Our 7 Month Travel Blog

From Lombok we visited the Gili islands, a trio of islands off the northwest coast of Lombok.

The islands are known for their backpacker scene, diving, snorkelling and beaches.

We got a small boat from Lombok first to Gili Trawangan (Gili T), the largest and most developed of the three islands. The trip took around 20 mins from the mainland on a speedboat.

Once we got to Gili T the beaches were some of the nicest we had seen so far.

On the island there are no motorised vehicles so people either travel around by horse and cart or bikes. We decided to hire bikes whilst we were there.

It’s about 7km to cycle around the island.

We stopped in different places as we made our way round. There are beach bars all along the coast and lots of hotels and resorts on the island.

It was interesting speaking with people who had visited the island over 30 years ago as apparently there was nothing on the island apart from a few small houses.

From Gili T we also visited Gili Air, which is a quieter version of the busier Gili T. A public ferry runs between the three islands, which is only a short 15 min ride.

The vibe on Gili Air was a lot less commercial and had a sleepier feel to it. People also got around by horse and cart!

We also familiarised ourselves with the high-tech Tsunami evacuation route, which involves running to the highest point on the island!

** it’s a flat island…

We wondered around the small number of shops and cafes and went in the little supermarket….good job we didn’t need a basket!

We really enjoyed our time on the Gilis.

Next stop across the Indian Ocean to Australia!