"First trip to Lombok" Lombok by theo1006

We decided on a year-end vacation in Lombok, our first visit to the island. December is the rainy season, we had a few very wet days, but also some sunny days, enough to get a good tan.
We flew in from Surabaya with Lion Air. The picture shows the air terminal, which is quite close to the capital Mataram.
Earthwork has begun on a new international airport, which will be situated near Sengkol. This is closer to the Kuta area (south coast), so within a few years quiet Kuta may become more like it's namesake in Bali. Developers are anticipating by buying prime land, as indicated by billboards 'Owned by PT so-and-so, cutting trees forbidden'.

Ferry to Bali ready to leave

When you do Lombok as an extension of a Bali trip, you may arrive by ferry at Lembar harbour, which is half an hour's drive south of Mataram. The crossing takes four hours.

Lonely Planet says the days around Christmas are high season. Maybe this is true for Senggigi and the Gilis, but we found it not the case at the places where we stayed: Mataram, Kuta, and the western peninsula. Everywhere hotels offered discounts even before we asked for them. So there seems to be no need to book in advance.
If you want to check out the choice of accommodation, have a look at the Lombok Network site. It gives a lot of information, and you can make an internet booking here. But the list of accommodation is by no means complete.

• In a nutshell:Lombok is still like Bali in the seventies