I'm not going to lie I was not overly enthusiastic about Lombok before we stepped foot on the island and leaving the Gilis in my head was the end of the sun holiday vibes which I was not overly excited about either but I was so wrong!
We got a boat from Gili Air to Lombok (Bangsal Harbour) and from there got a private driver to Senggigi which is where we started our Lombok adventures. If you are going to Lombok you need to be very careful when you arrive off the boat! The second we arrived we got approached by every driver possible and the trick is to just keep walking until you get out onto the street. There we got an official taxi (Blue Bird) to Senggigi. You can also arrange a coach but we just decided to get on the road the minute we arrived.
We didn't have the best experience in Senggigi and the main reason for this was because of the accommodation we picked. Do try up your budget a little when you cant find a place for your budget its just not worth staying somewhere you feel unsafe.We got a private driver along with a few other passengers to Kuta Lombok and from here we just had the best time! We booked our accommodation for Kuta, Lombok the day before we arrived and we couldn't have been luckier to get The Magic Valley Guest House which we found on Airbnb so last minute.
The manager Andy couldn't have been any more helpful if he tried. We rented our scooter with Andy for around 60,000 IDR per day which was standard enough for a scooter in Indonesia.
We did not plan on driving half as much as we did on our 12 week trip but renting a scooter is definitely the best form of transport when you're on a new island just because you have the independence to drive where you want whenever you want. You will see more of The Magic Valley Guest House in my Lombok Vlog but it was just the perfect place to stay in Kuta. We loved coming back to such a peaceful place at night but also have the option to drive to all the busy spots which were really only a five-minute drive away on the scooter.
There are lots of little warungs where you can get Nasi Goreng for little to no money. We drove there really early in the morning, got a sun-bed, and ate at the little warung on the beach for the day. You can also get fresh coconuts which we practically lived off on our beach days (they are so cheap and so so good!)
The four of us drove to Pink beach from our accommodation in Kuta, Lombok which let me tell you was not just a spin down the road but it was one of the most beautiful drives ever! We downloaded our map from google maps before leaving our Airbnb WIFI to make sure we would get there safe and sound and after a lot of windy, bumpy roads we got there.
Pink Beach was absolutely beautiful and it happened to also be roasting on the day we went so we had such a nice day chilling on the beach with our fresh coconuts however it is definitely not as pink as you see on the Instagram pics which is clearly because of so many people over-edit.
The bungalows were also a two-minute walk from the strip which had all of the local markets selling clothing, gifts for home, etc. as well as some fab restaurants which I can assure you we checked out :)
It was 700,000IDR on Booking.com for our final night which is €41. Clearly, in Europe that is an absolute steal but in Indonesia, we got a lot for 700,000 and never spent that much on a night's accommodation. Like I said in the vlog we wanted to end the trip on a high so we did.
The morning we checked out we had the option to leave our bags at reception and go for food before heading to the airport. We arranged a private driver to the airport which was only 30 minutes away and worked out perfectly for us.
It felt so weird to head to Lombok International Airport knowing we were finished the entire trip but we honestly couldn't have ended it on a better note, Lombok blew us away.
I also have a Lombok video over on my YouTube channel, that will give you even more of an insight into what the place was really like: Video linked.
Éadaoin x