The Gili Islands are a group of three tiny islands situated off the coast of Lombok. They all feature beautiful sandy beaches, clear blue water and are surrounded by turtles.
It is very easy to get to these from both mainland Bali and places such as Nusa Pendia and Lombok via boats.
Don’t ride the horses
The Gili Islands don’t allow any motorbikes or cars on them unless they are electric. This means the modes of transport you can choose from are bicycles or horse and carriage. Sounds magical right….. well the horses are overworked, underfed and are not looked after properly. Please, if you can, avoid using them. Instead, we highly recommend you get a bike and avoid any horse riding sessions the locals offer you.
Most accommodation on the island is found within walking distance of the port, however there are some that is probably between a 40-minute walk to an hour. If you want to avoid the cruelty of the horses and don’t want to walk with your bags, I would consider staying somewhere within comfortable walking distance of the port for you.
The three islands
Getting in between the three islands is also incredibly easy and cheap. There is a fast boat going every hour and it costs around 40,000. So, if you want to be able to explore them all, you can. However, if you don’t want to dot around or just want to visit the others for a day, but don’t know which island to have as your base, then we have you covered.
Which Gili island should I stay on?
Nightlife and liveliness – Gili T
Gili T is the largest of the three islands and the beach road is lined with bars, restaurants and even clubs. This island is the liveliest of the three as there is plenty to do. If you are looking for some nightlife, then we highly recommend that you make Gili T your base island.
A quiet getaway – Gili Meno
Gili Meno is the smallest of the three islands and is probably the least established. This means that the island is pretty quiet, which makes it perfect for those looking for a quiet beach holiday and who want to stay away from the hustle and bustle.
A romantic getaway with some buzz – Gili Air
Gili Air is known for being a romantic place to stay. We believe this is because of the more boutique accommodation you can find on the island. It is smaller than Gili T, so attracts less people, but still has many restaurants and bars to choose from. If you are looking for more of a romantic getaway, then we would choose Gili Air.
What we would recommend
What we did and what we would recommend to others is to have Gili T as your main base. Then you can take a few day trips over to Meno and Air. If you have more time, then perhaps you could go and stay a night or two on whichever island you find interesting, or both for that matter.
Things to do on the Gili Islands
Snorkelling
We can’t mention the Gili Islands without talking about the infamous snorkelling opportunities. As soon as you arrive on the island you will be asked countless times if you want to go on a snorkelling trip around the three islands.
We gave in and decided to do a ‘glass bottom’ boat trip that took us to three snorkelling sites and visited Meno and Air. We have put glass bottom in prentices because the boat really only has a small square on the bottom that is sea through, so unless you are sat right in front of that, you probably aren’t going to see anything anyway.
We aren’t entirely sure whether the snorkelling trip was something we would rave about if we are being 100% honest. Not only was each site extremely busy with around 30-50 other snorkelers, but we actually didn’t see many fish at all. However, we did get to see quite a few turtles, which was great. Having said this, we had actually already seen turtles just off Gili T at turtle point, so although you can never see enough turtles in our opinion, it still wasn’t the most thrilling snorkelling trip for that reason.
If you have snorkelled before and feel confident swimming, then it might be a better idea to head to the snorkelling sites yourselves and rent the equipment. The statues can be reached by swimming off the beach of the Meno island. You can catch the turtles at Turtle point on Gili T. However if you aren’t a strong swimmer or have never done it before, it might be a good idea to go on one of these trips so they can guide you and help you along.
Cycling
As mentioned above, cycling is a huge thing on the Gili Islands. On Gili T, you can cycle around the island in less than an hour and doing so means you get to see most things that the island offers. We recommend you start at around 4:30pm from the main beach front and head north. Take a break from cycling at the beach front market and do a spot of shopping. Then jump back on and head towards Sunset beach, where you can take your pick of bars to sit and have a drink and view the sunset. From sunset beach it is around 10 minutes back to the main area and some of the path is not very well lit, so if you can, rent a bike with lights on it, that would be better. If not, don’t worry, as we did it without and you just need to be careful and maybe walk the bits where you can’t see the road properly, which is never more than less than a minute walk.
Eat at the night market
Gili T has a great night market which is located on the square opposite the port. Here you can find some very cheap authentic Indonesian food, as well as buy cakes and other edible treats.
Watch a film at one of the many movies nights
Quite a few bars, particularly on sunset beach offer movie nights. You can go and chill on the bean bags whilst watching a film. It is perfect for a night when you want a bit of chilled entertainment.
Go on a night out
There are some very lively bars on Gili T, including the Irish Bar, the Jungle Bar and Sand Bar to name just a few. Some bars open until the early hours of the morning and most have generous happy hours in the afternoon!
Without A Paddle Travel 