What would be your ultimate vacation?
Mine would be on a beach, quiet, relaxing, no schedule and not to worry about expenses, either. There are many places in Indonesia to go on vacation, for example Bali, Yogyakarta, and Mananado to just name a few.
Many people have heard of Bali in Indonesia, especially some might remember the last destination in a movie made from a book “Eat, Pray, Love”, but Lombok, a sister island that sits across the straits from Bali, is not as widely known as Bali. I learned about Lombok quickly after we moved to Jakarta.
When it is not cloudy, you can see Mount Agung in Bali from the northeastern shore of Lombok. That’s how close these two islands are.
If you would like to learn more about Lombok, here are two articles that I read and liked: “Living in Bali’s Shadow, but Maybe Not for Long” By Eric Weiner Published on September 21, 2008 by The New York Times Travel and “The Next Bali – With stunning natural beauty — and a $600 million resort complex in the works — Lombok aims to become a travel hot spot” by Tom Wright published on December 12, 2008 by The Wall Street Journal.
WHY LOMBOK?
When my husband tasked me to plan a trip during a winter break, I knew that I wanted to stay in Indonesia since we have a 10-month-old baby and traveling domestically is easier and I thought it would be less expensive. After all, Indonesia is a country full of tourist attractions. I first thought of Bali because I have only been to Bali once and I have only seen Nusa Dua, a very commercialized Bali where I did not get to see the magical charm of the island. I hear Ubud in Bali would be true Bali, but I picked Lombok over Ubud in Bali for various reasons. My main reasons for it were 1. my children like beaches and Ubud is in inland and thus does not have a beach nearby 2. Lombok beaches are known to be nicer than Bali beaches, and 3. Lombok is less expensive than Bali.
These are the reasons I looked into Lombok in the first place, but I must say that I would call this trip our trip to Qunci Villas, our hotel. I fell in love with Qunci Villas.
WHAT’S DIFFERENT BETWEEN BALI AND LOMBOK?
One difference many who visited both islands would notice is probably the cultures that stemmed from the religions. Bali’s dominant religion is Balinese Hinduism even though Indonesia’s dominant religion is Muslim. The special rituals, cultural practices and food in Bali are rooted from Hinduism which are different from the rest of Indonesia. One thing I would point out that made me realize Lombok was very different from Bali was Islamic call to prayer. The blasting call to prayer woke me up and our baby in the middle of the night. One time I looked over to my clock and it was 4:30 am… Bali was very quiet.
HOW I FOUND QUNCI VILLAS
I went straight to a Japanese blogger’s site, UnoMin’s Life in Indonesia, written in Japanese that I often read because she travels a lot, posts beautiful pictures and has a good style. I saw a post about Qunci Villas in Lombok on her blog. Her photos were stunning and instantly I knew that Qunci Villas and Lombok was the place we needed to go.
Fast forward to the day of our travel, on January 2, we arrived at the airport, it was pouring rain.
CLIMATE AND WHAT TO PREPARE
Little did I know that we were going to Lombok in the middle of the rainy season at the time of booking. Apparently, the rainy season in Lombok is between October and March. I read that the season is pretty much the same in Bali, but it does not rain in Lombok as much as it does in Bali.
CRAFT, BOOKS, GAMES & ACTIVITY BOOKS
I was warned by my friend right before going on a trip about possible rainy days, so I took some crafts and coloring books, colored pencils and so forth for the kids to do when it rained.
We flew from Jakarta, so it didn’t bother us to be on vacation while we had a lot of rain, but if we flew from far away and would have had to spend a lot of money to travel to Lombok, I would rather go when the weather is nicer and the water is prettier. The rainy season (Oct-March) is not as pretty as it is in a dry season in Lombok in terms of weather. Yet I think Qunci Villas makes it nice and comfortable despite the weather.
OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES
QUNCI VILLAS BEACH
When it was not raining, we enjoyed going to the beach in the morning when the tide is low and look for pretty shells with the kids.
POOL
The tide was high in the afternoon and the waves were big, so we mainly hang out at the pool.
SURFING
The waves were pretty big when we went to Lombok in January and no one was playing in the ocean water in front of the Qunci Villas when we were there.
I heard from another guest staying at Qunci Villas whose husband is a surfer that if you want to learn how to surf, the beach at Qunci Villas is great. There is a surf lessons given at the beach.
OTHERS
Boat Trip to Gili Islands
Reasonable boat trip from the hotel is available.
Kuta Beach
I hear that Kuta Beach is gorgeous. According to my Japanese friend whom I coincidentally ran into at Qunci Villas, Kuta Beach was 1.5 hours from Qunci Villas by Taxi. There is Novotel in the Kuta Beach area. I heard that if you stay at Novotel, you can go to the beach and snorkel.
QUNCI VILLAS
We stayed in a Garden View room at Qunci Villas, the least expensive option. It was great for us. I will plan on writing about a Garden View Room in the future. We were fortunate that a room was available even though I booked it only 3 weeks in advance. Apparently Qunci Villas rooms fill up very quickly. The Garden View Room was amazing and I could not believe that we could stay there for only a little over US$100!!! I booked directly from Qunci Villas. Since we stayed there during the peak season, the surcharge of $25 was applied, but even with that, I found it very reasonable.
We heard and read that Qunci Villas is a very honeymoon type of resort. It is true, but we saw some other families with young children or a baby. There is no kids pool, but instead they dedicate one of three pools to only adults. My kids still had a blast in a pool at Qunci Villas. If you want a pool designed for kids and a slide to entertain your kids, Sheraton Senggigi Beach Resort, a hotel in the same Senggigi area has them and that might suit you better for your needs. More details here.
We felt comfortable having our baby with us at Qunci Villas although there was one evening our son was fussy and we felt badly for a young couple sitting next to our table… Qunci Villas made it very easy and comfortable for us to have a baby.
Our baby son had a great time, too!
If you are interested, more information about Qunci Villas, please click the links below.
Qunci Villas Restaurant information as well
Garden View Room at Qunci Villas
Thanks for this post, I visited Lombok many years ago, pre kids time, was indeed lovely!
Maureen xx
Thanks for your comment!! I would love to go back!
Wow Kaho this resort looks fantastic. Thank you for giving me another look at Lombok. I’ve only been there once and my stay at Sentosa really traumatized me. We stayed in the cheapest rooms but they had molds crawling down the walls and bathrooms tiles I never wanted to touch with my feet. I also got food poisoning from their food. We also saw the accommodations at Sheraton (which were small for the price, but very nice) and Oberoi (fabulous but waaaay out of our budget) but none have made me want to go back. Your pictures of this hotel however look very nice.
I’ve a question though, were their boats parked in the sea shore? Sentosa promotes itself as a by the beach resort, but I couldn’t every swim in the beach because the entire beach front was full of boats. I would love to stay in a resort where the beach is nice and I can lay out a towel and read a book by the sea. =)
Thanks in advance for the info!
Hi! I would go back to Qunci Villas in a heart beat. The boats were not docked at the beach as you can see in the photos of my family walking on the beach (Please see the photos under “BEACH”). All my photos including the water and beach were taken at Qunci Villas and its premises. I saw Oberoi on someone’s blog and their website. I feel like why do we have to pay that much? Qunci Villas is worth an every penny you pay there. I can’t say enough good things about Qunci Villas. I will post more information and photos later.
I know what you mean about Oberoi! Crazy! Fantastic! I’m forwarding a link of this to TD. If we stay longer, I’d definitely want to go to Qunci Villas in Lombok. Thanks so much for all the information on this amazing resort! Awesome post Kaho!
This Bali accommodation offers guests a great range of rooms and villas, all featuring a minimum of 40 sqm of living space and boasting views of the gardens or ocean. There is also the 3 Bedroom Qunsia Villa that is located above the resort overlooking Lombok Strait and has its own 25 metre pool, full kitchen facilities and an exercise room! Facilities at The Qunci Villas include 2 swimming pools, a library, 2 restaurants, a day spa and laundry and dry cleaning services.
Hello
We are going to spent 5 nights in quinci villa in july (3 to 8) i read on your blog that you ate at the restaurant.
could you tell me how much it cost?
thank you
Lionel, thanks for leaving me a comment! I apologize for taking so long to write back. I haven’t had the time to check my blog for a long time. I am excited for you that you are going to Qunci in July! I hope you’ll love it as much as I did. I’d like to say that the lunch and dinner plates range between 70,000 and 100,000 Rupiah. Some plates are more expensive. With a hotel service charge and tax, it would be more, but with four of us eating, the sum of each meal for all four of us was around 400,000 to 500,000 Rupiah. Please don’t quote me on this because honestly my memory is not that good and it’s been 6 months since I stayed. We went out to eat in the city center of Lombok twice during out stay in Lombok. One place was pretty good. With a cost for transportation back from the restaurant, the price didn’t end up being not that much less. I hope this information helps. Have a wonderful trip!
came to Lombok Indonesia. island paradise. very amazing ..
Lombok Island is a Paradise
Gili island is beautiful, staying in one of the private villas like quinci villas is another way to get better beach vacation
I wish I had a chance to visit Gili islands. Maybe someday!
Hi…so if some body interested came to lombok zullombok transport…will be orgnizer your transport from airport to your Hotel in lombok…just call or via watshapp
+ 62 8223 7711 304
Best regards zultransport
magnificent beach with a friendly environment. I love lombok …
I miss Lombok!
Thank a lot…whe you caming back to lombok i will be veriy happy to service you with my trqnsport to any destination in lombok by pivate car..from Intetnational Airport just dial or watshap
+ 62 8223 7711 304
see you in lombok
Zullombok transport
It really was a right decision to pick Lombok instead of Bali to escape from life and do family bonding. It’s much less hectic and the beaches are even prettier and we get to use bike everywhere! Anyway if you plan to visit Indonesia again there are plenty other things to do. Try visit http://www.jakpost.travel to gather lots of information about interesting things to do in Indonesia. Hope it helps you! 😀
Thank you for the information! I am sure other people can benefit from the website!
Hi, nice to meet you.. 🙂
thanks for visited my country.. hope you will come again and enjoy the beuaty of another places of Indonesia 🙂
Thank your visiting my blog! Yes, I would love to visit Indonesia in the future!!
Hi..lombok is nice…for holiday and relsxing…and zullombok transport will be orgnizer your transport by private car From International Airport lombok to all of Hotel in lombok
Just call or via watshapp
+ 62 8223 7711 304
Best regards zultransport
Greetings from Indonesia. I love to read your article about Lombok. For me, Lombok also special. When you visit Indonesia again, try to visit Nusa Penida Island, 45 minutes from Bali by speedboat from Sanur. Nusa Penida has surreal landscape and sea walker with very clear view. 🙂
Pino, thank you so much for leaving me a comment!! I would love to go visit Indonesia again. I will keep Nusa Penida in my mind. It sounds very lovely!! Thank you for your recommendation!!