The islands you can reach from the Bali retreat
Flametree retreat · Pondok Pisang, Candidasa · adding an island to your trip
Here is something most people who come on our retreat never find out until afterwards. The harbour that the islands leave from is twenty minutes down the road.
Padangbai is the little port you pass on the way in from the airport. Boats leave it every morning for the Nusa islands, for the Gilis and for Lombok. If you are already at Pondok Pisang, you are closer to all three than almost anybody staying in Seminyak or Ubud.
Three islands, three different trips
They are not variations on each other. They suit different people and different lengths of stay.
| Island | From Padangbai | Best as | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nusa Penida and Nusa Lembongan | 30 min to 1 hr | a long day, or one night | Cliffs, snorkelling with manta rays, dramatic coast |
| The Gili islands | 1 hr 30 to 1 hr 45 | two or three nights | Three tiny car-free islands, turtles, quiet |
| Lombok | 1 hr 15 to 1 hr 30 by fast boat | three nights or more | A whole island. Volcano, waterfalls, weaving villages, empty beaches |
The close one: the Nusa islands
Three islands sitting together off the south east coast: Nusa Penida, the big rugged one, Nusa Lembongan, the small easy one, and Nusa Ceningan, joined to Lembongan by a yellow suspension bridge you can walk across.
Nusa Penida is the dramatic one. Limestone cliffs dropping hundreds of metres into very blue water, and the snorkelling trips that go out to swim with manta rays. It is bigger and rougher than people expect, the roads are poor, and you need a driver or a guide rather than a scooter.
Nusa Lembongan is the gentler choice. Small enough to walk or cycle, with mangroves, seaweed farms, a few good places to eat, and calm water for swimming.
The middle one: the Gili islands
Three small islands off the north west corner of Lombok. There are no cars and no motorbikes on any of them. You walk, cycle, or take a pony cart. It is startlingly quiet after Bali.
Gili Trawangan is the biggest and liveliest, with the most places to eat and a genuine nightlife if you want one. Gili Air is the middle one and the one most of our sort of traveller prefers: enough going on, but calm. Gili Meno is the smallest and quietest, and is where couples go.
The snorkelling is the reason most people come. Green turtles are common right off the beach, and you do not need a boat or a licence to see them.
The far one: Lombok
Lombok is not a side trip. It is a whole island, about the size of Bali, and it is what Bali felt like several decades ago. Quieter, drier, mostly Muslim rather than Hindu, and far less built up.
Mount Rinjani, the second highest volcano in Indonesia, with a crater lake inside it. The waterfalls at Senaru in the northern rainforest. The weaving villages at Sukarara and Sade, where the ikat is done on backstrap looms much as it is at Tenganan. And the south coast beaches around Kuta Lombok, which are long, empty and beautiful.
The fast boat from Padangbai to Senggigi takes about 1 hour 15, or to Bangsal about 1 hour 30. Roughly AUD $23 to $28 one way. This is the sensible option.
The public car ferry from Padangbai to Lembar runs around the clock, takes four to five hours, and costs very little. Take it if you want the experience or you are moving a vehicle. Do not take it if you are in a hurry.
The boats, at a glance
| From | To | How long | Roughly, one way |
|---|---|---|---|
| Padangbai | Nusa Penida, Banjar Nyuh | 30 min | about $23 |
| Padangbai | Nusa Lembongan, Jungut Batu | 1 hr | about $23 |
| Padangbai | Lombok, Senggigi | 1 hr 15 | about $28 |
| Padangbai | Gili Trawangan | 1 hr 30 | about $23 |
| Padangbai | Gili Air | 1 hr 30 | about $28 |
| Padangbai | Lombok, Bangsal | 1 hr 30 | about $23 |
| Padangbai | Gili Meno | 1 hr 45 | about $30 |
| Padangbai | Lombok, Lembar, public car ferry | 4 to 5 hrs | a few dollars |
| Sanur | the Nusa islands | 30 to 45 min | about $23 to $30 |
Getting it right
Padangbai is twenty minutes away, and that is the whole point. Wayan can drop you at the harbour on your way out, or collect you off a boat on your way in. Most fast boats also run their own shuttle to and from the main tourist areas, but you do not need one.
Go at the end, not the beginning. Arrive, settle, do the retreat, then go to an island. Doing it the other way round means arriving at Pondok Pisang already tired.
Boats go in the morning. Almost all of them leave between about 8am and 11am, so an island day starts early.
One bag, 25 kilos. Most fast boats limit you to a single piece of luggage. Pondok Pisang will store the rest for you.
The sea is not always kind. The Lombok Strait can get rough, particularly in the wet season. If you get seasick, take something before you board rather than after.
Leave a clear day before your flight home. A cancelled crossing is not a disaster unless you have a plane to catch that afternoon.
Where to next
The free half-day tour, which Flametree pays for, is on the free afternoon page.
Longer days out from Pondok Pisang, at your own cost, are on the full day trips page.
What there is after dark is on the evenings out page.
Everything about the retreat itself is on the retreat information page.
