How to get from Bali to Gili?
By plane
- This is by far the quickest and most comfortable way. Now that prices of flights have gone up, this has become more expensive than the ferry (this situation is much different then the one in 5/97 when prices where only slightly different).
- There are very frequent flights from Denpasar to Mataram from early morning till the evening with Merpati, the planes are quite small. The flight takes about 30 minutes.
- If you want to go to Gili, take the 8 am plane. You will arrive at around 9 am in Mataram (take into account some delay). There you can take a taxi straight to Bangsal. The boats from Bangsal to Gili leave around 10 am. So you will be on Gili at around 11 am.
- For the return trip, book your plane around 12 am. The ferries go back around 8 am, so you have time to take a minibus and be in Mataram airport around 11 am.
- Be aware: I got 2 reports from people who's flight was cancelled (7/98), so they were put in standby for the next flight. Reconfirm and be there on time, but even then you need to be lucky.
- What does this cost ?
1) Airfare 234.500 Rp one way (5/99). There's now a new company Air Mark with 2 flights a day giving discounts on these prices (7/99).
2) Airport tax Denpasar 5 US$ Mataram 20.000 Rp (11/98)
3) Taxi 35.000 Rp ( 5/99).
4) Chartered ferry 20.000 Rp (11/98), 25.000 in 5/99.
By organised tour
You can join an organised tour which starts around 8 am in Kuta by bus to Padang Bai. From there you take the ferry to Lembar and then further on to Senggigi where you spend the night. Next morning you go on to Bangsal where you take the same ferry around 10 am, only one day later then by plane.
What does this cost ?
- This trip including bus and 2 ferries costs 39.000 Rp (11/98).
- Count the accomodation in Senggigi at 30.000 Rp.
By boat
NEW INFO (2/2000): There's a fastboat called "Bounty Boat" leaving Benoa to Sengiggi and subsequently calling at Gili Meno. This trip takes about 2,5 hours and costs 45 US$. The schedule for the moment is:
- Benoa: leave at 8 am
- Gili Meno: leave at noon
If you take the ferry before 9 am, you should be able to reach the Gili's the same day without the obligatory night stop on Lombok. There's a shuttle going right away to Bangsal waiting for this boat.
You can get directly from Padangbai (Bali) to Bangsal (Lombok) by boat without passing through Lembar. There is a daily boat run by Perama. The boat is a big motorboat, but not really a ferry. The trip takes 5 hours, lunch is provided and starts at 10 am. There's a return trip around 3 pm (Karin Husman, 8/98).
There's also a fastboat from Benoa to Lembar at 20 US$ (11/98).
Ferry Bangsal to Gili These are small boats for a maximum of 20 people. The locals have set up an ingenious system to make tourists pay more. You have the choice between the "normal boat" or the "chartered boat". The normal boat costs 50 cents and leaves when full. The chartered boat costs 1,25 US$ and leaves at fixed times. Since all tourists take the chartered boat, the normal boat never gets full.
Gili Air
- Gili Air is the smallest of the 3 Gili's. We met other travellers who did the 3 islands and they said they liked Gili Air the most. Don't expect too much activity. You only come to Gili to sleep, eat, relax and snorkel. It's up to you how long you want to do this before you get bored, but for us 2 days was enough.
- There is also a diving school Reefseekers run by an English couple. They have recently moved and are now closer to the harbour next to Hotel Gili Indah. You can e-mail them at reefseekers
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. They now also have a website with info on their center and the diving spots they visit. No prices though, you'll have to e-mail them I guess.
- Prices stated here are low season prices, they go up especially in August.
Hotel For our last days of holiday, we really wanted to relax and have some luxury, so we took the best hotel on the island, the "Gili Air Hotel" (formerly Han's Cottages). They have a website at http://web.tin.it/GILIAIR/
It is of course more expensive then the rest, but it is worth it:
- It's very well situated at the North-Eastern corner of the island, so you can both enjoy sunrise and sunset which are both spectacular (the sun is coming up over Mt. Rinjani).
- It has its own small beach with tables and umbrellas.
- At night Everyone has dinner on the beach, really romantic.
- Even in low season the place is not deserted.
Especially in low season you can haggle a little bit, so they will drop taxes.
We paid 27,5 US$ for a double room with cold water and including breakfast and lunch (although this was not originally included, they offered it by surprise).
For 40 US$ you get warm water and AC.
I got a recent report (7/98) saying it was not so clean. Price is now 250.000 Rp (25 US$) without AC , and 350.000 Rp (35 US$) with AC and hot water. These people were not so enthusiastic about the place as I was.
One of the few places offering e-mail services is Coconut Cottages.
They have basic beach huts with fan and shower 40.000 Rp a double, and a bit more luxurious huts with stone floor and flush toilet at 60.000 Rp, this includes taxes and breakfast.
There was an LP posting saying to avoid Lucky's homestay located on the west side of the island. They have attractive prices, but once you leave they will double or triple your bill and put you under pressure to pay.
General warning on hotels in Gili
Most of the bathrooms of hotelrooms in Gili have no roof. Be extremely careful as thieves entering through the bathroom have been frequently reported.
What to do?
- As said before, you can only walk a bit, relax, swim and snorkel.
- While snorkeling it's very important to know how the water is streaming, I can assure you that swimming upstream isn't easy. So if the stream is going South, you go into the water a bit south of Gili Air Hotel (where Reefseekers diving school used to be) and you swim south till the reef stops (after about 1500 metres).
- The snorkeling is OK, not really spectacular but still OK.
- You can rent snorkeling material on several places like Reefseekers.
- You can also rent a glass bottom boat for 80.000 Rp from 9 am till 2 pm and go to Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan (7/98).
Transport
The only transport on the island consists of horse carriage. Pay less then a dollar for 1 trip.
Be careful getting on the ferry back to Bangsal. We saw 1 traveller falling in the water with his backpack while trying to get in the boat. Not my idea of having fun !
Gili Meno If you prefer to go to Gili Meno, then check out this site from Rob Donkersloot. The site is visually very nice and has some info on their Hotel Gazebo Meno and some nice pictures on their snorkeling trip.
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