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Asia travel
PostMagTravel

5 places off the beaten track in Lombok, Indonesia, from desert islands to an eco resort to the country’s kitesurfing capital

  • Post Magazine returns to the Indonesian island of Lombok determined to visit places we’ve never been to, or heard of, before
  • Here are five of the most memorable we found, from an eco resort and yachtie hangout to a top beach for surfing to a serene dive hotel

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Outside the Nirvana Gili Sudak micro-resort on Gili Sudak, Lombok, where the only other guest is a long-stay Russian draft dodger. It’s one of the places Post Magazine finds on a quest to see places in Lombok we’ve never been to before. Photo: Ian Neubauer
Ian Lloyd Neubauer

According to American psychologist Stanley Plog’s Model of Tourist Behaviour, most are “repeaters”.

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“They prefer to return to familiar travel destinations where they can relax and know what types of food and activity to expect,” wrote Plog in 1967.

Recently I travelled to Lombok in Indonesia, Bali’s slightly smaller sister island, for the third time. On the previous occasions, I visited the small Gili Islands off the northwest coast, which receive 3,500 tourists per day; and the resort town of Kuta, home of the Mandalika International Street Circuit, which attracted up to 150,000 spectators when the MotoGP motorcycle race returned last month.

But this time I travelled to Lombok as a “wanderer”, which Plog describes as “one who seeks new experiences in a wide range of activities”.

Fishing catamarans line the beach at Mataram, the capital of Lombok. Photo: Ian Neubauer
Fishing catamarans line the beach at Mataram, the capital of Lombok. Photo: Ian Neubauer

I made it my mission to visit parts of the island I’d never heard of, let alone seen: hidden beaches and coves, rustic resorts and little islands where other tourists are few and far between.

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And I found them. Here are five of the most memorable.

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