Balige is a town in North Sumatra province of Indonesia and it is the seat of Toba Samosir Regency. It is 240 kilometers away from Medan. Balige is also a tourist spot to see Lake Toba, the largest crater lake in South East Asia

Balige is situated at the far end, the south east, of Lake Toba. It is a fairly large town, not much to do, except for visiting the huge market in the centre of town. Much of the town is still built of wooden houses, yet, relative affluence is demonstrated by the large number of not-so-humble satellite dishes for television reception in town. The road that runs from Medan to Parapet on the West side of Lake Toba continues south to Balige. Minibuses from the airport are available although they depend on a full car (6 people) to start their journey. Costs vary depending on the number of passengers Balige is an longstanding community consisting of mainly the Batak People. There are approximately 2,000,000 Batak Toba speakers, living to the east, west and south of Lake Toba. Historically it was written using Batak script, but the Latin script is now used for most writing. An individual's surname or family name is an important part of a person's name in any of the Batak subcultures. The Batak people always have a surname or family name. The surname or family name is obtained from the father's lineage (paternal) which would then be passed on to the offspring continuously. This results in very large, clan-like families with many different associations within themselves and with connections with other families.