Just Right: Gili Meno

The Reef Resort is pretty damn glamorous and at the same time, gorgeously remote. Located on Gili Meno in the Gili Isles, it’s a short hop from Lombok or a 60-minute fast ferry ride from Bali – but being surrounded by ocean and with no motorised transport, it feels like the middle of nowhere.

We’re here for a few days to explore the surrounding coral reefs and we arrive looking far from glamorous ourselves, having jumped off a dive boat, luggage above our heads before proceeding to reception in our wet suits, dripping on the immaculate wooden floorboards.

It’s been a rather frenetic day, which started with me recovering from a night’s bout of food poisoning before our departure from Bali at the port of Padang Bai (an exercise in organised chaos that took longer than the boat ride), a bumpy trip across the Lombok Strait, transfer from ferry to dive boat, 60 minutes of coral reef and turtles and our arrival here. Phew.

Let the holiday begin.

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Of surfers, diving and dining on Bali’s East Coast.

This is my fourth trip to Bali, and each time I visit it seems less recognisable. But one thing has stayed the same – my preference for the East Coast.

The East Coast towns of Sanur and Candidasa are a pleasant escape from the hustle of Kuta and Seminyak or the fabricated resort world of Nusa Dua.

So it seemed natural that our first hotel choice would be somewhere like Komune Resort & Beach Club, which sits just north of Sanur. However we came to Bali to go diving, so everyone seems a bit amused that we are staying at a surf resort. But Komune Resort & Beach Club is a crowd pleaser in many ways.