Has anyone been to the Gili Islands or Lombok in Indonesia?
I'm living in Jakarta for one year and I want to find a nice beach with few tourists for a holiday. My friends have suggested the Gili Islands - does anyone have some tips (places to stay, etc). Are there better beaches to visit? I don't want to go to Bali because apparently there are too many tourists nowdays...
Lombok & Bali Islands
We went last month : the weather was very nice compared to Jakarta, altough it rained every day. Heavy short showers. Refreshing.
Lombok Island
positive points :
It is very wild and beautiful.
The nature, rice fields, nature in general is just fabulous.
The people are friendly and you feel safe wherever you go.
Just dress properly. ( Moslem community)
We stayed a week and took a 1 day tour ( 13 hours) to go from the Southern tip of the island westwards and to the North and then went to see the waterfalls at the base of the Rinjani Volcano and then back South.
We used what I call "the Flower route". All along the route, you have beautiful wild flowers growing. Just mindboggling.
You have, on the way, workshops with artisans working on weaving, woodcarving, earthenware, jewellery, etc.....
Colourful local markets, temples, mosques, palace.
The food is good. Plenty of nice restaurants, quite cheap, serving excellent food.
The hotels are nice.
We stayed at the Senggigi Beach Hotel ( all individual traditional bungalows, very clean, very peaceful, along the beach). From what we have seen, the best along that stretch of beach.
Negative points :
-We didn't find the beach very clean except ,maybe, in front of the hotel.. Maybe if you go to a hotel on the Eastern side of the island you'll find cleaner beaches.
-Once you get out of the hotel, you are being harassed (the term is not too strong) by peddlers and sellers who can't take no for an answer. This is most probably due to the fact that there are very few tourists around since the bombing in Bali a few years ago. Just remain calm and polite. Keep on smiling!
- You can also notice, once out of the hotel, that the island expected a tourist boom which never materialized... so lots of construction going on but eventually, most of the new buildings were left unfinished and the older ones left to decay. It looked like a war zone to us.
So: if you want peace and quite in beautiful surroundings, trekking, discovering the island and the people, go for Lombok (except for the area right next to the hotels LOL)
Bali is beautiful in a different way. There were hardly any tourists. But then, the high season is starting in June/ July till September.
Bali is more civilised, with beautiful natural scenery. Different from Lombok though. Lots of temples (Bouddhist community)
Very friendly population, good restaurants and hotels. Very tourist orientated. Shops, shops and more shops.
Be careful when you choose a hotel.
Sanur Beach is more for older people and children as the sea is not deep enough for surfing. No night life whatshowever. Beautiful and clean beach.
Kuta Beach is the place for the young generation, surfers and the ones enjoying night life.
Seminyak Beach (not sure about the spelling) more upmarket apparently.
Gili Islands
We checked out the Gili Islands especially Trawangan. Would love to go there. Keep in mind that most hotels do not have air conditioning.
Except for water sports there is absolutely nothing else to do there. Quite and peaceful apparently.
Check out the website otel.com you'll get all info + photos on all the hotels of those islands (Bali, Lombok, The Gilis) + rates, availabilities & packages.
"Paradise" Mericanomad's photos around Gili Trawangan, Indonesia
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