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What and where are the Gilis?
The Gili islands are a set of 3 tiny islands located in the northwest coast of Lombok island, Indonesia. If you’re in desperate need of a sandy paradise escape filled with coconuts, cocktails and beach hammocks with world class diving and snorkelling then the Gilis is your getaway. With no cars, no motorbikes and no worries, it’s got all the friendly staff, all the Bintang and all the snorkelling sites for finding turtles, angelfish, starfish, shipwrecks, manta rays, sharks, statues and even underwater mopeds!
How long do you need for the Gilis?
In order to visit the Gili islands properly, you need to have a week. If you want to add in Nusa Penida island and Lombok (highly recommend) then you need two weeks. This is because the islands take a significant amount of time to travel between, especially when the boats only leave twice a day.
If you've only got a week, the Gilis is feasible (and Lombok) since each of them only require a day trip as you can see everything on each island in half a day. The boat will come back to pick you up between 3pm and 4pm and that gives you plenty of time to do all the activities on each island.
How do you get there?
Boat info that will REALLY help, and will save you a LOT of time:
All international travelers will fly into Denpasar, Bali and then catch a 2 hour boat from Padang Bai harbour to the Gili islands. If you’re flying from Sydney, your flight will arrive late at night so you will need to find accommodation in Bali for the night since the last boat to the Gilis leaves Bali at 1pm. Nusa Dua is an optimal place to stay as it is only 30 min from the airport and about 90 min to Padang Bai harbour. It also has a pretty beach and water sports!
The boat to the Gilis leaves Padang Bai harbour, Bali at two times: 9am and 1pm and will stop at Gili Trawangan first and then at Gili Air. The Gilis are only about 15 minutes apart, however, the schedule is always running late due to their extremely inefficient methods of packing everyone’s suitcases on top of the boat, piling as many people into the boat as possible then unloading, and reloading, ALL of the bags at every single stop.
The boat that comes to pick you up from Bali actually comes from the Gilis first in order to drop people off in Bali. Since it has already stopped at all three islands to pick up passengers, it arrived in Bali an hour late at 2pm. As we were staying on Gili Air, the final stop, we didn’t arrive until 4:30pm.
On the way back to Bali at the end of your trip you will find the journey is a little quicker as the boat will leave on time. From Gili Air, the boat leaves at two times: 11am and 3pm. You should purchase your return ticket in advance at Padang Bai, Bali before departing to the Gilis, then verify it at the ticket office on whichever Gili island you are staying at to reserve your return seat.
Which island to stay on
Not sure which Gili island to stay at?
Whether you’re a backpacker, romantic couple or Bintang gang, pick your island based on the following vibes:
Gili Meno:
The smallest of the three islands, famous for it’s underwater statues, blue coral and sea turtles. Not a lot goes on here and it seems quite deserted most of the time, apart from the day trippers, as you can do everything in half a day.
Gili Trawangan:
The largest of the three, a backpacker’s heaven, is known for it’s beach parties (+ pub crawls), sunken shipwreck and top diving spots for seeing manta rays and sharks.
Although this is where you’ll find all the backpackers, it has the bluest water, fanciest hotels and is the prettiest one in my opinion.
If we came back, we would actually stay here for it’s great surfing spots and super turquoise water – perfect for snorkelling; not to mention the best diving island of the three.
Gili Air:
This island is the one closest to Lombok island, and it's vibe is in between the other two, with a mix of great sunset beach bars with the best BBQ seafood and live bands, as well as snorkelling. This is the most popular for couples, solo travelers, families and groups of friends to stay at.
Dive centres are available on all three if you’re looking to learn scuba diving before heading to the best diving spots in the world.
So whether you’re going for the wild party scene, attractive mix of buzz and bliss or a quiet haven in paradise, make sure you visit all 3!
Island hopping
The Gili islands are only about 15 minutes apart and Lombok island is about 15 minutes from Gili Air. All can be accessed by a public boat, which costs between 12,000-35,000 rupiah (~$1.20-$3.50) each way. Just turn up at the ticket office at each harbour half an hour in advance to purchase a one-way ticket.
You can pay for a private boat to take you across whenever you like but these are about $35-$50, depending on how hard you can bargain so the best option is to remember the public boat schedule in this picture:
To travel to Lombok, there is not a set departure time. They just wait for 40 passengers to fill the boat before they will leave. The boat could fill up in 5 minutes or in an hour so your best bet is to get to the harbour and buy your ticket at 7am, head to a neabry café for a drink and they will call you when they’ve got 40 passengers. The same goes from Lombok island (Bangsal harbour). We visited on a particularly quiet day so after waiting for an hour they departed back to Gili Air with just 25 passengers.
How to get around on the islands
With no cars or motorbikes, the only mode of transport is by horse and carriage, by bicycle or by foot. It takes about 2 hours to walk around the largest, Gili Trawangan; just under 2 hours for Gili Air and about 90 min to walk around Gili Meno. Gili Air, the 2nd largest/smallest, is about 5km in circumference.
The cheapest, most efficient and definitely the most fun option is to rent a bicycle from your hotel (or many restaurants offer bikes for rent) and ride around the island, stopping whenever and wherever you feel like! It's about 50,000 rupiah (~$5) for 24 hours.
The small horses are not given enough water and should definitely not be left to parch in such hot conditions, let alone carry heavy bamboo trees, groups of travellers, suitcases and equipment. Some of the horses had green and orange foam frothing from their mouths so please don’t endorse this or waste your money on these expensive rides where the horses are clearly mistreated.
Top things to do on each island
Gili Air:
Go snorkelling at the ‘Best snorkelling spot’. There is a sign directing you to it.
Rent a bike and go beach and bar hopping. Unless you want to walk your bike through the deep sand paths around the circumference of the island (it's definitely a work out!), ride through the winding dirt paths through the middle of the island. This is where you’ll discover local Gili life (chickens, cows, goats and babies), much cheaper restaurants, massage spas and coconut farms.
Drink a coconut, Bintang or Mai tai at one of the hundreds of beach cafes/bars around the island
Relax on one of many beach swings or hammocks around the island
Get a foot massage ($6 for 30 min) or full body massage ($8-12 for an hour)
Chill in your resort’s swimming pool
Go to the sunset open air cinema at Ombak beach resort, open for anyone, and watch a movie for $5. Popcorn is free! They show a different movie every night so check the day before!
Do a cooking class (between $25-40) and learn how to make satay sauce, yellow curry and Mie Goreng
Ride a horse along the beach at sunset for the most majestic insta pic ever #majesticaf
Do stand up paddle boarding yoga or 'bottom of the pool yoga'...yep, that's a thing (for some reason, you’ll find all the yoga and vegan places together in the cheap strip down the centre of the island) #hippy #nojudgement
Gili Meno:
Swim to the underwater statues. You can swim there from the beach (not very far out, just ask locals where they are) or ask a boat to take you there. Beware the current is very strong!
Go snorkelling at Turtle point. Go for a snorkel at the harbour, while waiting for your boat to collect you. This is where we saw a turtle! #turtleyawesome
Snorkel to the shipwreck. We swam from the beach against the strong current but it is quite far out so you can do a boat tour to all the main snorkelling spots, including the shipwreck.
Snorkel along Meno wall (connects turtle point to the underwater statues)
Ride a bike around the whole island and cycle past the coconut plantation (looks great in pics), saltwater lake and mangrove forest
Gili Trawangan:
Do a diving course then go diving at Shark point or Manta point
Go to Wreck point and dive to the sunken WWII shipwreck vessel (45m deep, cannot snorkel)
Snorkel to the underwater mopeds (we swam from the beach and saw lots of fish along the way). There is an underwater graveyard sort of site where there are mopeds, nets, tractor-like machinery and tonnes of fish! This is where we spotted an eel!
Rent a surfboard and go surfing / do a surfing lesson with the locals (they can catch waves on their head!)
Hike to the top of Gili T viewpoint for an oceanic view of the Gili islands, Mt Rinjani (Lombok) & Mt Agung (Bali)
Get a massage (so cheap!)
Try local spicy lunch for $1.50! See picture at the end of the page
6pm night markets
Best places to eat and drink on Gili Air
The night life on Gili Air has a chilled out vibe in perfect combo with a lively island buzz. Just kick back with a cocktail on a beach bean bag at one of the many bars, enjoying the sunset and live bands performing popular tunes in reggae style that you can sing and dance along to into the night because there are no work commitments tomorrow…or the next day…
The best part is that it is ALWAYS happy hour, almost everywhere between 4-8pm. Buy one, get one free!
Best bars for live music and cocktails
Legend bar
Zipp bar
Mowie’s
Gili Lumbung
The BBQ seafood on the Gilis is the freshest you are ever going to find in your life and to DIE for, it is that tasty!
You pick which fish, squid, prawns or lobster you want and they’ll cook it for you while you fill your plate up with a selection from the unlimited salad bar, all for about $9!
All the BBQ seafood + salad deals also come with fries or mash too! The fish is caught on the island and includes: Mahi mahi, Butterfish, Tuna, Swordfish and Snapper.
There are four BBQ seafood restaurants set up next to each other along the beach on the south side of the island just to the left of the harbour. They all do the same happy hour cocktails (buy 1, get 1 free 4-8pm), BBQ seafood & salad selection with the same prices. They’re all as good as each other so we tried them all out and here were our findings:
Best restaurants for BBQ seafood: All set on the beach
Scallywags: Best salad bar selection, best Sambal sauce, best seafood skewers and beef rendang
Zipp bar: Best selection of sauces for the seafood (curry, sambal, dabu dabu, bbq, chilli) and they have live music, so good we came back twice!
Sunrise beach club: Most romantic & best desserts. The bannofee pie and crème brulee were great and only $3.50 each!
Best café
Coffee and Thyme: Located right at the harbour with the best coffee, acai bowls & breakfast AND free wifi so you can wait here and watch the mountains, waves and Instagram while waiting for your boat to arrive!
Where to stay
If you decide to stay on Gili Air, and want to be within walking distance from the:
Top snorkeling spot
Best BBQ seafood & live music restaurants on the beach
Harbour where boats pick you up early in the morning for island hopping
PLUS, if you want a resort that has:
A swimming pool with a pool bar and bean bags
Romantic huts surrounding the pool
Breakfast included
Bikes for rent
Friendly staff that organise tours for you and speak English
Then the place that satisfies ALL of the above requirements is: GILI AIR LAGOON RESORT
Stay here for a week and you’ll be looked after well AND in the centre of everything. You can walk there from the harbour when you arrive (don't catch an expensive horse and carriage ride, they will rip you off big time!).
Hope all your questions have been answered for your trip to the Gili Islands and don't forget to visit the nearby Lombok Island too! For info on Lombok, read this!
