In Reply to: Questions about Gili Trawangan!!!!! posted by Anna on Thursday, 19. August 1999 at 22:42 Bali Time:
I find the beach great. The best stretch is to your right as you're landing at the harbour. There are no hotels on the main beach due to government control, but you only really have to walk about 5 minutes from the main hotel area to get to it!
Vila Ombak is definately the nicest hotel on the island. They were charging $70-$90US for rooms with a lot of luxury, gardens and atmosphere. Other hotels with air-con are Dive Indonesia (about $35, but not much atmosphere), and Solo Bai which is very remote with a fairly small stretch of beach in front. I'm not sure of the price but a little more expensive than Dive Indo.
I don't dive but there are tons of Dive shops, Blue Marlin, Dive Indo. and Vila Ombak Dive seem to be the most reputable. I hear the diving's great. Snorkelling is best done from a boat. Glass bottom boat tours can be done any day for about 25000Rp. from in front of Sandy Beach with Bukit Indah Glass Bottom boat tour. You can snorkel from the beach but the further North you go the better it is. You also visit the other Gilis on the trip so you can check them out. It's easy to island hop from one to the other.
BlueEarl covered the party scene pretty well.
As for changing money, the rate is at least 200 Rp. less on Trawangan than Mataram and much worse than Bali. But, you can change money if you have to. There are no bank machines though so make sure you either have cash or traveller's cheques.
I hope I've helped. Enjoy your trip!!!