Islands off Bali
Two of these are a day out. The rest are a trip.
Bali sits in the middle of a lot of other islands and the boats to them leave all day. Nusa Penida and Lembongan are genuinely a day trip from the south. The Gilis are not, at any speed — the crossing alone is one to three hours and the drive to the port goes on top. Below is what each is actually like, and, because nobody selling tickets will tell you, what to know about the boat before you book one.
Photo to comeThe Kelingking cliff from the viewpoint, early morning
A full day, start early
Nusa Penida, the west
The Kelingking cliff — the one shaped like a dinosaur’s head — plus Broken Beach, Angel’s Billabong and Crystal Bay, all on one loop. Forty-five minutes by fast boat from Sanur, and the most spectacular coastline anywhere near Bali. Go at first light: by nine there is a queue for the photograph.
- 45 min from Sanur
- West loop only
- Go at first light
The climb down to Kelingking beach is about thirty minutes down and forty-five back up in full sun, and most of it is dirt track and ladders rather than steps. Swimming is banned at the bottom of Kelingking and at Angel’s Billabong after deaths at both. One day gets you the west coast or the east coast — not both.
Photo to comeAtuh Beach from the top of the staircase
A full day
Nusa Penida, the east
Atuh Beach and the Molenteng treehouse viewpoint, on the far side of the island from Kelingking and much quieter for it. About an hour’s drive from the harbour, which is the bit people underestimate.
- An hour from the port
- Quieter than the west
- ~160 steps to Atuh
Diamond Beach next door has been closed on and off over permits. We check whether it is open before we put it in your plan rather than send you an hour across the island on a guess.
Photo to comeA manta at the cleaning station, from the surface
Morning, sea permitting
Mantas off Nusa Penida
Manta rays off the south-west of Penida, all year round. They are wild animals at a cleaning station rather than a show, and seeing one properly is the best hour you will spend in the water here.
- Year round
- Confident swimmers
- Sea decides, not the season
Open water — choppy, deep, with current — and the most common place to get seasick. Stay three metres back, never touch or chase one, no flash, and never swim over a cleaning station. If an operator lets people grab a manta, get off the boat.
Photo to comeThe blowhole at Devil’s Tear firing, shot from well back
A day, or an easy overnight
Lembongan & Ceningan
The calm alternative to Penida. Half an hour from Sanur, small enough to ride around, and joined to Ceningan by the yellow suspension bridge. Mushroom Bay is the gentlest swimming on any of these islands and the right answer if Penida’s queues and staircases sound like hard work.
- 30 min from Sanur
- Rideable in a day
- Gentle swimming
Devil’s Tear is a blowhole on an open rock shelf and it has killed people who stood too close for a photograph — it looks safe between sets and then is not. Watch it from well back. The channels between these islands run hard, so snorkel from a boat with a jacket rather than swimming out.
Photo to comeThe east side of Gili Air looking across to Lombok
Two nights minimum
Gili Air
The middle Gili, and the one to pick if you only do one. Quiet without being empty, walkable in an hour, green turtles in the shallows off the east side. No cars and no motorbikes on any of the three islands.
- No cars or bikes
- Walkable in an hour
- Turtles off the beach
Not a day trip, whatever a ticket desk tells you. The crossing is one to three hours depending on the port and the drive to the port is on top — Canggu to the Gilis is realistically five or six hours door to door. The public boat between the Gilis runs twice a day, so a tight schedule is how people get stranded.
Photo to comeThe main strip on Gili T at dusk
Two nights minimum
Gili Trawangan
The biggest and busiest of the three, with the diving, the restaurants and the real nightlife. Still walkable end to end.
- The liveliest of the three
- Diving
- Walkable end to end
The old reputation as somewhere the rules do not apply is out of date, and dangerously so. There has been a permanent police presence since 2019 and Indonesian drug law applies in full — including to CBD, which is legal at home and is not here. The Gilis are in West Nusa Tenggara rather than Bali, so the Bali levy does not cover you and Bali advice does not travel with you.
Photo to comeA green turtle grazing in the shallows
A morning
Turtles off the Gilis
Green turtles feed on the seagrass right off the beach at all three Gilis, so you can snorkel out to them from the sand rather than paying for a boat.
- Straight off the beach
- No boat needed
- All three islands
Give them room, never touch or chase one, and never get between a turtle and the surface — it is holding its breath, and blocking it is the harm most snorkellers do without realising. We do not send anyone to the turtle hatcheries: the tanks are small, the hatchlings are held far too long, and there is a serious argument they leave worse equipped than if nobody had picked them up.
One more thing, and it applies to all of them. There are no cars or motorbikes on the Gilis, and the traditional transport is a pony and cart. Welfare across the fleet is inconsistent and a lot of the animals are visibly underweight, so we do not put cart rides in anyone’s plan. The islands are small enough to walk, and there are bicycles everywhere. We know the counter-argument — the drivers’ income is what feeds the horses — and we would rather say that out loud than pretend the question is simple.
