Lombok Island is an island in the Lesser Sunda Islands or Nusa Tenggara. Lombok is geographically almost the same size as Bali and, like any of Bali’s popular tourist areas, it offers a variety of destinations to suit any tourist’s taste. The best time to come is in May when the weather is sunny and the scenery is green. The main city on this island is Mataram City.
The island’s topography is dominated by the Rinjani volcano, which reaches 3,726 meters above sea level and makes it the third highest mountain in Indonesia. The southern area of the island consists mostly of fertile land used for agriculture. Commodities that are usually grown in this area include corn, rice, coffee, tobacco and cotton. About 80% of the island’s population is the Sasak tribe, an ethnic group that is still close to the Balinese, but most of them embrace Islam. The rest of the population are Balinese, Javanese, Chinese and Arabs.
Lombok has the best woven fabrics such as songket and ikat which can be used as sarongs, wall hangings, tablecloths and many more. Woven designs are specific to each weaver and are passed down from generation to generation. There is a traditional hand weaving village in Puyung, Central Lombok. You can even try on traditional Sasak costumes.
Banyumulek (West Lombok), Penujak (Central Lombok) and Masbagik (East Lombok) are famous pottery-making villages in Lombok. Lombok pottery is well known and shipped around the world. There are many traditional handicrafts as souvenirs including wooden masks, baskets made of ketak grass, wooden boxes designed with shell pieces, or other items made of bamboo or rattan.
In addition, Lombok is also famous for its island and beach tourism. There are Gili Trawangan Islands, Gili Meno and Gili Air. All three islands feature: superb white sand beaches, crystal clear waters, spectacular coral reefs, and the best in snorkeling and diving. While for beach tourism, there is Kuta beach which attracts visitors because of the beauty of the beach and beautiful surfing spots. Surfers from all over the world find Kuta to be a surfer’s paradise. The south coast of Lombok is famous for its high waves. Other beach tourism is Pink beach and Senggigi beach. To improve service and comfort for tourists, around 1108 hotels and inns have been established in the Lombok area, 1617 restaurants and restaurants, 55 karaoke locations, pubs and discotheques, and there are 794 travel agents and travel agents.
Lombok is a tourist area that has adequate transportation infrastructure. In Lombok, Lombok International Airport (BIL) has now been built, which replaced the function of Mataram Selaparang Airport, which was officially closed on 30 September 2011. Domestic airlines served include Garuda Indonesia, Merpati Nusantara Airlines, Lion Air, Wings Air, Trigana Air, Batavia Air, and Trans Nusa. Trans Nusa is an airline serving flights to Makassar, Bali and Nusa Tenggara. As for international flights, there are two airlines that frequently go back and forth, namely Silk Air, which flies from Singapore and Air Asia to serve passengers departing from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Apart from the airport, the entrance to Lombok can be via the Lembar seaport which connects Lembar Lombok with Padang Bai Bali. This port also serves shipping between Kayangan ports in East Lombok and Tano on Sumbawa Island.
For land transportation, you can use a taxi or Damri bus which is operated by the local government as an alternative means of transportation. Other alternative means of transportation are bemo and cidomo (cikar gig and motorbike).
How to get to Lombok :
Air transport
It is from Lombok International Airport that we can continue our journey to tourist destinations or hotels according to the plan. If you don’t have a pick-up service from a hotel or travel agent, you don’t need to worry because at this airport there are lots of public transportation available such as taxis and damri. for taxi, the rate of course depends on your destination. As for damri, the fare from the airport to Mataram is Rp. 15,000.
Water transportation
For those of you who don’t want to use an airplane to go Lombok island, then another alternative is by sea. There are two ports in Bali that are often used by tourists to get to the island of Lombok, namely Padang Bai Harbor and Tanjung Benoa Bali. From Padang Bai, you can go to Sheet harbor in Lombok which serves routes to some of the best destinations in Lombok such as Gili Trawangan, Gili Air and Gili Meno using fast boats. You don’t need to worry about running out of tickets because the crossings are available 24 hours a day Apart from using the ferry to Sheet Harbor, you can also go directly to tourist destinations in Lombok such as Gili Trawangan and Teluk Kodek via Padang Bai by using a fast boat. There are many fast boats available to accommodate your trip, of course, with various prices.
Land transportation
In addition to sea and air transportation modes, there is one more option that you can also go to Lombok, namely by land transportation. Travel time using the bus from Jakarta to Lombok can
took two days and two nights. If not, you can also use a private vehicle and use the ferry to cross via Padang Bai to Lembar Harbor which is about 1 hour drive to Mataram