask decades of mothballs, FEEL the give in the floorboards that creak a warning, TASTE dust when you breathe too close to the velvet ropes.
Royal Wedding Carriage
A gilded horse carriage squats in the side hall, its once-scarlet paint now the color of dried blood. You can HEAR the leather straps crack when the caretaker lifts them for photos, SMELL the faint whiff of old horse sweat trapped in the wood, and FEEL the velvet seat still warm from the last visitor who couldn’t resist climbing in.
Upstairs Family Gallery
Climb the narrow teak staircase and you’ll SEE walls of black-and-white portraits where every Sultan looks like he’s smelling something sour; the corridor reeks of old photo chemicals and jasmine offerings, while the breeze through cracked stained glass gives you goosebumps despite the humid Medan air.
Courtyard Cannon
Two Dutch cannons lie in the front yard like tired dogs, their green bronze hot to touch at noon. Kids use them as climbing frames, so you’ll HEAR sneakers squeak against metal and the occasional thud when someone slips; the smell of rust mixes with exhaust from Jalan Brigjen Katamso outside.
Practical Information
Opening Hours
Daily 9 am-5 pm except Friday prayer break 12-2 pm; last tickets sold 4:30 pm sharp, and they mean sharp.
Tickets & Pricing
Foreign adults 20 000 IDR, kids 10 000 IDR; pay at the tiny window that looks closed - knock if the shutter is half-down.
Best Time to Visit
Arrive by 9 am when the caretaker is still cheerful and the light inside the throne room is soft; afternoons get packed with Medan school groups who’ll photobomb every shot.
Suggested Duration
Thirty minutes covers the guided rooms, but budget an extra twenty if you want to loiter upstairs where the family photos live.
Getting There
Things to Do Nearby
Five blocks west; a merchant’s house with swallow-tattooed ceilings and a courtyard well you can still draw water from - pairs nicely because the mansion opens earlier, letting you do both before lunch.
Medan’s old commercial heart, three minutes on foot; Art-deco banks turned into coffee shops where the kopi tubruk comes with condensed-milk foam and the chatter is half Hokkien, half Bahasa.
Ten minutes south by ojek; a taxidermy museum that’s either hilarious or haunting depending on your mood - good bizarre contrast to the palace’s human royalty.
Southeast edge of the palace block; the largest Chinese temple in Medan, where incense coils the size of truck tyres hang overhead and weekend lion-dance practice rattles the windows.