Gili Trawangan is the largest of the Gili Islands and the one with the best developed infrastructure. The Gili Islands are part of Lombok and can be reached from the main island by ferry from the port of Bangsal in a few minutes.
Tip for the journey: When you arrive at the port in Lombok, the staff there try to convince you to take a private boat to the Gili Islands. Their argument for a private boat is the fact that there are no fixed departure times for the ferry. They wait until there are enough people to fill a boat and then they leave. In my case, I waited 15-20min (and was the 3rd person for the boat when I arrived), so it's not a long wait (at least from my experience). So it pays to wait for the ferry and save money.
The road that leads once around the island is largely concreted over, and hotels, restaurants, bars and some diving schools are lined up here. What is special about the Gili Islands compared to Bali or Lombok is the fact that no motorised vehicles are allowed on the island. So the people there travel by horse-drawn carts or bicycles. This is a very positive contrast and great for runners. 😊

What I personally found very striking is the number of "medical centres" on the island. You can visit them for all your needs, even if you just want to have your wounds professionally cleaned for very little money.
Besides the hustle and bustle in the east of the island, the west of Gili Trawangan is still very quiet. This means that there are also opportunities to retreat from the advertised party island and find some peace and quiet and rarely visited, beautiful sandy beaches. I will then give you an overview of the activities I did on the island.
Sunrise SUP Yoga
When I went around the island once, I noticed a billboard advertising SUP yoga. This triggered me twice, as I like both SUP and yoga very much. On top of that, it said it was a sunrise session and a good exercise session motivates me to get up at 5am to see the sunrise. So I booked a unit for the following day. At 05:30 I left my hotel and walked to the meeting point. On the way there, the horizon had already changed colour and it was a great view out to sea.

At 6 o'clock the SUP yoga started. I was the only participant that day, so I had a private session with the yoga instructor.

We paddled a bit out to sea and tied the SUP boards to a buoy. Then the session already started. First we did some exercises while sitting, which were still quite easy. Very soon we stood up and as there was already a slight swell on the day, it was really difficult to keep the balance in asanas such as the warrior - this requires a lot of concentration and stability in the middle of the body. Again and again, we did breathing exercises in between and during these we could watch the sun very well 😊
The SUP yoga was a good change from regular yoga sessions and I had fun on the board and a perfect start to a beautiful day!
Going to the cinema by bike
Have you ever ridden a bicycle with neither lights nor brakes across unlit, pothole-ridden island roads to a cinema? No? I have now 😊
There are actually 2 cinemas on Gili Trawangan. Both are located on the (quieter) west side of the island, so it's recommended (if you start from the east of the island) to either allow plenty of time for a walk or find another means of transport to get there. In any case, remember to take a torch with you, as there is hardly any lighting in the interior of the island. A member of staff at my hotel offered me the use of his bicycle free of charge, and so I arrived at the cinema a short time and countless potholes later on my bike, which was unfortunately no longer quite fit to ride.

I went to the Aston Movie Night cinema. This cinema offers 2 films a day in the evening. One film starts at 19:30 and the second film starts at 21:00. The visit to the cinema is free and the organiser lives from the consumption of the tourists. In addition to normal food, you can also get sweet or salty popcorn for an unbeatable price - so everything is there for a successful cinema evening. You sit on comfortable beanbags and the films are all in English with English subtitles.

The films it plays there are "classics". The night I visited the cinema, it played "Mamma Mia" and "Inception".
Beerpong in Ombak Bar
Since Gili Trawangan is known as THE party island among the Gili islands, a recommendation for a bar should not be missing. The Ombak Bar is located in the east of the island very centrally directly on the beach. Besides a nice ambience due to the lighting and the location on the beach, the bar provides tables for playing beer pong. It was fun to play Beerpong there accompanied by good music. Have you ever played Beerpong right on the beach? 😊
When looking for a yoga studio, one of the first online search results was Gili-Yoga. Due to the consistently positive reviews and the proximity to my hotel, I tried this yoga studio. The studio is part of a hotel located directly on the beach promenade. The yoga shala is a little further back on the property, so it's nice and quiet away from the hustle and bustle.

Ash, the yoga teacher conducted through the session with a calmness, there was a pleasant flow music in the background. I attended a morning vinyasa session and a sunset flow and both sessions were very good. 😊
Restaurant recommendations for Gili Trawangan
This restaurant appears somewhat inconspicuous on the main road in the east of the island. It is a very small pink wooden house where you can sit on the ground floor or on the ground floor. The place is best known for its smoothie bowls, which are served in real coconuts as a substitute for bowls.
For me, the Banyan Tree had by far the best coffee on the island. I only went here for a short while to enjoy a coffee. The place is also in the east of the island on the main road and has indoor seating as well as seating in the sand right by the sea.

The menu is very extensive and I can recommend this place for every meal of the day.
The Samadhi has become my absolute favourite place on the island. Besides the very tasteful interior and the possibility to find a nice place for yourself on three levels, it is super quiet there.

The restaurant is not on the main road and for this reason there are far fewer tourists passing by.

So you can stay here for a longer time and also work, for example. The restaurant is vegetarian and all the dishes I ate there were very good.
I also experienced an interesting situation in this restaurant: a staff member went behind a screen inside the restaurant, which was half transparent, and prayed right next to the guests. I found it exciting to observe how work and faith are compatible here.
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