Better than Bali? 3 Days in LOMBOK, Indonesia VLOG & GUIDE

Explore Lombok, Indonesia in 3 days with a relaxed vibe, hidden waterfalls, serene beaches, and travel tips in this detailed vlog and guide.

Key Takeaways

Lombok offers a more authentic and less commercialized alternative to Bali with fewer crowds.
Accommodation can be affordable yet luxurious, providing excellent value for money.
Natural attractions like waterfalls and quiet beaches are major highlights.
Transportation requires planning, especially regarding taxis and scooter rentals.
Visiting during the dry season is recommended for the best experience.

What the video covers

Lombok is a less commercialized island near Bali, offering a more relaxed atmosphere and better value for money.
The vlog covers 3 days exploring the south coastal town of Canggu and surrounding areas.
Accommodation featured is a superior villa with a private pool at an adult-only resort, costing around £70-90 per night.
Highlights include visits to lesser-known waterfalls like Benang Stokal and Benang Calamu, plus hidden waterfalls accessible via jungle paths.
The beaches explored include Selong Belanak, popular for beginner surfers, and the quieter Moana Beach with minimal crowds.
A hillside restaurant near Canggu offers zen vibes, locally sourced food, and great lookout views of the town.
The video shares practical travel tips on transportation, including scooter rentals, taxi booking challenges, and airport transfer advice.
Currency used is Indonesian Rupiah, and the best visiting season aligns with Bali’s dry season from May to September.
Swimming in waterfalls is safe but modesty is advised for women; entrance fees and parking costs are explained.
The video concludes with a comparison of Lombok versus Bali, emphasizing Lombok’s appeal for travelers seeking less crowded, authentic experiences.

Chapters

Is Lombok a good alternative to Bali for travelers?

Yes, Lombok offers a more relaxed and less commercialized experience with fewer crowds and better value for money, making it a great alternative to Bali.

What are the best natural attractions to visit in Lombok?

The Benang Stokal and Benang Calamu waterfalls are popular, along with two lesser-known hidden waterfalls accessible via jungle paths. The beaches of Selong Belanak and Moana Beach are also highlights.

How can I get around Lombok and what should I know about transportation?

Scooter rentals are the most affordable way to get around, with prices starting around 75,000 rupiah per day. Taxis can be challenging to book in Canggu due to a local 'taxi mafia,' so pre-booking through hotels or private drivers is recommended.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

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Less than 1 hour from Bali lies Indonesia's lesser-known island of Lombok. Often described as what Bali was like 30 years ago, it hits the sweet spot of having just enough infrastructure, but still without feeling overly polished and commercial.

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This means you're often met with a more relaxed tone and lesser crowds, as well as getting more bang for your cash, which is how we managed to book one of the best value-for-money hotel rooms in years. But more on that later. So, is

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all of this better than Bali? Well, in this video, we'll show you three days staying around the south coastal town of Canggu. Well positioned for bougie restaurants, beaches that you can have all to yourselves, the best sunset experience we've ever had, and a spot of

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jungle hiking for waterfalls. We'll then finish with everything that we wish we'd have known before visiting, like how best to get around, tips for spending your money, and whether being scammed is actually something to worry about. This is Suitcase Monkey. Spending 3 days on

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the island of Lombok, Indonesia. Our first full day was just getting acquainted with the local town.

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Canggu largely centers itself along one road where you'll find a mix of cafes, restaurants, and surf shops. The community here felt small enough that we'd often recognize the same people over time, which overall was part of Canggu's laid-back charm. Ultimately,

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over all of our days here, downtown Canggu is where we'd always gravitate back to, sampling whatever caught our eye from the previous visit.

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For those unaware, this portion of our journey was part of two months traveling around Southeast Asia, where our room budget was typically £40 per night. But since we were staying in Lombok over the Christmas period, we spoiled ourselves

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just a little and booked what would become my favorite room booking over our entire Asian trip.

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This adult-only resort caters to 17 rooms altogether, so it always felt intimate and friendly. We booked a superior villa with a private pool, giving us access to 1,200 square feet of space to relax and unwind. Breakfast here was always my favorite time of day. We'd simply

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WhatsApp our order straight from bed, only for it to be delivered to our room shortly after. I enjoyed this so much that since coming back home, I have tried to get this into our own personal routine. But my wife is having none of

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it. And then of course there was the open-air bathroom. Always a novel experience for anyone who hasn't tried this before. As strangely liberating as it is to take a shower with nothing but sky above, the naked anxiety of having

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insects constantly eyeball you whilst doing so isn't recognized as the huge downfall as it is. But it's still fun all the same. When we booked here, we were able to get all of this for £70 per night, but looking online now, it seems

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to hover around the £90 mark. As always, everything featured in this video is linked in the description below or via the QR code on screen. And so, as our first relaxing day came to a close for tomorrow, we were now ready to venture

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further north in search of some of Lombok's most famous waterfalls. The impressive double hitter of Benang Stokal and Benang Calamu waterfalls is one of Lombok's most popular natural landmarks. But whilst most people choose to only visit the two most popular sites

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here, there are actually two more waterfalls buried further along a makeshift jungle path. Although these hidden waterfalls, as they're called, aren't essential or as impressive in size, there is more of a chance you'll get them both all to yourselves as we

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did. And in this 30-plus degree heat, waiting in the cold, fresh water did make the extra hour's diversion worth it in the end. There is some online debate about the necessity of needing to pay for a guide to access the waterfalls,

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but I'll delve further into this topic in the tip section at the end chapter of this video. So for now we ventured on one last time towards our fourth and final waterfall.

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For our last full day, we took life into our own hands. And by that I mean quite literally. I'm about as skilled riding a bike as I am a Segway through a hurricane. Since the beaches in Canggu

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leave a little to be desired, we drove west in search of a couple of alternatives. Only about half an hour's drive away, Selong Belanak is one of the most visited beaches in Lombok. Mostly popular for beginners learning to surf.

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There's a bunch of bars and restaurants dotted around, but since we were handed a little bit to book surfing lessons for ourselves, this turned into more of a pit stop than we assumed. Much more peaceful though was Moana Beach,

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possibly the nicest sand that we found. And this time, we had it all to ourselves. Only 15 minutes from the first beach, this is all very minimal with only a handful of restaurants and lounges to rent out. But its peaceful

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nature was more what we were looking for, meaning a lack of the human race.

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Our best discovery though was actually on the way back to Canggu and only about 5 minutes out of town. Sharing its space with a full-on yoga retreat, this hillside restaurant not only channeled some nearby zen vibes, but gave us our

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best lookout yet of Canggu from high above. The food here was also unique and flavorful, all locally sourced and with a constantly changing menu to keep everything fresh and in season. I did notice in these small prints that they

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can even provide a shuttle service for bookings from Canggu, so it is worth reaching out to them if you're interested. As our lunch settled, we drove back to our villa for one final rest up before taking a taxi to what

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would soon become my all-time favorite sunset experience. What I enjoyed most about this lookout was the abundance of everyday activity happening in every direction, all on top of ever-changing shadows as you move from one location to the next. We were slowly

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moving away from the main hotspot area, but there is also a bit of a festival vibe here. So there's a really good energy in the air. It's only a 20-minute drive from Canggu, so definitely is worth a visit if you're in the

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area. To finish this video, I wanted to end with a short guide of some of the best things to know if you were ever thinking of visiting this part of Indonesia.

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Obviously, the most affordable way to move around Lombok is by renting a scooter with prices starting around 75,000 rupiah per day. The main roads are pretty well kept and traffic was really breezy, so definitely a lot easier than riding a bike around Bali, for example.

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Do note that for anytime you park, there will likely be someone to take a payment of around 10,000 rupiah. Whether that's an official car park or just some dude with a sign, who knows? But it still worked all the

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same. For anyone coming from Bali, do be aware that Grab and Gojek, which are the Ubers of Southeast Asia, are pretty much a no-no within Canggu. They do operate around Lombok, but just not in Canggu itself. There's lots of online

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chat about the so-called taxi mafia here. And basically, this means you can be dropped off in Canggu, but Grab won't pick you up in Canggu. So instead, we just booked taxis through our own hotel since that was easiest. A

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multi-destination alternative that we didn't try here, but found great success with in Bali is just booking a private driver for the day. It can work out cheaper than booking a bunch of separate taxis or even paying for parking and

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petrol if there's a few of you. So, I've linked some popular options in the description below. Lastly, on this topic, I would heavily suggest that you pre-book a taxi if you're landing at the airport. When the doors opened to leave,

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it was an absolute free-for-all of people coming up to you and offering their services. And it could be a bit overwhelming to some so soon after landing in a new environment. So, I'd either arrange this with your hotel

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beforehand or I've linked an option in the description. Money-wise, the currency here is Indonesian Rupiah or Rp, which is the symbol. And alth

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to the bill for using one. So, it's always worth keeping a decent amount of cash on you to avoid those fees or for when you're visiting smaller retailers.

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Eating out in restaurants, prices for a local dish as a main course can hover around 35 to 55,000 rupia. And a westernstyle main course will be anywhere from 60,000 up to 200,000, which was the most I spent for this

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steak. And before anyone comments and says, "I can't believe you ate Western food in Lombok." By this point, we'd been in Asia for 6 weeks and I was fully riced out. I am sorry. But on that note, this pizza place is super popular. So go

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here if you're in need of some cheese. In terms of when to visit, it's pretty similar to Bali with dry season falling between May and September and wet season October to April.

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Temperatures tend to sit from 27° C to the early 30s year round. Now, we visited in December, which should make it part of the wet season. And yet, as you'll see in these videos, there is no rain here. So, either we were just very

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lucky or it did help the fact that we were staying in the south. If it wasn't, we actually wanted to stay for longer around the national park region, but it just didn't work out for us this time.

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But I suggest to keep this area open as a possible destination for you if it works for you.

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Next up, let's go through three quick tips about visiting the waterfalls and then one expectation setter. First, it is totally fine to swim in the waters here, but for women, it is advised to have something like a sarong and not

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just walk around in a bikini only. Second, if you have any, definitely bring along some water rock shoes as they really made things much easier to wade around in. And third, visit on a weekday if possible. We visited here on

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a Saturday and were told that the weekends are always much busier. So, good to know if you can be flexible. The main sticking point I wanted to highlight for you though is just to be aware of some of the negative reviews

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online about people's experiences of visiting this area. Now, some people are making fair points and some people are making a bit of a mountain out of a molehill on the internet of all places.

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So, when you arrive, you're asked to pay 5,000 for parking and then asked to pay around 100,000 for the two main waterfalls or 140,000 to see all four.

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Sometimes these are just to see the waterfalls on your own and sometimes you're told that you need a guide to see them, but still for the same price either way. These prices probably are made up since they seem to change from

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tourist to tourist and there is no ticket check at the end. Personally, I probably would suggest a guide if you want to see the four waterfalls as we did since the paths aren't as obvious, but the two main ones are an easy

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30inute walk away. Ultimately though, for me, considering the cost we're talking about here is less than £6. I think as long as you know what to expect upfront, just see it as a donation, something that helps the locals and

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you'll have zero issues. It is easy sometimes to forget when traveling, especially if it's been for a while and you're backpacking on a budget, to forget the massive gap in wages between your country and the one that you're

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visiting. Lombok is a much less prosperous island than Bali. So, sometimes we did find that the people here are a bit more full-on with their offerings of services and goods. It absolutely never crossed the line, like it never got bad or anything. And you've

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probably experienced similar behavior in other countries already, so it likely won't be anything new to you. But feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments. Personally, I think paying a small entry fee for all of this is

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whatever. Even if it isn't official, I don't know. It it just doesn't bother me. Anyway, we avoided all of this just by pre-booking a trip beforehand. So, our driver sorted out everything for us.

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But again, I mention it more to set an expectation if you're arriving by bike on your own. So, let's come back to our initial question. Is Lombok better than Bali? Well, it depends on what you're looking for. If the idea of a less

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populated, more affordable break is what you're after, then Lombok easily ticks those boxes, but at the cost of a few inconveniences from being less established. On the other hand, Bali almost invented the niche that it's found itself in. And the island is very

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skilled at offering an abundance of activities and food at a much more polished level, which it is hard to beat, even with some of its downsides.

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So, to give a direct answer, if we could only visit one island, it probably would be Bali. But Lumbok is still perfect for those either with extra time or those wanting to explore a little beyond the welltrodden tourist path. We've already

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made a video covering our 10 days in Bali, so check that out if you haven't already. And thank you so much for making it this far into the video. Leave a like, comment, and check out all the Lombok related info in the description

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below. As ever, thanks for watching. Suitcase monkey.

Topics:Lombok travelIndonesia vlogLombok guidewaterfalls LombokLombok beachesCanggu Lomboktravel tips Lombokscooter rental LombokLombok vs BaliIndonesian travel

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