This week’s dream: Bali’s wilder little sisters

When Lombok’s international airport opened, “locals took to picnicking by the runway and applauding incoming jets”. That was only five years ago, and tourism on this beautiful Indonesian island, 20 miles to the east of overdeveloped Bali, is still in its infancy, says Julia Llewellyn Smith in The Sunday Times. Arriving by plane from the larger island is like setting the world “to slowmotion”. The roads are deserted “save for the odd banger and occasional pony and trap”, and paddy fields stretch in all directions to rainforest, cloud-covered mountains and the sea. Even the main beach resort, Senggigi, exudes “a defiant sleepiness”, its single Sheraton seeming out of place among warung (family-run) cafés and meadows of grazing cattle.

Still more bucolic scenes await on the tiny Gili Islands. Just a hop away by motorboat, they make a good base for a Lombok holiday, with creamy white beaches to relax on between day trips to the main island. The biggest of the three, Gili Trawangan, gets a lot of tourists and has gone the way of Bali a bit, but its neighbour, Gili Meno, has “retained its charms”. No cars are allowed here – only cidomo (“jangling” horse-drawn carts) – and the vibe is backpacker-ish, with just a handful of bungalows, bars and dive centres. Its only boutique hotel, Mahamaya, sits by a beautiful beach. Owned by a Brit, it is comfortable, but not ostentatiously luxurious, and has “stylish” rooms and a restaurant where you can eat spicy prawns while watching the sun go down over Bali’s Mount Agung.

On Lombok itself, you can visit waterfalls, old mosques and traditional Sasak villages, and climb Mount Rinjani, an active volcano and Indonesia’s second-highest at 3,726m. And the Gili Islands are a paradise for divers and snorkellers, with “pristine” coral reefs teeming with turtles and colourful fish. Kuoni (01306-747008, www.kuoni.co.uk) has a seven-night trip from £1,753pp, including flights.