Visited October 12 – 19, 2024
After Kuta, we had two more stops in Lombok before returning to Bali. We first stopped in Senggigi on the western coast of Lombok for two nights before heading to Gili Trawangan for a week. Senggigi is the second most popular tourist destination in Lombok after Kuta. Gili Trawangan (“Gili T”) is the biggest and most popular of the three Gili Islands off the west coast of Lombok.
Two Nights in Senggigi at the Holiday Resort Lombok
Senggigi is on the way to the ferry port to Gili T, so we decided to spend a couple days here. We decided to “splurge” on a nicer resort because it was still comparatively incredibly affordable for a nicer resort on the beach at $50 a night. This is probably the best value accommodation of the entire trip. The Holiday Resort is a pretty standard, larger resort right on the beach with two pools and manicured grounds. The resort is a bit dated, but it was still gorgeous and we truly could not complain for the price.
We originally thought we would rent a motorbike and explore the beaches along the western coast, but upon seeing how nice the resort was, we instead just stayed at the resort for the two days. On our first day, we had an average lunch at the outdoor restaurant and then hung out at the nice beach club. I really loved the aesthetic of this beach club.
Then we went on an afternoon beach walk. Senggigi Beach, which the resort is on, is a narrow, rocky beach that is not that good for swimming. So we did not swim at the beach and only walked along it a couple of times. We also had happy hour beers along the beach for sunset.
For dinner, we left the resort to go to a local warung for dinner down the street. It was surprisingly full of tourists and we had a yummy meal while listening to the restaurant owner performing karaoke for us.
The next day, we hung out at the two different pools during the day and then had sunset happy hour again. For dinner, we went offsite again to a warung on Senggigi Beach and ate while looking out at the water. The food was really good!
One Week on the Wonderful Gili Trawangan
From the Holiday Resort, we went to the ferry port via a pre-booked private car. We turned down multiple efforts from the driver to book a pricey private ferry and booked a public ferry to Gili T in person. We were the only tourists on the public ferry. It was a pretty small boat and much rougher of a ride than I anticipated. Luckily it was only about thirty minutes to Gili T.
As soon as we arrived, I knew that we would love Gili T. Like in Kuta, we originally booked only four nights on Gili T but ended up extending our stay by two more nights because we liked it so much! For us, Gili T was a perfect, chill place to relax. It is busy with a lot of people, but it didn’t feel overwhelming. And no cars are allowed on the small island – bicycles and horse-drawn carriages are the main modes of transportation. This gave a more relaxed vibe to the island. The island is also very small, about 4-mi circumference, yet still big enough to have a variety of restaurants/cafe/bars and beaches and activities. Everything feels manageable. Here are our favorite things we did on Gili T.
Swimming with Sea Turtles
Swimming with sea turtles is a popular activity on Gili T. There are many turtles at the northeast beaches. We went to the turtle snorkel area in the mornings and rented snorkel masks a couple times. Each time, we saw multiple sea turtles that lingered for a long time. I have seen sea turtles snorkeling before, but they are usually in deeper waters so you can only catch a glimpse or see them for a couple of minutes before they swim away. But here, they like to hang out on the sand close to shore. So it’s easy to hover nearby and watch them for as long as you want. I would go out in the water and watch turtles for twenty minutes at a time; Nate would go out for even longer. It was so incredible to be so close and to be able to watch them for so long.
It was, however, discouraging to see how little respect many tourists and snorkeling guides had for the turtles. We would try to keep distance from the turtles, but so many people would crowd the turtles and get extremely close and touch them. Many guides were encouraging this. It felt uncomfortable to watch this so we would swim away whenever too many people crowded a turtle. Luckily, we went out early enough that we often were the only ones out swimming so we could snorkel more peacefully.
Biking and Running Around the Entire Island
One of my favorite activities while traveling is biking along the coast. On Gili T, you can bike around the entire island in about one hour along the water. We did this twice and it was so much fun. The views are different in each direction and even though the island is small, the vibes are quite different in each area. The east is the most developed and crowded area. The north is quieter with a more natural feel. The west side is also quieter but feels more polished with fancy resorts. And the south feels like a transition zone. It was fun to see the different sides of the island.
One morning, I got up early to run around the entire island which is about 4 miles. It has been very hard to find places to run outside during our travels. So I was determined to run on Gili T which has the most perfect running route. It quickly gets very hot once the sun rises, so I got up at 6am, but I should have gotten up even earlier because it was already so hot by 6:30. It was my first run in months so that combined with the heat made this run a much greater challenge than I anticipated. But I pushed through and now can say that it is probably the coolest run I have done.
Evening Movies on the Beach
Although Gili T is known as the “party island” among the three Gili Islands, there is plenty else to do in the evenings outside of partying. For us, that was watching free movies on the beach at night. The Aston Resort on the west side shows two free movies every night on the beach. It’s a great set up with lots of bean bag chairs in front of a huge screen. We went to watch movies twice and saw the new Twisters movie and Gladiator.
Watching a movie on the beach under the stars, feeling the ocean breeze is amazing. The setting was an amazing way to watch Gladiator for the first time. I understand why it is a classic and get the hype. Twisters was not nearly as good of a movie, but it was still an entertaining and fun watch.
Lounging at Beach Bars
Of course, no beach vacation is complete without mornings and/or afternoons just lounging on the beach reading, swimming, and sipping on cold coconuts and drinks. There are endless beach club/bar/restaurants along the east coast of Gili T. So many days we biked to a beach club, claimed beach beds, and hung out for a few hours. On the east side, the water is crystal clear and generally not too choppy making it the best spot to swim. No matter how many times I go to the beach, I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of it. Especially if it’s a picturesque beach with perfect water and views 🙂
Getting Many Massages
There are countless spas and massage shops on Gili T, many of which are incredibly affordable compared to the US at around $10 USD for an hour massage. I had been wanting to get massages throughout our trip but hadn’t gotten many. So, I fully took advantage of our slow week in Gili and went to our local spa, Gili Mo, five times during the week, trying different massages. Perhaps excessive, but I have no regrets!
Sunsets on the Water
You can see fabulous sunsets on the west side beaches at Gili. There are many beach bars and restaurants with happy hours enticing you in for a serene sunset. It often was a bit cloudy during sunset so we went to see the sunset a couple times to try to get a clear view.
Eating Lots of Good, Diverse Food
Is it us if we don’t focus on eating good food? Similar to the other tourist destinations in Indonesia, the food scene on Gili T punches above its weight for how small and relatively remote it is with food from all over the world. We had a mix of good Indonesian and international foods. Here are our top spots:
Indonesian: We had maybe the best chicken and beef satays of our life at Sumi Sate. It is a simple local food stall in the center of the island that was close to our homestay. It was so affordable at only $2 for 10 delectable skewers with a perfect peanut sauce. We loved it so much that after eating 20 skewers, we ate 10 more on our first visit. And we went back a second time.
Pizza: We went to a fancy beach restaurant called Santi Beach Restaurant for pizza and it was potentially the best pizza of our trip. Which is saying a lot because we’ve surprisingly had a lot of really good pizzas.
Chinese: We both love Sichuan Chinese food and stumbled upon a highly-rated Sichuan restaurant so decided to try it. It wasn’t as good as the restaurants we love in the US, but it was still pretty good so we went twice. On our first visit, the entire island lost power so we had to dine in the dark which was a fun experience.
Cookies: We were elated to find that our favorite coffee and cookie shop in Kuta, Jelajah, had a location on Gili T as well. So we of course when there multiple times.
In sum, Gili T felt like the perfect place to spend a slow week. It has the reputation online of being a big party town with nothing to do but partying. But we found it to not at all be the case. Sure, if you want to party hard every night, you can do that. But no one is forcing you to join in and there is plenty to do otherwise. We did go out one night at my insistence to see what all the partying hype was about. And to be honest, though there were a lot of people at a couple of bars, it felt pretty contained to just a couple spots along a long commercial stretch.
Gili T is also famous for diving. Due to my fear of water, I have no desire to dive and so did not try it. Nate did do an exploratory diving class and strongly considered getting scuba certified. However, it requires all-day classes over four days. He was tired and wanted to rest, so he decided to not finish the courses and instead chill with me.
We loved the amount of options on this little island and being able to walk or bike everywhere. We would go back to Gili T in a heartbeat and next time maybe explore the other two Gili islands as well.
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