8 Days in Southwest Lombok: Sekotong, the Quiet Gilis and Tetebatu

By Editorial Team · Last updated August 2026

Lombok has more than twenty Gili islands and almost every trip visits the same three. This eight-day route bases you on Gili Gede in the southwest instead, then crosses to Tetebatu and Ekas, with real boat costs, drive times and what to book first.

Lombok has more than twenty islands with Gili in the name, and almost every trip goes to the same three. Trawangan, Meno and Air sit off the north-west corner, they are genuinely good, and they are also the only part of Lombok most visitors ever see. The southwest corner of the island, Sekotong, has its own cluster of Gilis, a two-hour drive and a fifteen-minute boat from the airport, with a fraction of the traffic and none of the party. This eight-day route uses that corner as its base, then crosses the island to the rice terraces at Tetebatu and finishes on the quiet bay at Ekas. It is a second trip to Lombok, not a first one.

Who this trip is for

This suits repeat travellers, couples and solo travellers who have already done the famous Gilis and want the same water without the strip of bars behind it. You should be comfortable with a small local boat, a limited choice of restaurants, and days where the plan is decided by whoever owns the boat that morning. Snorkelling matters here more than diving.

It is a poor fit for a first trip to Indonesia. Southwest Lombok has no nightlife, no reliable cash machines on the islands, thin medical cover and a road network that punishes tight schedules. It is also wrong if you want to tick off Rinjani, the north waterfalls and the three northern Gilis in the same week: that trip exists, and it is a different one.

Trip at a glance

Duration: 8 days, 7 nights. Start and end: Lombok International Airport (LOP), near Praya. Bases: four nights in Sekotong or on Gili Gede, two nights in Tetebatu, one night at Ekas. Best for: repeat travellers, couples, snorkellers, anyone who found the northern Gilis too loud. Not ideal for: first-timers, party travellers, families with very young children.

Route: Lombok (LOP) to Sekotong, then Gili Gede and Gili Asahan, a snorkelling day at Gili Nanggu, Gili Sudak and Gili Kedis, across to Tetebatu, down to Ekas, back to LOP. Best season: broadly May to October, the drier half of the Lombok year, when the southwest crossings are calmest. Conditions vary year to year, so check the forecast the week before you fly.

Why this route makes sense

Sekotong sits on the same side of Lombok as the airport, so you reach the boats without crossing the island. Tetebatu is roughly halfway back east, which turns the return leg into a stop rather than a transfer. Ekas is then a short hop from the airport. The whole loop moves in one direction and never backtracks, which is what keeps eight days from becoming five days of driving.

The alternative, basing in Senggigi or Kuta Lombok and day-tripping out, looks tidier on a map and costs you two hours in the car every time you want to get in the water. The southwest Gilis are worth sleeping on, not visiting.

Which of the southwest Gilis should you actually stay on?

Gili Gede is the only one of the southwest islands with a real village, several places to sleep and food that is not tied to your accommodation, so it is the default base. Gili Asahan is smaller and quieter with a handful of low-key stays. Gili Nanggu, Sudak and Kedis are day-trip islands, beautiful and almost empty, but not places to spend a week.

How do you get to Sekotong from the airport or from Bali?

Sekotong is reached by road, not by boat. The jetty most travellers use is Tembowong, roughly 50 km southwest of Mataram and about two hours by car from Lombok International Airport as a working estimate. From there a local boat crosses to Gili Gede in ten to twenty minutes. Coming from Bali, you land at LOP or cross by sea to Lembar, which is about an hour north of the jetty. You can compare the Bali to Lombok crossings on 12Go before you decide which.

Day 1: Land at LOP and cross to Gili Gede

Morning. Land at Praya and get out of the airport quickly. There is nothing there worth your time and the drive southwest is the whole morning. Afternoon. The road runs through Sekotong's bays, which is the first sign you have left the tourist half of Lombok. Stop for lunch on the mainland side before the crossing, because island kitchens close early. Evening. Cross from Tembowong, drop your bag, and walk the village end of Gili Gede while the light goes. Base: Gili Gede, four nights. Booking logic: search Sekotong and Gili Gede stays on Booking.com well ahead, because the inventory here is small and a single group can fill a place. If you would rather not haggle over transfers, you can book a full-day Lombok car and driver and use the same car for the whole first leg. Travel note: do not schedule the crossing after dark on your first day. Boatmen will still take you, but you will arrive unable to see where you are.

Day 2: Gili Gede on foot and by boat

Morning. Walk the island. Gili Gede is small enough to circle in a couple of hours on a sandy track, past fishing boats, seaweed drying racks and a working village that is not there for you. Start early, there is very little shade. Afternoon. Snorkel straight off the beach, then take a boat across to Gili Asahan for the late afternoon and the view back at the Lombok coast. Evening. Eat where you sleep. That is not a compromise here, it is the arrangement. Base: Gili Gede. Booking logic: nothing to book today. Agree the Asahan boat with your guesthouse in the morning, not at the jetty in the afternoon. Travel note: there is no dependable cash machine on these islands. Draw what you need in Mataram or at the airport, and carry more than you think.

Day 3: The Gili Nanggu, Sudak and Kedis snorkelling loop

Morning. This is the day the southwest corner earns its reputation. A motorised outrigger runs north to Gili Nanggu, then Gili Sudak, then Gili Kedis, a sandbar you can walk around in five minutes. Reef comes right up to the beach at Nanggu, so you do not need to be a strong swimmer to see something. Afternoon. Lunch is usually grilled fish on Sudak, then Kedis last because it is the smallest and the light is best late. Evening. Back on Gili Gede for sunset over the mainland ridge. Base: Gili Gede. Booking logic: two routes. Charter the boat yourself at Tawun, roughly IDR 250,000 to 350,000 for the whole boat as quoted by local operators, up to around ten people, and bring your own gear and lunch. Or book the Gili Nanggu, Sudak and Kedis snorkelling trip with transfers, lunch and gear included, which runs from roughly USD 20 to 31 per person. The charter is cheaper for four or more, the organised trip is better value for two. Travel note: no shade on Kedis at all. Long sleeves in the water beat sunscreen on the reef.

Day 4: A slow day, or Gili Layar and the outer reefs

Morning. Build one genuinely empty day into this trip. If the sea is flat, take a boat to Gili Layar and snorkel the drop-off. If it is not, read. Afternoon. Kayak between the near islands if your place has boats, or cross back to the mainland and drive the coast road east through the pearl-farm bays. Evening. Last night on the island. Settle any boat bills in cash. Base: Gili Gede. Booking logic: keep this day unbooked on purpose. It is the buffer that absorbs a bad-weather morning earlier in the week. Travel note: arrange tomorrow's boat and car the night before. Getting off the island at a fixed time is harder than getting on.

Day 5: Cross the island to Tetebatu

Morning. Boat back to Tembowong, then the long leg east. Allow around three hours to Tetebatu as a working estimate, more if you stop, and treat any faster promise with suspicion. Afternoon. Arrive into a completely different Lombok: rice terraces on the southern slope of Rinjani, cool air, and tobacco drying in barns along the road. Walk out through the fields before dinner. Evening. Tetebatu is early to bed. That is the point of it. Base: Tetebatu, two nights. Booking logic: search Tetebatu guesthouses on Booking.com. Family-run places here are cheap and often better than the few larger ones. Travel note: this is the longest drive of the trip and there is no way to shorten it. Doing it in the morning leaves you an afternoon; doing it after lunch does not.

Day 6: Waterfalls, rice terraces and Sasak villages

Morning. Benang Stokel and Benang Kelambu, the twin waterfalls southwest of Tetebatu. Entry is around IDR 90,000 per person with a guide included, plus a small parking fee, according to the fees quoted locally. Kelambu is the better of the two, water falling through vegetation rather than off a cliff. Afternoon. Back for the rice-terrace walk and the monkey forest track. There is no single entrance ticket in Tetebatu, you pay small community contributions of roughly IDR 10,000 to 20,000 along the way, which go to the village. Evening. Ask your guesthouse about a Sasak cooking session. It is the most reliable way to eat well here. Base: Tetebatu. Booking logic: hire a local guide through your guesthouse rather than online. The waterfall guide is bundled into the ticket anyway. Travel note: the waterfall paths are slippery for most of the year and genuinely so after rain. Proper shoes, not flip-flops.

Day 7: Down to Ekas and the southeast bay

Morning. Drive south to Ekas, around two hours as a working estimate. The road deteriorates for the last stretch and that is exactly why the bay is still quiet. Afternoon. Ekas is a wide bay on the eastern end of Lombok's south coast, about 45 minutes east of Kuta Lombok by road, and it is where surfers go to avoid the Gerupuk crowd. Inside Ekas is a forgiving reef break; the outside is not. If you do not surf, the bay itself and the cliffs above it are the reason to come. Evening. One night, deliberately. Ekas is a place to end a trip, not to spend a week. Base: Ekas, one night. Booking logic: search Ekas Bay stays on Booking.com. Options are limited and mostly surf-oriented, so book before you arrive rather than turning up. Travel note: the surf breaks are usually reached by boat from Awang, roughly 30 to 40 minutes from Kuta Lombok by road plus about 15 minutes on the water. Confirm with your stay whether they run their own boat.

Day 8: Ekas back to LOP

Morning. Last swim, then the drive to the airport, around an hour and a half as a working estimate. Ekas to LOP is the easiest transfer of the trip, which is why the route ends here. Afternoon. Fly out, or connect to Bali. Evening. If your flight home leaves Denpasar, do not attempt it today. Sleep in Bali. Base: none. Booking logic: leave at least three hours between landing in Denpasar and any international departure. Travel note: LOP is small and the domestic schedule thins out in the afternoon. A morning flight is worth losing the last swim for.

What to book early, and what to keep flexible

Book three things before you fly: the Gili Gede or Gili Asahan nights, the Tetebatu guesthouse, and the Ekas stay. All three sit in places with very little inventory, where one group filling a guesthouse leaves you with no second option within an hour's drive. Everything else on this trip can be arranged the day before.

Keep the boats flexible. Local crossings, the Nanggu loop and any Gili Layar run all depend on the sea that morning, and paying in advance for a fixed date buys you nothing except the wrong day. The same goes for the Ekas surf boat. Cars are the one exception: arrange the airport transfer and the cross-island drive in advance, because turning up and negotiating at Tembowong with luggage is not a strong position.

Mistakes travellers make in southwest Lombok

Treating it as a day trip. Most people come from Senggigi or Kuta Lombok, snorkel Nanggu, and drive back the same evening having spent four hours in a car. The islands are worth sleeping on, and the whole economics of the trip changes when your boat leaves from the beach outside your room.

Arriving without cash. There is no dependable cash machine on the southwest Gilis and card acceptance is patchy on the mainland side too. Boats, guides and most guesthouses want rupiah.

Underestimating the drives. Lombok looks small. The east-west crossing to Tetebatu takes around three hours, and the last stretch into Ekas is slow. Two of the eight days here are genuinely travel days, and pretending otherwise is what ruins the other six.

Expecting the northern Gilis in miniature. There are no bars, no dive-shop strip and very little to do after dark. If that sounds like a loss rather than the point, book Gili Air instead.

What to cut, adapt or upgrade

Cut to six days by dropping Ekas and going straight from Tetebatu to the airport. You lose the softest part of the trip and keep the strongest. Cut to five by staying only in the southwest and skipping the crossing entirely, which is a legitimate short break rather than a compromised loop.

Adapt for divers. There are dive operations working out of the Sekotong area and the reefs here are quieter than the northern Gilis, but the operator choice is small and seasonal. If diving is the reason for the trip rather than a bonus, the northern Gilis or Komodo will serve you better.

Upgrade by adding Rinjani. Tetebatu sits on the mountain's southern slope, so a three-day trek slots in after Day 6 without a new transfer. That turns this into an eleven or twelve-day trip and changes its character completely, from slow to demanding.

Before you build this trip

Two practical things decide how well this route runs. The first is the season: broadly May to October is the drier, calmer half of the Lombok year and the southwest crossings behave. Outside it, boats still run but plans get cancelled at short notice. The second is connectivity, which is thin on the islands and useful on the drives. An Indonesia eSIM with Airalo activated before you land saves an argument at the airport counter.

On money: budget in cash for the whole southwest leg, including boats, guides and food. On health: the nearest serious hospital is in Mataram, roughly two hours from Sekotong and further from Ekas, so this is not a route for anyone who needs quick access to care. On visas: most nationalities use the visa on arrival or its electronic version, fees and rules change, so check the current official guidance before you book anything non-refundable.

Is southwest Lombok worth it if you have already seen the Gili Islands?

Yes, if what you liked about the Gilis was the water and not the scene. The southwest islands have comparable snorkelling, a working fishing village instead of a tourist strip, and a fraction of the boat traffic. Say no if you want a choice of restaurants, a dive-shop strip, or anything at all happening after nine in the evening.

Final verdict

This is the best second trip to Lombok we can build, and a bad first one. The southwest corner gives you the reef and the emptiness that people imagine when they book Trawangan and then do not find, and Tetebatu supplies the one thing the coast cannot, which is altitude and green. The price is two real travel days out of eight and a genuine lack of options when something goes wrong.

If you want our honest split: four nights in the southwest is right, two in Tetebatu is right, and Ekas is the part to cut if you are short. Do not compress the southwest to two nights to make room for something else. Two nights there is a day trip with extra steps.

Related itineraries

If you have not done the famous three yet, start with 4 days in the Gili Islands and come back to the southwest on a second trip. For the beaches on the other side of the same coast, 7 days in south Lombok from Kuta covers Selong Belanak, Tanjung Aan and Pink Beach. If the mountain is what pulls you, the 7-day Mount Rinjani trek starts an hour and a half north of Tetebatu. Everything we have on this island sits on the Lombok and Gili Islands hub.