The best-known group sits in a sheltered bay about an hour and a half south of Senggigi. Gili Nanggu has a white beach and a house reef so thick with tame fish that snorkellers are surrounded the moment they wade in. Tiny Gili Sudak has a couple of simple restaurants on the sand, and Gili Kedis is a patch of beach and a few trees that you can walk around in two minutes. Together, sometimes with neighbouring Gili Tangkong, they make the classic day trip.
Further west along the peninsula, Gili Gede — the “big island” — is the largest of the group and the only one with a real choice of places to stay: a quiet, car-free island of fishing hamlets, a few resorts and deep, calm anchorages. Around it lie Gili Asahan, with one of the loveliest small resorts in Lombok, and the uninhabited-feeling Gili Layar and Gili Rengit, where the coral is among the healthiest in the region.
Do not expect the infrastructure of the famous three. There are no ATMs, no nightlife, few shops and limited boats. What you get in return is clear water, good reefs and beaches with nobody on them. A second cluster of islets off Lombok’s east coast — Gili Kondo, Bidara and the sandbar of Gili Kapal — offers a similar escape, even further from the crowds.
Highlights
- Being mobbed by reef fish in the shallows off Gili Nanggu
- Lunch with your feet in the sand on Gili Sudak
- Standing on Gili Kedis, an island barely bigger than a tennis court
- Healthy hard coral and no other boats at Gili Layar and Gili Rengit
- Two or three unplugged nights on Gili Gede or Gili Asahan
- The sandbar of Gili Kapal, off the east coast, at low tide
In pictures: the Secret Gilis
How long to stay and where to base yourself
Most people come for the day: a boat from Tawun around Nanggu, Sudak and Kedis fits comfortably between breakfast and late afternoon, including the drive from Senggigi, Mataram or Kuta. If that is all you want, there is no need to stay.
To feel the place properly, spend two or three nights on Gili Gede or Gili Asahan. The resorts there are small and mostly include meals, since there is nowhere else to eat; they arrange boats for snorkelling at Layar and Rengit and for diving. Gili Nanggu has had a single simple resort for many years — check whether it is currently operating. On the mainland, a few hotels line the coast road at Sekotong itself.
