We've spent 3 nights in this beautiful island Gili Air to relax. It's a beautiful island where there are no motorbikes and no cars. Only people walking, riding bikes or riding horses. Our feeling of this island was that it's very prepared for tourists, it's great to disconnect and to enjoy the beautiful turquoise water and the best of all: the island's sunset. Since the island is very small you can walk to the west of the island every evening to enjoy a Bintang (local beer) by the sunset. It's one of the best sunsets we've seen because the sun reflects perfectly at 6 pm on the still water that is kept in the atoll of the island when the tides are low. Moreover the sun goes down exactly behind Mount Agung, the biggest volcano on Bali:
You can see a cinematic video of the sunset and a turtle that we saw while snorkeling on our Youtube channel (and if you want to help us you can subscribe ;)):
Our hotel in the island was great and for a very good price.
It had a nice swimming pool, indefinite water included in the room and the possibilities to rent bikes, snorkel gear, organize excursions and even orgainze our next stop in Lombok with a private driver for the day we left Gili Air. We would really recommend them (the link doesn't have any affiliation).
Best way to move in Gili Air
The best way to move in Gili Air is walking! Many people will try to offer the bikes for renting but the truth is that the island is full of sand around the beach so it's not great for riding a bike. You can still rent one for the inside of the island but honestly, the island is so small that walking is great! What we would not recommend is to use the horse services because we have heard and seen that they are not treated very gently...
Things to do in Gili Air
Relaxing
Well, Gili Air itself is mainly for relaxing. So you can relax, enjoy the sunset and the views of the crystal water.
Eating out
The food is also great. If you want traditional, there is a place that we repeated 3 times because they cook really well and the price is good. However, they take some time to prepare the food haha. It's the Shendy's Café. You will need to be patient (island style).
You can also of course go to the most rated restaurant of the island if you want something more western like pizza and pasta (Mama Pizza) but you will probably have to wait to be seated in the evening. Tourists love western food so it was always full. We tried it and the food was great! Like a good pizzeria in Europe.
Snorkeling
The snorkeling at Gili Air is one of the best ones of the Gilis. There are many turtles and there is still a little bit of coral that is in a good state. We found this beautiful turtle while snorkeling on ourselves. We also did the snorkeling tour for two people for 15€, which also brings you to the Gili Meno for lunch. But this we would not recommend... it's full of people, especially at the instagram spot of the statues. We saw many more turtles and coral by ourselves than with the tour so it's not worth it to pay even the 15€.
However, if you do the tour you expect the following picture (which I took in a glimpse of a second before the tourists started getting into the middle of the sculptures). The place is really nice ....
but I guess it's on instagram because what you see is hundreds of people snorkeling around it. We would not recommend the tour...
I hope you liked the post. Let us know what you think in the comments ^^
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