The Lombok Travel Guide: the west coast

By now you should know that we did not only stay on the west coast when we were in Lombok, it also was the part we explored during our time on this island. The past days I already shared two things you should do when in Lombok and today I am finally sharing the complete guide for the west coast of Lombok.

Rent a scooter and explore Lombok by yourself

I wouldn’t only suggest renting a scooter when you are staying somewhere on the west coast; I think renting a scooter is the best way to explore Lombok no matter where you are staying. The best part about having a scooter on the island is that you can decide where you want to go, where you want to stop and how long you want to stay there before you head to the next place. When you book a tour, you usually have to stick to their planning and don’t have a lot of freedom… renting a scooter also is cheaper, it costs only 50K IDR per day (around 4 Euro), and petrol is not expensive as well. You get a bottle of petrol for 10K IDR, or you drive to a gas station where a liter petrol costs around 6K IDR.

What to do on the west coast of Lombok

We stayed somewhere close to Senggigi area, in the middle of the west coast. This location was perfect to explore the whole west coast because it was a 2-hour drive to the north of the island as well as to the south. And both parts are completely different to each other.
When you drive along the upper west coast, you can drive along the coastline, and this drive offers amazingly beautiful views. After about an hour you get the first view of the Gili islands, which was one of the best views to me. You also come across a lot of beaches, most of them uncrowded but still beautiful. One of my favorites was the Pantai Setangi 3 as I mentioned in the post about the palm tree fields. And that gets me to another thing you need to see when exploring the upper west coast: of course, the palm tree fields. I only saw them on the upper west coast and not when we drove down to the south. In a nutshell: the upper west coast offers amazingly beautiful views, uncrowded beaches and lots of palm tree fields.
When you are driving along the upper west coast, you can also drive to several waterfalls. There are three only 1,5 hours away from Senggigi. Unfortunately, all those waterfalls where dry when we were there.

The lower west coast is a little bit different, and you can’t drive along the coastline all the time. You pass a lot of villages as well as Lombok’s capital when you want to drive down to the south. But you will also pass by a lot of rice fields and rice terraces. My favorite part was the drive through the mountains. I have to admit; it was a little bit scary because we passed some undeveloped villages and those people don’t seem to see a lot of tourists up there. But everybody was very friendly, and the views were worth the ride! I would recommend driving through the mountains for sure! And if you have enough time, make sure to drive all the way down to Selong Belanak Beach.

Go on a day trip to the Gili Islands

One thing we didn’t do was taking a boat to the Gili Islands. But we just didn’t do it due to a lack of time. If we have had one more day, we would have spent it on one of the Gili Islands. The easiest way to get there is from Senggigi harbor. It’s only a short ride (about 20 to 30 minutes) and doesn’t cost that much. You can also try to find a local who will take you out with the boat. That’s, by the way, the easiest way to get from one Gili island to the others. 🙂 I wish I could tell you more about these three islands north-west from Lombok, but we haven’t been on them. And I can’t give you any insider tips for how to get there. But once you are in Lombok, you will find a lot of offers close to the harbor and in every village.