The Gili Islands consist of three islands (Air, Meno and Trawangan) and have no motorized traffic, you can rent a bicycle or take a carriage and horse. These islands are described as the only tropical islands of Indonesia and are therefore very popular with tourists. We go to Trawangan, the largest island of the three, because it would be more for backpackers. To go to the Gili Islands, you have two options, the so-called 'fast boats' and' slow boats’. Given the slow boat takes less than half an hour for a fifth of the price, the choice is easy. On top of the price of the boat we pay port taxes and an island tax bringing the total at 1.25 euro pp.

Welcome to Gili Trawangan

In Trawangan, we arrive at the busy centre which houses many guesthouses and bars. We start to walk around the island to look for a bungalow on the beach. After walking almost around the entire island and just about to lose hope, we find an affordable bungalow with beautiful sea views. Moreover, it is located on the west coast of the island so we can enjoy a beautiful sunset from our balcony.

View from Our Bungalow at Sunset Beach

On our walk around the island we saw a beautiful beach cabana and Kevin decided to treat Kitty on the most romantic dinner of her life. Here we eat caviar for the first time in our lives. On top of the good food we even get a private butler at our disposal.

Romantic Dinner at Sunset Beach

The Gili islands are known as a breeding ground for sea turtles and you have a good chance of seeing them while snorkelling. We walk to the other side of the island where it is better for snorkelling and rent a snorkelling set. When snorkelling, we see that the coral is not that beautiful but we see many colourful fish. It doesn’t take long before we see the first turtle and later we see a second one. The turtles are walking on the coral in search of food, but occasionally they come up to gulp air.

Although Trawangan is known as a backpacker’s island, this is only the case in the main village. On the beach you'll find only expensive resorts. It seems like we have found the last bungalows on the beach for backpackers but the staff tells us that this will change soon.
The thing that stands out on the island is that they really have managed to create cool places for tourists. The bars and restaurants on the beach are super chill and really made for a perfect holiday. After three nights we return to Bangsal where we spend the night.

Great Atmosphere at Gili Trawangan

More info on www.wijzijnweg.org