Three small islands off the north-west corner of Lombok, with no cars and no motorbikes on any of them. People come for a day and stay a week. Here is what I would tell a friend arriving for the first time.
Three islands, three different holidays
Gili Trawangan is the biggest and the busiest: the most places to stay and eat, a dive scene, and the only real nightlife of the three. The north and west sides are much quieter than the harbour strip, and that is where the sunsets are.
Gili Meno is the quiet one. A salt lake in the middle, a turtle hatchery, the underwater statues off the west coast, and very little else. Couples and people who want to read a book.
Gili Air sits in between: enough cafés and warungs to feel alive, slow enough to sleep. If you cannot decide, this is the one.
They are twenty minutes apart by boat, so you can stay on one and see all three in a day.
Getting here
From Bali, by fast boat. From Padang Bai the crossing is the shortest, around an hour and a half in good conditions; from Serangan or Sanur it is closer to two and a half or three hours. Expect somewhere between twenty and fifty dollars one way depending on the operator and the season.
From Lombok, from Bangsal harbour. The public boat is about forty minutes to Trawangan, thirty to Meno, twenty to Air, for around IDR 45,000. The public fast boat is about IDR 100,000 with departures through the day. A private speedboat does the same crossing in ten to twenty minutes.
From Lombok airport, the drive north to Bangsal takes about ninety minutes. If you land late, tell me before you travel — arriving at Bangsal after the last public boat is the classic first mistake, and there are ways around it.
Times and prices move with the season and the operator, so take these as orders of magnitude and ask me the week you travel.
Getting around once you are here
There are no cars and no motorbikes. You walk, you cycle, or you take a cidomo, the small horse cart. Walking right around Gili Air or Gili Meno takes about an hour and a half, Trawangan a little more. Bicycles are everywhere and cheap, and the sand on the north paths is deep enough that you will push for part of it.
Where the turtles are
Green and hawksbill turtles live here year round and feed on the seagrass beds just off all three islands. You do not need to dive: most sightings are in three to six metres of water, from the surface, with a mask.
Where exactly depends on the tide and the time of day, which is most of what a guide is for. There is also a conservation hatchery that raises hatchlings until they are strong enough for the open sea, and on a good day you can help release one.
The shared snorkeling trip covers the turtles, the statues and a coral garden in about five hours.
The underwater statues
Forty-eight figures in a circle on the sand off Gili Meno, placed there in 2017 and slowly turning into reef. Three to six metres down, visible from the surface, and the photograph most people come back with. There is a whole page about them here, including how to get there and when the light is best.
When to come
The sea is warm all year. The driest months run roughly from April to October, and the wettest from November to March, though rain here usually means a heavy hour rather than a grey day. Visibility underwater is best in the morning whatever the month, before the wind gets up.
July, August and the New Year period are the busy weeks. If you want the statues to yourselves, come outside those or go early.
Practical things nobody tells you
Bring cash. There are ATMs but they run dry, and most small places do not take cards. Bring reef-safe sunscreen if you can — what you put on your skin ends up on the coral you came to see. And bring less than you think: you will live in a swimsuit and a pair of flip-flops.
Questions people ask
Which island should I stay on? +
Gili Air if you want the balance of quiet and life, Gili Meno if you want nothing but the sea, Gili Trawangan if you want places to go out at night. You can visit the other two in a day from any of them.
Do I need to book activities in advance? +
Not really. Message me a day or two ahead and we sort it out. In July, August and around New Year, a few days ahead is safer.
Is it safe to swim and snorkel from the beach? +
Close to shore, yes, in the morning. The channels between the islands are another matter — the current runs harder than it looks, and that is where people get into trouble.
Message me and we sort out your day
No booking platform, no deposit, no commission in between. Tell me your dates and how many you are, and I answer in minutes.
Also worth your morning
Snorkeling in the Gili Islands
A half-day snorkeling trip around Gili Trawangan, Meno and Air with a guide born on Lombok. Green turtles, the underwater statues, coral gardens. From IDR 175,000.
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The underwater statues of Gili Meno
Forty-eight figures in a circle, 3 to 6 metres down off Gili Meno. What the statues are, when the light is best, how to reach them and how to get the photo, by a local guide.
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