In Reply to: How to get to the gili's posted by Bec_loves_Bali on Tuesday, 6. December 2005 at 17:04 Bali Time:
I have done the both the ferry route and the flying route on several occassions, and have to say that if you can afford it, flying is soooooo much better. It isn't really that expensive (usually around 300,000 each way) and you can get the public boat across to the gilis for just a few thousand rupiah of you want. It is a lot cheaper to get the ferry across and get a taxi to Bangsal, then boat, but it took me 12 full hours from Kuta to Gili T, and vice versa. If you are really on a tight budget, backpacking for example, it is an option.
An option is to get a boat directly from Sengiggi to the Gilis. I did this earlier this year, as we were staying in Sengiggi for a few days. This is much more convenient, mainly because you avoid the horrendous touts and hawkers that plague the harbour in Bangsal. Anyone that has been through Bangsal will know what I am talking about. It cost us (3 people) aboout 150,000 rupiah to get a local boat (organised it with a guy we met on the beach in Sengiggi) across to the Gilis direct. It took around an hour.