How Do I Get from Bali to the Gili Islands?

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Here are a few tips on travel possibilities for getting to the Gili Islands. In total there are 4 of them:

1. Speed Boat

There are dozens of providers – extensive information you can find on this page. From Bali this is the fastest and easiest way to the Gilis. The journey takes – depending on the provider and the stops – about 2 hours and sometimes it can be kind of “turbulent”.

Tip: Your speedboat transfer to Gili Trawangan you can also book online here. You will be picked up directly at your hotel in Bali.

Another selection of speedboats, which start at Senggigi, Gili Gede or Bangsal on Lombok can be found on 12go.asia.

2. Airplane

The flight from Denpasar, Bali to Lombok takes about 30 minutes. There are low cost airlines such as Lion Air where price is around €20-30. For around €10 more you can fly with Garuda Indonesia, the national airline of Indonesia, who in 2013, were elected to be in the top 10 best airlines.

By the way, Lombok can also be reached with AirAsia from Kuala Lumpur. All information on tickets, times and prices can be found on Skyscanner.

3. Public Ferry

The low-budget way. The crossing from Padang Bai to Lembar, Lombok only costs about 40,000 Rupiah, but takes about 4 ½ hours (plus the time for loading and unloading). The public ferry is used almost exclusively by locals and runs hourly (24 hours a day). For an additional fee, you can also rent a private cabin.

4. Gilicopter

Who can afford it, can charter a helicopter with Air Bali to Gili Trawangan (capacity: 5 pax, one way, as of August 2015). The flight takes 45 minutes and is surely a highlight.

Further travel from Lombok

For points 2 and 3 there are onward journeys from the airport or Lembar to Bangsal, where the public boats depart for the Gilis (see map). On Lombok you can (and should if possible) use the Blue Bird taxis. This price you obviously have to add to the flight or ferry price. Driver hire at a fixed price is also possible. If you want to spend a few days on Lombok before, options 2 and 3 are ideal. The ride to Bangsal takes 1-2 hours depending on departure time and traffic. The streets tend to be full the friday before and after the friday prayers (especially in and around Mataram).

The ticket to Gili Trawangan costs IDR 13,000 (Gili Meno IDR 12,000 and Gili Air IDR 10,000 – as of September 2013). On the way to the Bangsal pier, don’t let yourself be bothered by anyone who wants to sell you tickets or something else completely overpriced. The ticket office is a building on the beach to the left of the entrance. The boats do not have fixed departure times (last boat is at 17:00), they wait until there are enough passengers to enter the boat. Preferably stay near the beach and if necessary ask someone which is the right boat because the announcements (or rather the countdown for missing passengers :D) are only in Indonesian. From Bangsal you can also hire a private boat, but this is much more expensive.

Tours and speedboat tickets from Bali to the Gili Islands

At GetYourGuide you will find a good selection of connections from Bali to the Gili Islands by boat.