Change of Plans
A driver was recommended to us by our home stay host so after some discussions and recommendations from him, we decided to change our plans slightly and head to a small village called Amed. Known for its snorkelling and diving trips and also as a departure point out to the Lombok/Gili Island area.
The drive took around 2 hours but really only covered about 100 km’s, similar to a trip on the Southern Motorway in Auckland!!
He headed straight to a reputable ferry company (some do have some dodgy safety records) and we booked our tickets over to Gili Air Island, off the coast of Lombok (about 40 minutes). We also have an open return ticket to PenangBai which is further down the coast and then a shuttle bus will take us to Sanur which is where we will spend the rest of our time in Bali.
We then had to find accommodation as no bookings were made in advance, which isn’t like us at all. Our driver Ketut drove us to 5 
difference places until we finally found one in our budget – $25nz per night – Amed Cafe & Hotel. It is a hotel like complex with two swimming pools and individual bungalows built up a hillside.
Our car transport cost us around $50nz, return ferry and shuttle combination ticket $150nz. Good value for money considering a lot of the fast ferries are charging $70 one way with no shuttles.
We chose Gili Air which is one of 3 Gili Islands in the group as it has a reputation of being laid back and much quieter than it’s neighbouring Gili T which is known as the party island which isn’t our ‘cup of tea’ nowdays.
Once again, we have our first night booked and we will hit the road once there and suss out other options and barter for further nights’ If you are ever needing a driver in the north of Bali, consider Ketut as he is quite a character, good English and certainly goes out of his way to help. Email kartawan_ketut@yahoo.com.
Doing this next time. Thanks guys. Awesome.
Hello !
Interesting article, we have exactly the same plan as yours.
What was Ketut’s price for Lovina to Amed ? We need driver for the same trip soon.
Thank you.
Hi Jeremy, it worked out at around $50nz (which I think is around 500IDR). There is a bus but driver spoke good English and way more comfortable than local buses. Worth the money.