A Traveller’s Tips: The Gilis – Lombok’s Islands, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia

Lombok island is a great getaway in Indonesia. The island has some great beaches, but unfortunately tourism hasn’t been fully developed, making a trip to Lombok a bit tricky, especially for the beginner travelers.

Please bring your sun block to Lombok. The sun can be extremely hostile to your skin.
One thing before we start: if you plan about a longer trip and visiting various spots, it is wiser to find a car rental with a driver. This car rental may cost you around Rp250,000-Rp300,000 (gas fee already included) per day. A slightly higher rate may apply to foreign travellers.

Recommended route sequence:

  1. Gili Trawangan trip.
  2. (Waterfall trekking to Sendang Gile and Tiu Kelep.)
  3. Tanjung Aan visit and Pink Beach trip; or
  4. Gili Nanggu snorkeling trip.

Transportation:
– Lombok has an airport. If you can go directly by airplane, that’s the best option. There are domestic flights from Jakarta, Surabaya, and from Bali island. Direct/Connecting flights also available from Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Sidney and Perth (Australia), Amsterdam (Netherlands), and Singapore. There is a decent yummy restaurant which serves a spicy chicken, called Nasi Puyung (only Rp15,000/US$1.5/per plate), adjecent to a small supermarket near the airport.
– Lombok can also be reached by ferry from Bali island, but travelling with ferry will require a bit of experience. Lembar seaport (Lombok’s connecting seaport to Bali) is swarmed with thugs /  ticket scalpers. They may confuse beginner travelers. I hope there is an improvement on this issue.

Getting Closer with the Gilis
Gili means island in local language. There are some other Gilis in Lombok, and actually there are around 26 Gills. The most well-known for the tourists are the northern Gilis which consist of three islands (from the nearest to farthest from the main island):
1. Gili Air (the nearest island to the main island).
2. Gili Meno (the middle island)
3. Gili Trawangan (the outer island, farthest from the main island)

Gili Trawangan is one of the northern Gilis in Lombok and by far the most well-known and most developed Gili in Lombok. Some people called it “Gili T”. The tourism is well developed in this small island, there are ample option of accommodations here, from bed and breakfast stay until the luxury hotel. Entertainment and nightlife are lively for a small island.

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Transport to Gili Trawangan starts from a small harbor from the main island, called Bangsal harbor. The boat will take you to the nearest Gili, Gili Air. So the first thing to go to Gili T, is to reach this Bangsal habor. If you take a taxi to Bangsal harbor, normally, the taxi will be stopped before it reaches the harbor. There is a traditional horse transportation business near the harbor, they won’t allow taxi to reach the harbor. You can take that horse cart ride, or just walk. The harbor is just a couple hundred meter away on a straight road.

Once you arrive at Bangsal harbor at the end of the road, go to the locket ticket at one of the big building there. Then ask where you should queue for the boat. The ticket comes with a specific color. Please make sure you confirm the schedule, because when the schedule comes, the boatman will shout out the color of that ticket, in Indonesian language. Luckily, people at Bangsal harbor are quite communicative about this schedule, so just ask them.

From Gili Air, take another boat to rental Gili Trawangan. This is when your actual trip starts. Negotiate with the boat rental, the boat will stop at several swimming / snorkeling spots, before you reach Gili Trawangan. Normally, the boat rental fee includes the snorkel and life vest. Confirm and negotiate this with the boatman before you set sail. Additional fee applies for swimming fins.

Route to Gili Trawangan:

Bangsal Habor –> Gili Air –> Gili Trawangan –> Gili Air –> Bangsal Harbor

Among these three Gilis (Trawangan, Meno, and Air), Gili Meno offers a more exciting snorkeling and swimming experience, simply because it has a better underwater scene among the three, and there is a sport where the sea current there is a bit tame, so you won’t get tired easily swimming against the current. But still, not many fishes here.

WARNING: The boat trip from Bangsal harbor to Gili Air is quite an experience if you go with a wooden boat. The sea current and wave can be that strong, it makes the boat swings wildly, sometimes more than 45 degree. Don’t be afraid, these boat are navigated by experienced boatmen. Things you gotta do is sit still and enjoy the swing. DO NOT stand or making jerky moves. You are not allowed to change seat or making jerky move that disturb the boat’s balance. Many people get so excited with the boat’s swing they want to take pictures during the boat trip. Take the picture while you are sitting, do not stand or move around.

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WHAT TO DO AFTER REACHING GILI TRAWANGAN?
As told, Gili T’s tourism is the most developed one in Lombok. You may want to do this once you arrive in Gili T:
1. Find a stay:
There is a luxurious hotel, but you can also have a small hotel with air conditioner or fan with a reasonable rate. In my experience, it took me 1-2 hour to find a decent stay. It was located inside the ally. Work your feet a bit after a thrilling boat ride, there are a lot of cheap accommodations inside the alleys. People in Gili T are communicative and eager to response to tourists, do not hesitate to ask the other foreigners. If you come in a group, you can have some friends guard your luggage at a beach cafe while the other scrambling to find a stay.

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2.  Enjoy the beach:
Gilli T’s beach is great, you can freely jump into the sea if you want. Gili T has more water sports equipments rentals, such as kayak board, etc.

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NIGHT AT GILI TRAWANGAN

Beach, beach, beach. People don’t talk about Gili Trawangan’s nightlife as much as its beach. It has an awesome nightlife entertainment.

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Walk a long the island’s main road on the beach side, the road is about 2-3 kilometres, a good exercise for your feet. You will find a very very very interesting place to hang around, from bar, restaurants, massage center, and a traditional food centre. Pay attention to the activities on the beach side, at one spot, there is an open air movie theater (they play movies on a big screen), and they play quite recent and good movies.

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AFFORDABLE FOOD AT NIGHT: there is a complex reachable by walking on the beach-side road where the local food stalls are concentrated. It’s like an open air market/food court with many tables and food stalls on a compound. There is only one compound that look like this in Gili T. I hope you don’t missed it, because the food there is reasonably cheaper than at the restaurants.

BICYCLE RIDE AT GILI T? PHEW… :
You can easily get a bike rental in Gili T. But…. it is a big BUTT. The bike’s saddle is too smalllll… it bites my butt, makes the whole ride painful. Make sure you test the bike before you rent. It’s US$3/day, and you will be given a bike with a lock. Lock your bike when you park. You can bring the bike to your stay and bring it back the next day, or you can park it at the bike rental and take it whenever you want to use it.

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TANJUNG AAN: A Superior Beach.
There is a reason why one of Indonesian advertisement was taken nearby this place. Tanjung Aan’s (Cape of Aan) beach is awesome.
It is located in the southern tip of Lombok island. It take 2-3 hour ride by car to from Mataram city to Tanjung Aan.

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PINK BEACH in Lombok?
After visiting Tanjung Aan, the nearest awesome site is the exotic islands trip to Pink Beach.
Okay, according to my fishermen guide, there are actually three beaches that glows in pink in Lombok island. The most famous one is in Tangsi island. This group of islands is located in the Southeastern tip of Lombok island. There is no hotel in these islands, but there is a accomodation complex in the Kuta Lombok area around 1.5-2 hour ride by car.

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Pink Beach is actually reachable by car, but the most exciting trip would be by boat. Car trip to Pink Beach is painful because the road is in very bad condition. Go to a FISH MARKET in Tanjung Luar village. This fish market is a dirty and messy, anyway it’s a traditional market.

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From that fish market, you need to find a fisherman who is willing to rent a boat. There must be a fisherman who is willing to rent a boat for you.  These fisherman are skilful and brave, only storm and huge wave can prevent them to go to the sea.

Boat rent costs you around US$32-US$38 (in local currency is around Rp300,000 – 350,000, October 2013. A 6-7 passengers group.) for a return trip to pink beach. The boat may stop at several beautiful beaches along the way. If you see a beautiful beach, do not afraid to ask the boatman if he can pull over to that beach. You will pass these following islands/beaches on the trip to Pink Beach: Cumi island, Sebui/Segui island, Petelu island, and Timbul island (timbul island is actually a small dry land which appears when sea level is lower).

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SNORKELING IN GILIs? GO TO GILI NANGGU
Well… the best snorkeling site in Lombok apparently is not in those nothern Gilis.
In my experience, the best site is in Gili Nanggu, one of the islands in the Southwest Lombok.

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TO GILI NANGGU
Gili Nanggu is located in the southwest area of Lombok. It is one of four islands series in the southwest. Check the google maps. There are Gili Bedis / Gili Kedis (stop at this island, Gili Bedis/Kedis beach is beautiful and pretty empty) Gili Sudak, Gili Tangkong, and GILI NANGGU. You go to Gili Nanggu from TAUN or TAWUN village (a few kilometres to the southwest from the Lembar ferry harbour).

Why the Lombok’s underwater scene is more lively in Gili Nanggu?
Simply because this is seemingly a conservation area. There is a project here to plant the corrals, and consequently more and bigger fishes and colorful corrals are easier to find here. On some spots, you can see man-made corral shelves. You can get no wrong if you see this corral shelves, you are in Gili Nanggu. Once you arrive in Gili Nanggu, there are people who offer you bread in a bottle, bring that bread and go snorkeling as much as you want around the island. Fishes will gather around you if you spill some bread. Some of the travelers complained that the bread has made the water cloudy… well… do not spill the bread too muchhh… hahaha… you want to see the fishes not to ruin the view.

REMEMBER: like the trip to Pink Beach, the boat may stop at several beautiful beaches along the way. If you see a beautiful beach, do not afraid to ask the boatman if he can pull over to that beach.

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WARNING: There is big gap between tourism facilities in Gili Trawangan complex and other area in Lombok island. You may find low quality or crappy facilities outside the Gili Trawangan. The best option is to anchor your trip in Mataram city, the capital of Lombok. Go to a place and back to Mataram once you finished. In southern part of Lombok, Kuta beach area offers some decent stays and a big name hotel, Novotel. I am sorry I can only recommend Novotel since I haven’t tried any of smaller hotel in Kuta, Lombok.

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