Gili air is the least developed of the Gili Islands and is a mix between the other two. Â Gili Meno is the smallest and caters mostly for couples and Gili Trawagen is the largest and caters for the party animals. Â Gili Air is somewhere in between. Â Good restaurants and bars but no boom boom boom till the wee hours. Â Below we’ll help you explore Gili Air and offer a bite sized guide to island life.
Gili air is the least developed of the Gili Islands and is a mix between the other 2. Â Gili Meno is the smallest and caters mostly for couples and Gili Trawagen is the largest and caters for the party animals. Â Gili Air is somewhere in between. Â Good restaurants and bars but no boom boom boom till the wee hours. Â Below we’ll help you explore Gili Air and offer a bite sized guide to island life.
There are regular boats going back and forth from Lombok that cater for the tourists but we decided it would be more fun going over on the locals boat. Â The locals boat was a third of the tourist boat price and is more how we like to travel. Â So there we were, with our cases and Chris with his nice boots piling on with all the local people and their shopping to get to the island. Â I absolutely loved it.Â
As Chris was planning on doing a lot of diving we decided to stay at the Manta Dive resort. Â They had gorgeous little log huts and we were lucky enough to stay in Manta 1
The main attraction of the island is diving and snorkelling. Â This is the main reason we ended up here. Â Chris had found Manta Dive on Gili Air and it just ticked all his diving boxes. Â Apart from diving there was so much more to do.Â
This was the main reason we visited the island. Â Chris was keen to get under the water and I was contemplating having a go. Â Manta Dive had all the accreditations and excellent reviews and they really lived up to their reputation. Â On the 5 days we were there, Chris dove practically every day.
As well as catering for experienced divers Manta Dive offers a variety of courses from people completely new to diving right up to experienced divers wanting to enhance their skills. All the dive sites are within 20 – 30 mins boat ride from the island which means you get more time to explore rather than sitting in the boat.Â
I would highly recommend this dive centre as the quality of the dives were amazing, the staff were really knowledgeable and friendly and they really made you feel like one of the family. Â Fantastic service.
The food on the island was amazing. Â We tended to use the local family run restaurants called Warungs at lunchtime where the family would cook up a variety of meat dishes, curries, chicken, veg, rice and corn fritters. Â You would pay a small sum of money usually less than ÂŁ1 for a plate of whatever you wanted from the display. Â Absolutely fantastic food.Â
Classico Italiano a fantastic Italian Restaurant with all your usual favourites. Sharkbites Restaurant the best burgers on the island and they do take away too. The Waterfront Hotel & Restaurant This was actually where we stayed as it was affiliated with Manta Dive.  The food was excellent and they had a good variety of dishes from steak to salad and of course seafood.Â
There are many other restaurants, cafe’s, ice cream parlours, street food stalls all with their own style and all extremely tasty.   The island also does some extremely good cocktails. There is nothing nicer than chilling, with a cocktail watching the sun go down.Â
Our time on this island had to come to an end sometime and it was really sad to leave. Â The chilled relaxing time we had was difficult to give up.Â
We booked the fast boat to take us from Gili Air to Bali (via Gili Trawagan). Â We’d spend the night in Bali, near the airport, before heading there in the morning for our early flight to Singapore on Air Asia. Â From there we made our way to the international departures for our Flight home to the UK on Ethiad via Abu Dhabi. Â For flights and prices click here.
Before I leave this blog post I just want to tell you about when we arrived at Bali on our “fast boat”. The tide was in or out, I don’t remember, but whichever it meant the boat couldn’t dock. Â So we jumped out, into the water to wade up to the beach with the crew bringing our luggage on their shoulders. Â A sight I’ll never forget and there’s a picture here of my purple flowery case making its way ashore.
The Gili Islands are absolutely stunning. Small but perfectly formed little oasis of tropical beauty we would highly recommend at least five days on these islands as each of the three has something different , from lively all night parties to quiet relaxed Honeymoons. The diving is easy with beautiful underwater scenery and wildlife. Hopefully we will get back here one day.
We have always tended to use Booking.com having said that if your on a tight budget another good site to try as a comparison is Hostelworld, If your looking to compare different sites you can do that on Hotellook, we tend to look on here first to make sure we are getting the best deal.
You can book your visits as you go at the entrance to your chosen attraction or site.  Or you could use the following links to book in advance or just to find out what your choices are in the area. GetYourGuide and Tiqets are our go to choices you could try Viator to see how they compare.
For a full list check out our resources page. Don’t forget always shop around to find the best deal for you. What works for us should be good for you but it’s always reassuring to check.
Some of the links on this page contain affiliate marketing links, which means we may get paid commission on sales of those products or services we write about. You will never be charged a fee for shopping through one of our affiliate links. You may even get a discounted rate and we will make a small commission. Our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers or affiliate partnerships.
How did we get to Lombok?
Leaving Singapore we headed to Bali on Air Asia and after a 2 hr layover we boarded our Lion Air flight from Bali to Lombok.
Southern Ridges. little did we know that one of the best walks takes your right out of the city into lush green parks and elevated walkways.
The Gardens by the Bay
The gardens by the bay was one of the best things we did in Singapore. Â For information on how we got to Singapore and the other things we got up to you can visit that story here.Â
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28 thoughts on “Exploring gorgeous Gili Air | Great for diving & snorkelling”
Wow it looks amazing- fabulous post and amazing photos
Thanks 🙂
Looks amazing and food looks so delicious.
OMG the food was delicious, thank you 🙂
I’m not a diver, but this looks gorgeous enough to visit for the views alone!
I’m not a diver either Holly, I had a go but snorkelling is the thing for me and there’s loads to see, even turtles, thank you 🙂
I’d love to go to the Gili Islands! Thanks for this helpful guide.
You’re welcome, thank you 🙂
What an amazing looking place to visit. You made me want to go and had me at island and snorkeling. We LOVE snorkeling so this would be the perfect place for us.
Snorkelling with the turtles. What more can you ask for, thank you 🙂
Great photos! We want to get to Bali someday but this looks interesting too! We like the small, quaint islands. Good job!
Thank you Teri 🙂
I hope to visit one day! Looks like so much fun!
Its amazing Michelle, I hope you get there, thank you 🙂
That looks like an amazing trip! I have been to Bali but have yet to make it to the islands. Thank you for all the information! One Day 🙂
I hope you get there Denise and if you do, let me know, thank you 🙂
We keep talking about going there on our Bali trips but somehow haven’t made it yet! Gili Air looks like the perfect choice between the 3! And we’ve done the Bali fast boat to Nusa Penida and experienced the wading to shore, haha, those boats are not easy to get on & off of!
Oh my goodness Peggy that boat arrival does make me chuckle. I hope you get to Gili Air and it is the best of the 3, without doubt. Thank you 🙂
Bali has long been on my list of places to go, but Gili Air seems so much more isolated and peaceful!
Absolutely chilled and so peaceful. Let me know if you get there Charlene. Thank you 🙂
I LOVED Gili Air!! I’m not a diver but I snorkeled with a turtle which was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had! I can’t wait to go back there once COVID is over 🙂
Us too Natalie, its definitely on our list to go back. Thank you.
I would absolutely LOVE to go here. Wow island living has my name on it!
Rosie
I felt really at home on that island Rosie and could have stayed for longer. I hope you get there. Thank you.
Great tropical beach vibes. This is something to look into whenever I come back to Bali.
Absolutely Vinn, its such a beautiful island. Hope you get there. Thank you.
Looks amazing! I’ve never been diving but I do like to snorkel.
Me too Stephanie, Chris is the diver but for snorkelling its beyond amazing. Thank you.