Areas
Kuta town
Three or four streets of cafés, surf shops, warungs and small hotels behind the beach. Lively in the evening without being loud. The best choice for a first visit and for anyone without transport.
Mandalika
The government-planned resort district east of town: international hotels, wide roads, the circuit and a long, tidy seafront. Comfortable and quiet outside race week.
Selong Belanak and the west
Villas and boutique resorts scattered over the hills above Selong Belanak, Mawi and Mawun. Beautiful, isolated and dependent on a scooter or driver.
Gerupuk and the east
A fishing village on a deep bay with several surf breaks reached by boat, plus simple surf camps. Beyond lie Ekas bay and the long road to the south-east.
Surfing
The south coast picks up swell all year. Selong Belanak is the beginners’ beach. Gerupuk has several reef breaks for intermediates, reached by fishing boat. Mawi, Are Guling and Seger are for the experienced. Legendary Desert Point lies far away in the south-west, near the Secret Gilis. The dry season generally brings the biggest, cleanest swells; the wet season is smaller and less crowded.
Eating
Kuta has an unusually good café scene — smoothie bowls, sourdough, wood-fired pizza — alongside warungs serving Sasak food. Order ayam taliwang, plecing kangkung and sate rembiga (sweet-spicy beef satay). Lombok means “chilli” in Indonesian, and the cooking lives up to it: ask for tidak pedas if you want it mild.
Money and services
ATMs, mini-markets, pharmacies, clinics and laundries are all in Kuta town, and cards are widely accepted in cafés and hotels. There is little at the beaches themselves beyond warungs: carry small notes for parking and coconuts.
Safety
- Roads. Scooter accidents are by far the commonest way for visitors to get hurt. Go slowly, expect sand and animals on corners, and do not ride remote roads after dark.
- Theft. Bag-snatching from scooters and thefts on quiet roads at night have long been reported in the south. Keep valuables out of sight and use hotel safes.
- Sea. Rip currents and shore break are strong on exposed beaches such as Mawun and Mawi. Tanjung Aan and Selong Belanak are the safest for swimming.
- Sun. Shade is scarce on these beaches; the headlands have none.
Respect
South Lombok is conservative and devout. Wear a T-shirt and shorts when you ride through villages, cover up properly for Sade and Sukarara, and keep bikinis for the beach.
Sample plans
One day
Scooter or driver east to Tanjung Aan for a morning swim, lunch at a beach warung, then the Sade village on the way back. Late afternoon, climb Bukit Merese for sunset and eat in Kuta town.
Two days
Day one as above. On day two head west: a surf lesson at Selong Belanak at mid-tide, grilled fish for lunch, an hour at Mawun on the return, and the buffalo on the beach if your timing is lucky.
Three or four days
Add a day inland — Sukarara’s weavers and the Tetebatu rice terraces and waterfalls — and either the long private-boat day to Pink Beach or a tandem paragliding flight. Transfer north for the Gilis the next morning.
