Lombok

If you want a Bali experience shorn of the crowds and trash brought in by Bali tourists, you may want to visit Lombok. Lombok is a largely untouched and therefore beautifully unspoiled paradise in Indonesia, and it boasts some of the best beaches and scenery in the region. It may be upstaged by Bali in terms of modern party and club scenes, but when it comes to natural appeal, Lombok actually takes the cake.

One particular appeal of Lombok has to do with its relative isolation from tourist swarms. As a result, privacy-seeking tourists very often visit the area, such as the Gili Islands nearby. The islands have many small private resorts, and they can make for wonderful seaside retreats for weary travelers looking to get away from the bustle.

If you don’t mind sharing the sands and surf, though, south of Lombok is the village of Kuta, which boasts several beaches that rival the Bali ones. There is a Kuta Beach here too—a marvelous one, at that—as well as a beach whose very sands look like pepper. Overlooking the popular Senggigi Beach is the Hindu temple of Pura Batu Bolong, on which outcrop sits the empty chair of the god Brahma. Against the backdrop of the waters and the honey-streaked late noon sky, this is easily one of the most beautiful places to be on the entire island.

There are many other things Lombok offers, from scuba diving and surfing to waterfall visits. Trekking is popular as well, and if you can spare a little cash for it, an aerial view of the spectacular Mount Rinjani and its crater’s waters might entertain you. Lombok is a nature-lover’s paradise, and that is clear from the very locals themselves, who still subsist off the land and waters in traditional ways. Here, you can enjoy the natural beauty of a Bali without the bustle and buzz that can prove tiring to the weary traveler.