11 Best Things to Do in Lombok, Indonesia
11 Best Things to Do in Lombok, Indonesia
Bali gets the headlines. Lombok gets the good stuff.
One short fast-boat ride east of its famous neighbor, this island hands you a 3,726-metre volcano you can actually summit, beaches the color of rosé, and Sasak weaving villages where the looms have been clacking since long before the first surfboard showed up. It moves at roughly half Bali's speed, and that's the whole point.
Here's how to fill your days, ordered by what you'll still be talking about a year from now.
1. Summit Mount Rinjani
This is the big one — Indonesia's second-highest volcano and the reason a lot of people come at all. Most trekkers tackle it over two or three days, starting from either Senaru (the jungle route) or Sembalun (the grassland route), and the payoff is Segara Anak, the electric-blue crater lake sitting some 600 metres below the rim.
You'll need a permit through the official eRinjani system — budget around IDR 150,000–225,000 ($10–14) per day for foreigners — plus a guide and porters, which nearly everyone books as an all-in package for roughly IDR 2,500,000–3,500,000 ($155–220). Book a reputable Senaru operator rather than a roadside tout, and start training your legs now. The summit push begins around 2 AM in the cold and the dark, but standing above the clouds at sunrise makes every step worth it.
2. Island-hop the three Gilis
Off the northwest coast float three tiny car-free islands, each with its own personality. Gili Trawangan is the social one, all beach bars and full-moon energy. Gili Air strikes the balance — hammocks, good cafes, still a pulse. Gili Meno is the honeymoon hideaway where the loudest sound is a cidomo (pony cart) trotting past.
Public boats from Bangsal harbour run about IDR 20,000 ($1.25); a fast boat is closer to IDR 85,000–150,000. There are no cars or scooters on any of them, so rent a bike or just walk the sandy lanes. Give yourself at least one overnight — the Gilis at 6 AM, before the day-trippers arrive, belong to you in a way the busier beach islands like Boracay rarely offer anymore.
3. Chase the Sendang Gile and Tiu Kelep waterfalls
Near Senaru, on Rinjani's northern flank, two waterfalls sit a short trek apart. Sendang Gile is the easy one — a quick staircase down from the entrance. Tiu Kelep is the reward: a 45-minute jungle walk with a couple of river crossings, ending at a wide curtain of spray that locals swear makes you a year younger for every lap you swim beneath it.
Entry runs about IDR 15,000, and a local guide for the Tiu Kelep stretch costs roughly IDR 100,000–150,000 per group. Wear shoes you don't mind soaking, and go in the morning before the tour vans clog the trail.
4. Watch sunset from Bukit Merese
Just past Tanjung Aan beach in the south, a green headland called Bukit Merese rolls out toward the sea like a golf course somebody forgot to build on. Walk fifteen minutes to the ridge for a near-270-degree view of turquoise coves on both sides.
Come an hour before sunset. It's free, it's quiet on weekdays, and the light working across those hills is the shot your whole camera roll has been building toward. Bring water — there's zero shade up top.
5. Surf (or learn to) at Selong Belanak and Gerupuk
Lombok's south coast is a surf buffet. Selong Belanak is the friendliest beginner beach on the island — a gentle horseshoe bay where board rental plus a two-hour lesson runs around IDR 150,000–200,000 ($10–13), and the instructors will have you standing up by lunch.
Ready for more? Gerupuk hides several reef breaks reachable only by boat (about IDR 100,000 per person for a lift out), each working a different tide so someone's always finding a wave. Mawi and Are Guling reward those willing to bounce down a rough track to get there.
6. Track down the Pink Beach
Yes, the sand really is pink — blushed by crushed red coral washing in from the reef. Pantai Merah, out on the wild Sekaroh peninsula in the far southeast, is a committed 1.5-to-2-hour drive from Kuta over some rough road.
That distance is the whole appeal. You'll trade the effort for a quiet, rose-tinted cove where you can snorkel straight off the beach or hire a boat around the point to a second pink beach. Pack your own snacks and water; facilities out here are thin.
7. Wander Sade Sasak village
Between Kuta and the airport sits Sade, a working Sasak village of thatched lumbung rice barns and homes with floors traditionally polished using buffalo dung (it hardens like concrete and keeps the mosquitoes out — ask, and they'll happily show you).
Entry is by donation, and a village guide will walk you through the weaving, the marriage-by-elopement customs, and the ikat scarves the women sell on hand looms. Buy a sarong straight off the loom — it's some of the most honest shopping money you'll spend on the island.
8. Eat ayam taliwang until it hurts
Lombok's signature dish is ayam taliwang — a young chicken grilled and slathered in a fiery chili-garlic glaze — usually served with plecing kangkung, water spinach in a tomato-chili sambal that clears your sinuses on contact. A full plate runs about IDR 30,000–45,000 ($2–3).
Head to the Taliwang eateries around Mataram, or grab nasi balap puyung at a roadside warung near Praya — spiced shredded chicken, dry sambal, and crunchy soybeans wrapped in banana leaf. Order it 'not spicy' and it'll still be spicy. That's the deal here, and you should lean into it.
9. Snorkel with turtles off Gili Meno
The waters around the Gilis are a turtle sanctuary, and the calm reef off Gili Meno gives you the best odds of swimming alongside a green sea turtle grazing the seagrass. Just off the west shore you'll also find Nest, a haunting underwater ring of human statues that the coral is slowly claiming as its own.
Snorkel gear rents for around IDR 50,000 a day. Group boat trips circling all three islands cost roughly IDR 100,000–150,000 — go early, when the water's glassy and half the crowd is still asleep.
10. Cool off at Benang Kelambu
Deep in central Lombok near Aik Berik, at Rinjani's base, Benang Kelambu falls in soft veils through the jungle — water curtaining over green tiers of plants rather than crashing off a cliff. A short walk from the same trailhead brings you to the punchier Benang Stokel.
Entry is only a few thousand rupiah, and because it's a fair drive from the tourist coast, you'll often have the pools nearly to yourself on a weekday. This is the stop that makes the scooter rental worth every rupiah.
11. Ride the west coast road at golden hour
The coastal road running north from Senggigi toward Bangsal is one of Southeast Asia's great scooter rides. Around Malimbu and Nipah, pull over at the clifftop viewpoints as the sun melts behind the Gilis and — on a clear evening — Bali's Mount Agung floats on the horizon.
Scooters rent for about IDR 75,000 ($5) a day. Ride slow, keep your headlight on, and time it so you're at Malimbu around 5:30 PM with a bag of pisang goreng (fried banana) from a roadside cart.
Pro Tip
Lombok is bigger and emptier than Bali, and Grab or Gojek only reliably cover the airport and Mataram area — everywhere else, you're on a rented scooter or a pre-arranged driver (a full-day car with driver runs about IDR 600,000–800,000, or $38–50). Rent a scooter only if you're genuinely comfortable on two wheels, always wear the helmet, and download your Google Maps offline before you leave wifi, because the signal vanishes the moment you hit the good roads. Draw a rough loop — north for Rinjani and the waterfalls, the Gilis off the northwest, the south for surf and pink sand — and give yourself a full week to run it without rushing. The island rewards the travelers who slow down to its pace.
