Lombok & Sumbawa

Long overlooked beside Bali, Lombok rewards travellers willing to look beyond the familiar. The Sasak people, the island's indigenous majority, maintain a culture distinct in language, ceremony, and weaving traditions that predate tourism by centuries.

Rinjani commands the north, a volcano of real scale, its crater lake sitting at 2,800 metres above a caldera that changes the way people think about trekking. For those seeking something quieter than the famous northern Gilis, the Secret Gilis of Sekotong in southwest Lombok remain largely undiscovered: Gili Nanggu, Gili Sudak, and Gili Gede offer white-sand shores, healthy coral reefs, and the kind of unhurried pace increasingly difficult to find.

Across on Sumbawa, Moyo Island is a marine reserve of uncommon beauty, its deep jungle concealing Mata Jitu, a multi-tiered limestone waterfall cascading through turquoise pools that once drew Princess Diana to its shores. Sumbawa itself remains largely unvisited, its coastline and surf breaks holding a rawness that rewards the genuinely curious.

Best time to visit  May – October   —   dry season; Rinjani trekking season May–November; Moyo and reef diving clearest June–September