Gili Trawangan
Gili Trawangan has no cars, no scooters and no roads, and turtles feeding a few metres off the beach. One of Indonesia's densest hostel scenes, boat parties, and Meno and Air a morning's ferry away.
Gili Trawangan in a nutshell
Gili Trawangan: what to expect
The numbers here are drawn from 688,000+ planned stops across Indonesia on Stippl.
Gili Trawangan is three kilometres by two of coral-fringed sand off north-west Lombok, and no engine is allowed on it. You walk, cycle the seven-kilometre ring track or take a cidomo horse cart, and that absence is the first thing anyone notices. Green and hawksbill turtles feed on the seagrass a short swim from the north and east shores, sunk wrecks and underwater sculptures do the work of reefs at Shark Point and Halik, and the west-side bars look across the strait to Mount Agung at sunset.
Gili Trawangan holds the fewest one-night stops in Indonesia, because the boat decides. Thirteen in a hundred stays here are a single night, the lowest in the country, and a crossing of two to three hours from Bali is what prices the overnight out. Travellers also settle on it late, 67 days ahead, the shortest lead time we measure in Indonesia.
The island works at 3 nights, and it matters which Gili you booked. Trawangan is the loud one, with resident DJs, boat parties and a strip that runs late, while the morning ferry makes Meno and Air half-day trips rather than commitments. All three dive the same sites, so the choice of base is social. Skip Trawangan if you want somewhere unspoilt, because the centre is built up and the waste problem is visible.
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Divers and snorkellers
Turtles a few metres offshore, several wrecks and sculpture reefs, and all three islands share the dive sites, so the base is a social choice.
Backpackers on a budget
The hostel layer here is one of Indonesia's densest, with pools, party boats and free breakfasts at dorm prices.
Anyone who wants a night out
Nightlife is the reason the island has its reputation, and most people give it 3 nights of it.
Anyone who wants no engines
The absence of cars and scooters is genuinely unusual, and it is the first thing everyone notices on landing.
Island-hoppers
The ferry between the three islands runs every morning, so Meno and Air are half-day trips rather than commitments.
Maybe not for you: anyone looking for an unspoilt island, since the centre is built up; light sleepers near the strip; families with young children, given the party economy and the open drug trade; and anyone who assumes the mushroom bars mean the law is relaxed.
The best time to visit Gili Trawangan
Dry season
May to September
Calm seas, the best visibility and far less rain than Bali: the Gilis sit on Lombok's calendar. July and August are the peak and the party at its loudest; May, June and September get the water without the crowd.
Wet season
November to March
Rougher crossings and more cancellations rather than washed-out days; a genuinely quieter island, and the crossing is the constraint.
- The full moon is the island's own calendar. The party economy runs on it rather than on any festival; in party week the hostels fill and the fast boats from Bali sell out, and the fortnight after is the quiet one.
- Nyepi does not apply here, but Bali's Nyepi still stops the boats from Bali. The Gilis are Lombok and Muslim-majority; the island works normally in March, and Ramadan and Idul Fitri are the dates that change it.
- Gili Trawangan is planned about 67 days ahead on Stippl, and September is its month. It is decided on from Bali, which works in the dry season and needs a spare day for the crossing in the wet.
- In the wet season the fast boats cancel, and the alternative is the slow route via Lombok. A cancelled crossing costs a day each way; from November to March book the last Bali night with that in mind.
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Things to do on Gili Trawangan
Snorkelling with turtles
Swim off the north and east shores over the seagrass where green and hawksbill turtles graze, close enough that most people see one from the surface. Free from the beach; a mask rents for €3.
Diving the Gili sites
Dive Shark Point, Halik and the deliberately sunk wrecks and underwater sculptures that now function as reefs, about €40 a dive. All three islands use the same sites; the Trawangan shops are the biggest.
Cycling the ring track
Ride the seven kilometres around the island, two or three hours with stops, on a bike for about €3 a day. Expect to push through sand on the north side, and a different island once you are away from the main lane.
Sunset on the west side
Sit at the beach bars and swings on the west side looking across the strait to Bali, with Mount Agung on the skyline on a clear evening. Free, and the swings are the photograph.
The night market
Eat at the island's cheap and most local hour, the night market by the harbour from six: grilled fish and Sasak dishes for about €3. The place to eat before the bars.
Gili Meno and Gili Air
Take the morning island-hopping boat to both, about €5, for a half day on each; Meno in particular is the antidote to Trawangan. The last boat back is mid afternoon.
The neighbourhoods of Gili Trawangan
The east strip
Pier, main lane, night market
The developed side from the harbour to the night market: the pier, the main lane, the dive shops, the restaurants and the bars that run late. For first visits and nightlife; not for sleep.
Everything at the door, and the music until three.
The north-west
Quiet, low-rise, turtles
Quiet and low-rise with the best snorkelling access, about twenty-five minutes' cycling from the pier, and the calmest bungalows. For couples and snorkellers who want the turtles and not the bars.
The turtles closest and the music furthest, and a long ride for dinner.
The sunset side
Beach bars, swings, Agung
The south-west: beach bars and swings facing Bali and Mount Agung across the strait, with mid-range resorts behind. For the sunset every evening and for families who want a pool.
The sunset and a pool, and a cycle to the strip.
The interior
Village, cheapest rooms
The village and the cheap rooms a few hundred metres inland from anywhere, where the people who live here live. For budget travellers and Ramadan-aware guests.
The cheapest beds on the island, and a mosque at five in the morning.
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Where to stay in Gili Trawangan
Stay on the east strip if you came for the nightlife and the restaurants, and on the north-west if you came to sleep: the loud-or-quiet decision is the only one that matters here. Most people give Gili Trawangan 3 nights on Stippl. Book ahead for July and August and for every full moon, and expect fans rather than air conditioning at the budget end.
The east strip
Party hostels with pools and DJs, dorms €8 to €15, and mid-range hotels behind the lane, €40 to €100.
The north-west
€20–120
Quiet bungalows and small resorts near the best snorkelling, €40 to €130, a bicycle ride from the pier.
The sunset side
Mid-range resorts and glamping tents with air conditioning facing Bali, €50 to €150.
The interior
€8–35
Cheap guesthouses and homestays in the village, €12 to €30, a few hundred metres from any beach.
What to eat in Gili Trawangan
Fresh fish landed daily and grilled to order
Skewered grilled meat sold from stalls for a few euros
Simple rice plates sold alongside the grilled fish and satay
Lombok's chilli-grilled chicken, the regional dish here rather than Balinese food
Burgers, pizza and smoothie bowls, priced well above the night market
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Gili Trawangan customs and what not to do
A Muslim island, a bar strip
The coexistence is the etiquette question: away from the beach and the main lane, in the village, at the market and near the mosque, cover up as anywhere in Muslim Indonesia.
The cidomo horses are contested
A public campaign wants the carts banned on welfare grounds and a local cooperative sets standards; decide how you feel before you take one, and cycle if in doubt.
The turtles are habituated
Not tame: no touching, chasing or riding, and two metres off when they come up to breathe; the snorkel boats that crowd them are the ones to avoid.
Ramadan is observed
Expect daytime restraint away from the tourist strip and a different rhythm to the village; the strip still serves, and eating on the village lane is the thing not to do.
Do
- Snorkel the north and east shores in the morning, before the boats churn the water
- Cycle the ring track at least once
- Keep your arrival ticket if you are day-tripping to Meno or Air
- Carry cash and take your rubbish with you
Don't
- Buy the mushrooms; it is a prison-sentence offence, openly advertised
- Assume the last ferry back from Meno or Air is late; it is about four
- Book on the strip if you want to sleep
- Drink the tap water
What a Gili Trawangan trip costs
Budget
€17–30
Hostel dorm with a pool, warung and night-market meals, a bicycle.
Mid-range
€43–85
Guesthouse or bungalow, restaurant eating, a two-tank dive.
High-end
€130+
Beachfront villa or a pool bungalow, private boat trips.
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Fun facts about Gili Trawangan
Gili means small island in Sasak, so the Gili Islands are the island islands. The name is the local word for any islet off Lombok, and there are dozens more Gilis that tourists never hear of.
Motorised vehicles are banned across the whole island. Transport is walking, bicycles and cidomo horse carts, and every guide names the silence as the island's defining quality.
The Gili Eco Trust maintains more than 180 artificial reef structures. The Biorock frames around the three islands grow coral on a low electric current, alongside a horse-welfare programme for the carts.
The 2018 Lombok earthquake stranded more than a thousand people on the Gilis. About 2,000 tourists were taken off by boat in the days after the 5 August quake, and the island was rebuilt within a year.
Gili Trawangan is part of Lombok, not Bali. The three islands belong to West Nusa Tenggara province, and the fast boats from Bali cross a strait rather than a bay.
Green and hawksbill turtles feed a short swim from the north shore. They are habituated enough that most snorkellers see one, and several deliberately sunk wrecks off the west side hold more.
Local tips for Gili Trawangan
The transfer is the missed boat
From Bali the crossing is one and a half to three hours depending on the port; the hotel pickup, not the boat, is what makes people miss it. Be at the port an hour before.
One inter-island boat a morning
The public boat between the three Gilis runs once each morning, around half past nine, and stops in the afternoon. Keep the entry ticket; it is valid again on the way back.
Feet, a bicycle or a cidomo
There are no motor vehicles. A bike from any shop for about €3 does the seven-kilometre ring in an afternoon; the horse carts are the luggage option.
How long to stay
Most people give Gili T 3 nights on Stippl: a snorkel day, a dive or a boat day, and a night out. Meno is the day trip.
The mushrooms are illegal
The bars advertise them openly and Indonesian drug law carries four to twelve years for possession. There is almost no policing on the island, which is why the trade persists, not why it is safe.
Currents run between islands
The channels are not swimming water however calm the beach looks. Snorkel from the shore or from a boat with a guide, and the island sits on the fault that shook Lombok in 2018.
Gili Trawangan questions, answered
Three nights and no plan beyond that. Travellers planning Gili Trawangan on Stippl book about 67 days out, the shortest lead in Indonesia, which fits an island people add once they are already travelling. Put the fast boat times into Stippl and leave the rest blank.
Three nights. Gili Trawangan gets 3 nights in the trips people plan on Stippl. One day to snorkel, one to cycle the island and swim, and one evening out, which on this island of the three is very much the point.
Technically, and it is a bad idea: up to three hours of boat each way for a few hours ashore. Only 12.95% of Gili Trawangan stops planned on Stippl are even a single night, so almost nobody treats it as a quick visit. Give it three and stop counting.
Trawangan for nightlife, choice and the widest range of places to stay. Gili Air for the middle ground, which is what most people actually want. Gili Meno for silence and very little else. All three dive the same sites, so this is a social decision rather than a diving one.
None at all. Feet, bicycles and horse carts, and it is the first thing you notice stepping off the boat. The island takes about two hours to walk around and under one to cycle, and the absence of engines is most of why people stay longer than they meant to.
No. Possession carries a long prison sentence in Indonesia, and the fact that bars advertise them openly changes nothing about the law. Indonesian drug penalties are among the harshest in the region and foreign nationals are not treated leniently. It is not a risk worth taking at all.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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