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Gili Trawangan
Gili Trawangan is the largest of the three Gili Islands located to the Northwest of mainland Lombok. Gili Trawangan is the most popular for tourists. On this small island you won't find any cars only horse carriages and bicycles. It's a blissful island where the pace of life is slow and the days feel longer. You can basically walk around the entire island in an hour or two. It's a fantastic place for going to the beach, scuba diving, snorkeling and going on boat trips. There are basically two options for arriving here and that is taking a relatively short boat from Lombok or a longer boat from Bali. The island is primarily muslim so it's more similar to the rest of Lombok than it is to Bali. You can hear the call to prayers echo throughout the island periodically during the day. It's not overly built up (at least it wasn't in 2016) so it offers very pristine nature and a simple lifestyle. Here is some of my advice for visiting Gili Trawangan.
You'll certainly spend some time at the beach here. The sand is white, the ocean is turquoise coloured, warm and full of marine life. Grab a bintang beer or coconut and just relax on the beach and don't worry about anything. The main beach runs along the East side of the island which is the most populated side however for emptier beaches you can find them all along the circumference of the island. There are nice spots like Sunset Point and the Swings on the beach along the south part of the island.
Snorkeling in Gili Trawangan was amongst the best snorkeling I've ever done. I didn't scuba dive there myself but it's also a very popular place for that. You can see tons of different fish species, colourful coral reefs and most notably huge sea turtles elegantly swimming around. Don't miss out on the opportunity to snorkel (or scuba dive if you're certified or want to get certified) here. With that said, there are many businesses that offer scuba diving certification and will teach you all you need to know as well as take you out to the best spots to see marine life. If you don't want to go through an extensive course and opt for a cheaper option snorkeling is great and it's basically guaranteed you'll see some awesome marine life.
There are plenty of different boating excursions that leave the island. Most notably are snorkeling excursions, boat trips to Gili Air and Gili Meno and even party boats that take you around with a fully stocked bar and plenty of people enjoying the hot tropical weather. Whatever style of boat excursion you're into you could find it. I did a trip to Gili Air which was interesting. It's smaller and less populated than Gili Trawangan. You can see how the people live on this island and have some food at one of the few restaurants here.
The Trawangan Night Market is undoubtedly where you'll find the best food here. It is buffet style and there are many options to choose from. After stacking your plate with delicious food you are ready to eat. The prices are cheap and food is great. It's Indonesian style so you can find lots of rice, noodle based dishes with a variety of meat, vegetables and sauces. The night market is located directly across the road from the main ferry terminal, you can't miss it.
I stayed at La Boheme hostel here back in 2016. I enjoyed my time at the hostel although you should expect very basic facilities if you choose to stay here. There are more expensive hostels with better facilities but as I'm writing about my own experience I'll only comment about here. I found the staff very friendly and helpful. I remember the hostel arranged a secret Santa activity during Christmas which helped everybody to feel at home while they were away from home. The wifi was nearly non-existent at the time but you shouldn't expect to find strong wifi anywhere on the island really. I'm not sure how things have changed here over the years but it was an enjoyable experience. It's a good place to meet like-minded backpackers and make new friends to explore the island with. If you're travelling on a budget you can find rooms here for less than 5 usd per night. While it's not located immediately in front of the beach it's no more than a 5 minute walk to the main beach and the ferry terminal.
