Looking for recommendations as how to get from Bali to Lombok for a few days and where to stay.
Casey.

Flying is the easiest option. I believe Merpati is the only airline that does this. Flights are cheap, and you can purchase tickets at the airport. There are multiple flights per day. You can also go by boat, it takes about 3 hours and the seas can be very rough. There is a large basket of sea sickness pills on the counter as you enter the boat. The boat trip can be interesting if the seas aren't too rough.

What are you looking for in terms of accommodation? Price range?

I'm headed for Lombok in November and will be reporting back when I get home in December. When are you going?

I generally take the ferry as in the end it involves less time than flying; however, what Kathie says about sea sickness is really true. Even if you're not prone many of your fellow passengers will be! Aside from that it's a relaxing, scenic trip.

On Lombok I love the Oberoi. It's isolated but a beautiful, luxurious property with an okay beach and stunning views. The villas are especially heavenly.

The Sengiggi area has a good beach and a wide range of accommodation. The Sheraton is the most popular. Nothing special about it, but it's a servicable, family oriented, reasonably well run place. The Novotel is way the heck on the far side of the island on a beautiful and scorchingly hot beach. This is also a very popular spot, but it was a little too weird for me.

I would avoid the Gili Islands at all costs. I can't imagine a more depressed and depressing environment.

Lombok never recovered from the first decline in the economy 7 years ago and subsequent events in Indonesia have only made matters worse. You should be able to get very good rates. Be warned, despite marketing campaigns, Lombok is not Bali. It is dry, hot, somewhat conservative Muslim with neglible tradions of arts and culture. (Nice pottery though.)

I really like the Oberoi because it is a beautiful seaside oasis. But once there I seldom venture out.

Kathie. Thanks for the info. We will be in Bali for two weeks at the end of February. As for hotels, price does not really mather much. I like roughing it a bit, but my wife thinks the Holiday Inn is a camping trip.
We are both seniors who decided to look around in the world before we have to leave it.
Marmot, thanks for your info to.
Casey

casyn, here are some ideas to explore: I looked at the Novotel when I was on Lombok for a day several years ago. It has "rooms" in a sort of motel-like block that are frankly, unattractive. It also has villas or bungalows that are set in nice gardens with a separate pool for each 4 bungalows which looked lovely, though a bit close together for my taste. The public areas and the swimming pool were lovely. The food looked and sounded good but quite pricy. After ready marmot's comments, I can see his point about how hot it is there.

Lombok is charming, and I wouldn't stay in the Sheraton there, as it's a "this could be anywhere in the world" generic type place. I've heard good things about the Oberoi, but I didn't visit there.

We decided on a small property on Lombok called Qunci Villas. It has just 20 villas, 12 beach view, 8 garden view. It looks like paradise and for a very reasonable price. We're paying US$70 a night including tax, service and breakfast served on our patio every day. They have a website www.quncivillas.com but the place I got the most info was at www.asiahotels.com They have good reviews of the various places on Lombok. You may want to read the reviews of all the places they offer. I book through asiahotels all the time and have had uniformly excellent service from them. I will post a review of the Qunci Villas in early December.

We really liked Alang Alang, or now called , Blue Ocean, 3 kms north of Sengigi.