• stylish travellers
• On June 17, 2015

Spacious villas amaze with their interiors, surrounded by the greenery. The scent of flowers, the birds singing. Indonesian flavours in the excellent Bamboo Restaurant situated on the most beautiful part of the beach, where the azure water douches white sand. Close to that, there is a coral reef where you can meet colourful fish and big turtles. This could be a paradise.

Villa Almarik is located in the more peaceful part of the long beach, a few-minute walk from the vivacious centre of Gili Trawangan. We enter an open, spacious reception. We are welcomed by a pleasant service and a welcome cocktail. In front of us, there is a pool with a wading pool for children.

27 villas are covered in greenery – bushes, flowers, leafy trees – while we rest on a balcony, we can hear singing of birds and the cicadas. Guests can choose from 3 different types of accommodation, including 52-metre long villas deluxe, which we can recommend, because we were staying there. High, open rooms cleverly join a living room and a place with big, comfortable beds. A couch next to the window seems like a great idea – we can use it to relax in the middle of the day.

The breakfast is served on the first floor in the main building – we are drinking our morning coffee under the fans while watching the sea from the distance. The breakfast buffet offers a great choice of cereals, yoghurts, omelettes, scrambled eggs or – more traditional in Asia – fried pasta and rice.
What is also worth contemplating – handmade furniture, the wooden wall which required much effort to make, or many jugs, bowls and other porcelain containers.

The joyful service is eager to talk to guests, take care of their comfort and fulfil their wishes.
There is a Bamboo Restaurant on the beach – a restaurant, in which the dishes of the Indonesian cuisine are served, as well as a Mediterranean one. We liked local dishes best: fish with curry in the banana tree leaves, or the chicken in sweet and sour teriyaki sauce.

 
Cyan, emerald and sky blue – those colours of the water interpenetrate and they also contrast with white sand. It is a one of the most beautiful fragments of the beach on the island. An additional attraction is a nearly situated coral reef, which is a paradise for divers with diving masks. With a diving mask and a snorkel we can admire huge turtles (huge for me – a layman who doesn’t see a lot of species daily). Colourful fish are closer than you think, so there is a possibility that we’ll be pleased with the underwater world seen from the shore, therefore we won’t try diving.

There is also a five-star Paddi Resort in Villa Almarik, which is a paradise for divers. In the hotel SPA we can choose from menu full of massages, and in the reception we can rent a bike for 24 hours for 4 dollars – which makes it possible to reach every corner of the island.

What we liked:

•    Comfort of staying

•    Total silence

•    A lot of handmade furniture, decorations and objects (plaited boxes, natural materials, rattan)

•    The view of the Gili Meno island and Lombok mountains from the beach

•    Internet access on the beach

•    Excellent menu full of Indonesian and international food in Bomboo Restaurant

•    Live music on Saturday evening

Save