Hafen
Lembar

OVERVIEW

Shop for handmade arts and crafts in two village markets renowned for their highly skilled traditional artisans. Wooden products are the specialty of the craftspeople at the Sesela Art Market, and you may see them hand-carving intricate friezes, lacquering boxes and inlaying wooden furniture with decorative shells. The process is slow and that meticulousness shows in the merchandise. Colorful textiles, beaded jewelry and woven rattan goods are also plentiful at the art market. Songket weaving is the signature technique practiced at the Sukarara Craft Village. To create songket fabric, the artisans hand-weave metallic threads together with silk or cotton yarn. As you will discover, the technique is so exacting that it can take a month to make one item. Songket fabrics usually feature traditional motifs and are brightly colored with natural dyes that resist fading. Weaving is so important to the village that nearly every house has its own loom.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Shop for handmade goods ranging from jewelry to wooden crafts at the Sesela Art Market.
• Browse the Sukarara Craft Village for fine apparel made with songket fabric.
• Watch the artisans in Sukarara painstakingly weave the songket fabric on hand looms.

HELPFUL HINTS

• Dress in weather-appropriate clothing.
• Wear flat comfortable walking shoes.

OVERVIEW

Gain a historical and cultural understanding of Lombok through the island’s most representative attractions, including 18th-century Lingsar Temple. Considered a symbol of harmony because people of all religions have long been welcome, Lingsar is the largest and most significant temple on the island. As you meander about, the aroma of incense and jasmine will be likely wafting through the air. The highlight of Mayura Water Palace, another 18th-century landmark, is its floating pavilion surrounded by mangosteen trees, whose fruit is often used for medicinal purposes. The setting is absolutely beautiful. Wooden handicrafts, especially furniture with inlaid shells known as cukli, are the main attraction at Sesele Art Market, where you will spend free time shopping. Afterwards, you will be treated to a sumptuous buffet lunch of Indonesian specialties at a restaurant on Senggiggi Beach. Although the menu changes seasonally, it usually includes fish kebabs, seafood stir-fried noodles and rice cooked in goat milk.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Visit Lingsar Temple, a Hindu shrine that also welcomes people of other faiths.
• Behold the Mayura Water Palace, a beautiful thatched pavilion that seems to float in a lake.
• Shop for handmade goods ranging from jewelry to wooden crafts.
• Enjoy a traditional buffet lunch at a restaurant on Senggiggi Beach.

HELPFUL HINTS

• Dress in weather-appropriate clothing.
• Wear flat comfortable walking shoes.

OVERVIEW

Become familiar with the most intriguing landmarks in and around Mataram and come away with a broad cultural understanding of Lombok. Just outside the provincial capital, you will find Lingsar Temple, an 18th-century Hindu shrine that also welcomes people of other faiths. It is said to be good luck if you can lure one of its pond eels to eat a hard-boiled egg, which vendors sell nearby. For a glimpse into the creative side of the island, you will browse Sesela Art Market, a center for fine wooden handicrafts. Furniture inlaid with polished shell fragments is the specialty, while pearl jewelry is the most popular merchandise at a shop nearby. Still, few places lend more insight into the culture than the Nusa Tenggara Barat Museum. Its collection contains a remarkable variety of artifacts such as divining stones that ward off evil, ethnic wedding costumes and Chinese pottery from the 10th century.

HIGHLIGHTS

• See attractions that best represent the cultural diversity in Mataram, the provincial capital.
• Shop for local merchandise such as handmade wooden crafts and pearl jewelry.
• Visit Lingsar Temple, a Hindu shrine that welcomes people of other faiths, as well.
• Browse a museum with thousands of unusual artifacts that reflect the local culture.

HELPFUL HINTS

• Dress in weather-appropriate clothing.
• Wear flat comfortable walking shoes.

OVERVIEW

Become immersed in the weaving and house-building techniques that are traditional for the area, yet rather rare elsewhere. In the inland village of Sukarara, you will watch weavers using dyed yarns that are produced through an intricate process known as ikat. The finished patterns tend to be blurry because it is so difficult, if not impossible, to perfectly line up the dyed yarns. Sukarara is well-known for its extraordinary ikat textiles, much like the indigenous Sasak ethnic group has become synonymous with a unique style of thatched homes. You will see an entire village of these thatched structures at Ende. The buildings are constructed with wooden pillars, bamboo walls and roofs made with a woven grass known as alang-alang. Incredibly, nails or metal tools are never used in the construction. After this cultural experience, you will enjoy a buffet lunch and free time at Kuta Beach, a beautiful stretch of sand on the island’s southern coast.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Watch artisans make textiles with yarns dyed through an unique process known as ikat.
• Meander through a village of unusual thatched homes that the indigenous Sasaks built.
• Recognize the prodigious skills needed to produce ikat yarns and Sasak architecture.
• Linger over a traditional buffet lunch at Kuta Beach.

HELPFUL HINTS

• Dress in weather-appropriate clothing.
• Wear flat comfortable walking shoes.

OVERVIEW

Watch grass roof thatch being woven in the village of Sekotong and spend nearly two hours lounging blissfully on Sundancer Beach. While driving toward the village, you will notice that many of the residences have grass roofs. A tour of the factory that makes the thatching will be enlightening, as you will watch how rice straw and bundles of Kunai grass, known locally as alang-alang, are woven into roof panels. Although made entirely of natural materials, the thatched roofs are leak-proof and last up to 20 years, even in tropical conditions. Free time follows at Sundancer Beach, a tranquil setting near the southwestern tip of Lombok Island. You will have the opportunity to swim in the crystalline waters of Lombok Strait and stroll along the shore with nothing on your mind but enjoying yourself. Or simply stretch out on a beach towel and bask in the sun.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Watch how eco-friendly roof panels are manufactured from rice straw and Kunai grass.
• Lounge about Sundancer Beach doing pretty much whatever you like.
• Enjoy an invigorating swim in the crystal-clear waters of Lombok Strait.

HELPFUL HINTS

• Dress in weather-appropriate clothing.
• Wear flat comfortable walking shoes.

OVERVIEW

Spend hours relaxing on Senggigi Beach as you please, with no schedule to follow other than your own. This stretch of white sand couldn’t be more appealing as it rims one of the most picturesque parts of the island of Lombok. You will have a spectacular view of the natural beauty as you travel up the coast, through the provincial capital of Mataram and on to Senggigi. Over the next several hours, you will luxuriate on the white-sand beach, doing whatever you want. You might bask in the sun, take a refreshing swim in the cobalt-blue sea and read in the shade of a coconut palm. Senggigi Beach is six miles long so there is plenty of room for a leisurely stroll along the shore. The surrounding area has been tastefully developed with luxury hotels, one-of-a-kind shops and charming cafés with ethnic cuisines.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Enjoy free time doing whatever you want on beautiful Senggigi Beach.
• Bask in the sun, read in the shade and stroll along the shore, which stretches for six miles.
• Spend time taking browsing the nearby shops and dining, if you wish.

HELPFUL HINTS

• Dress in weather-appropriate clothing.
• Wear flat comfortable walking shoes.