A Romantic Escape on Gili Air
Gili Air is the medium sized island and our personal favourite. It is smaller, more intimate, and romantic than Gili T, but has way more accommodation and food options than Gili Meno. You can walk around the island in about an hour, and it takes around 30 minutes to bike it.
On this island time definitely stands still and you easily fall in love with the laid back vibes. We originally only came for 2 nights and ended up staying 4- that’s how much we loved it!
What to do?
Here you can find most of the same activities as on Gili T but just less busier. One of our favourite things to do was just to bike around the perimeter of the island along the beach and stop at beach bars for drinks and snorkeling.
Beaches and Swimming: The best part about the beaches on this island is that they generally are not crowded. We usually spent our mornings on the beaches on the East side of the island. We loved having beers and using the sunbeds in front of Zip Bar, a super reasonably priced beach bar.
In the afternoons we would snorkel at the beaches in the north, which have many cute beach bars for happy hour.
Snorkeling and Diving: You can easily arrange snorkeling tours from either your accommodation or the tour offices along the main strip by the harbour. These snorkeling typically include visiting the statues by Gili Meno, swimming with turtles at Turtle Point, and checking out the various reefs along the islands. For diving, we recommend going with Manta Divers Gili Air.
Sunset Spot: the best sunset is at the west south part of the island. We personally loved watching the sunset from the swings in front of Pink Coco. The beautiful pink swings there are stunning for sunset.
Where to eat?
Mama’s Pizza: this Italian restaurant is run by 2 brothers from Italy, who make the best pizza on all the islands
Warung Mexicana: super simple warung, but they serve amazing vegan burritos. We ate here once a day, it’s that good!
Warung Sunny: amazing local food. They are known for their fried chicken.
Breadelicious: really good breakfast spot right on the main strip of the island.
Scallywags: more of a high-end restaurant with an extensive menu. Their seafood pasta is really good.
Where to stay?
There are many accommodation options here for all the budgets. You can find private rooms for as cheap as $10, while private rooms with shared pool facilities range between $25- $50 per night.
Luxury: We stayed at the Slow Gili Air private pool villas and absolutely loved it there. Pink Coco Resort is also a lovely beach front property.
Mid Range: Jago Gili Air and Mola Resort Gili Air
Budget: Bintang Tiga Bungalow Villas and Melbao Homestay
GETTING AROUND ON GILI AIR
On the islands, there are no motorized vehicles permitted. Your only way is to get around by push bike or horse-drawn cart. The cost of a bike rental for the day is around $5 USD, while you should not pay more than 150,000 for a horse cart anywhere around the island. We tried avoiding taking the horse carriages as much as possible as the horses are kept in horrible living conditions and given salt water to drink. We actually chose to walk 30 minutes in the blazing heat with our bags to avoid taking the carriage, and are hoping that if more tourists boycott this unnecessary cruelty, they’ll start implementing electric scooters or bicycle carts instead.
HOW TO GET TO THE GILIS
We recommend using Blue Water Express to get to the islands. Blue Water Express has a door to door pick up service (for Seminyak, Kuta, Uluwatu and the surrounding areas) and will take you right to their harbour near Sanur. This means you won’t have to worry about getting there from your accommodation. Blue Water Express leaves everyday at 8 AM, and it takes around 2 hours to get to Gili T. You can also take Blue Water Express to Gili Air. On the way back to Bali, the boats leave Gili T around 11:15 AM and get back to mainland around 1:30 PM.
Blue Water Express not only has a stellar safety record (which is a rare gem to find in South East Asia), but they also offer water and candy on board. They are committed to keeping the islands clean and plastic-free, which is a major bonus for us and why we chose to use them for all our boat trips.
Getting from one island to another
It is relatively easy to get between the islands and depending on your budget, there are 3 different ways:
The first one is to rent a private speedboat, which costs around $60 to get between the islands. This private transfer will leave whenever you want it to, and you can easily arrange this through your hotel or by the tourist agencies along the board walk.
Another, more budget friendly alternative is to pay for a semi private boat transfer, where you will be sharing the boat with a few others. These boats leave at set times during the day, and cost around $8 per person. It takes around 10 minutes to go from one island to the next. Tickets can be bought at the boat agencies along the board walk at the harbour.
The last, and cheapest alternative, is to take the public ferry. The ferry operates twice a day, typically leaving between 8-9 am and 3-4 pm. The ferry costs $4 per person and takes around 30 minutes to reach Gili Air from Gili T, with a stop in Gili Meno. Since we were on a budget, we opted for this method of transfer.