Gili Islands

📍 Gili Meno's west coast

A circle of life-size human figures on the seabed off Gili Meno — an underwater sculpture installation by Jason deCaires Taylor, placed in water shallow enough to see from the surface and to freedive down to. Coral has begun to colonise the figures, and the island's coral gardens sit close by.

Very popular and very photographed: do not touch or stand on the figures or the coral growing on them, and mind your fins in a crowd. Access is by boat or by swimming out from the right part of the shore — ask locally where the entry is and how the current is running.

📍 North-east shore of Gili Meno

The best-known turtle site in the Gilis: a shallow reef slope where green and hawksbill turtles graze the coral and seagrass. Snorkelers see turtles here on most days, either from the shore or after a short boat ride, which is why it is the islands' signature swim.

Sightings are never guaranteed, and this is a heavily visited site — never crowd, chase or touch a turtle, give it room to surface and breathe, and keep off the coral. Boat traffic around the point is real, so keep your head up.

📍 Gili Air, east and north coasts

Gili Air's reef starts close in: patch coral, coral heads and shallow flats on the island's calmer side, with turtles and reef fish working the same stretch and a seagrass flat where turtles graze. It is warm, walk-in, from-the-beach snorkeling of the kind that makes the Gilis easy.

Parts of the reef flat are genuinely shallow and parts are broken coral or rubble rather than intact reef, so watch where you put hands and knees and pick your entry around higher water. Ask locally which side is calmest on the day.

📍 Gili Trawangan, west and north coasts

Gili Trawangan holds coral gardens on its quieter coasts — well away from the busy eastern strip — plus reef-restoration structures installed offshore by local conservation projects to rebuild damaged coral, which double as fish aggregating points worth a look.

Heads-up: the west side is the sunset side and the north-west sees the most boat traffic, and no structure replaces intact reef. Ask locally where the snorkeling is best and which restoration areas are open to visitors before you swim.

📍 The shallows between Gili Trawangan, Meno and Air

The Gilis sit inside a broad, shallow seagrass and sand system, and that is why turtles are here in numbers: green turtles graze seagrass, and the flats between the islands are their feeding ground. Snorkeling the flats is gentle, shallow and often surprisingly productive.

Seagrass looks empty and is not: never stand on it or drag fins through it, do not anchor, and remember the turtle you are watching is eating. The channels between the islands carry current at the change of tide — stay out of them, or stay with a guide who knows them.

The islands' standard evening: tables set out on the sand, a grill of snapper, tuna, prawns and squid, and a plate assembled from whatever you point at. It is a slightly theatrical meal and it is also genuinely good, especially the fish straight off the boat.

Tip: Agree the fish, the sides and the price before it goes on the grill — the ordering is by weight and pointing, so settle the total first. Eat early if you want the sunset seat rather than a queue.

The Gilis sit off Lombok, and Lombok's own cuisine is worth crossing for: ayam taliwang (grilled chicken with a fierce chilli-and-shrimp-paste marinade), plecing kangkung (water spinach with sambal) and nasi puyung. It is the food of the island that owns these waters.

Tip: Build a stop on the mainland into a transfer day rather than treating the boat as a straight line, and ask for the sambal separately if you want to control the heat.

Gili Air has the sort of small warungs that feed their neighbours rather than their visitors: a plate of rice with whatever is on the counter — tempeh, tofu, greens, egg, a curry, peanuts and sambal. It is cheap, fast and the most honest meal on the islands.

Tip: Go at lunchtime for the fullest selection, ask for the vegetarian versions if you do not eat meat, and remember these are family businesses with island-scale supply — if something has run out, it has run out.