Gili Islands
Three Small Coral Islands Off North West Lombok Where No Motor Vehicles Are Permitted; Green Turtles Feed On The Seagrass Close Enough To Shore To Snorkel To · Gili Trawangan, West Nusa Tenggara
Three small coral islands off north-west Lombok, and the thing that defines all of them is that THERE ARE NO MOTOR VEHICLES - no cars, no scooters, nothing. You walk, cycle, or take a CIDOMO, a small horse cart. On an island you can walk around in ninety minutes that is not a gimmick; it changes the sound of the place entirely. THE THREE ARE GENUINELY DIFFERENT: TRAWANGAN is the big one with the bars and the dive schools, AIR has the best balance of life and quiet, and MENO is nearly empty and is where couples go. GREEN TURTLES FEED ON THE SEAGRASS CLOSE ENOUGH TO SHORE THAT YOU CAN SNORKEL TO THEM from the beach, which is rare anywhere. THE 2018 LOMBOK EARTHQUAKES hit the islands hard and forced a mass evacuation by boat, and the rebuild since has been substantial. Choose the right island and the Gilis are excellent; choose the wrong one and you will blame the islands for it rather than the booking. Trawangan for bars, Air for balance, Meno for silence.
Gili Islands, North Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, Gili Trawangan, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia
REACHED BY BOAT ONLY. FAST BOATS RUN FROM BALI - Padangbai, Sanur or Serangan - in around two hours, and PUBLIC BOATS FROM BANGSAL ON LOMBOK take twenty to forty minutes and cost a fraction as much. CROSSINGS STOP IN THE LATE AFTERNOON and are CANCELLED IN ROUGH WEATHER, which strands people; never book a same-evening flight out of Bali or Lombok. THE ISLAND HOPPING BOATS between the three run on a fixed twice-daily schedule rather than on demand, so plan around it. THERE IS NO GATE AND NO ADMISSION. DIVE SCHOOLS AND SNORKEL BOATS keep their own hours. ATMS EXIST BUT RUN OUT AND CHARGE HEAVILY - bring cash. Fresh water is scarce and largely desalinated or shipped.