In Reply to: Lombok & Sumbawa posted by Adhi on Sunday, 16. September 2007 at 08:17 Bali Time:
haven't been for a while, but found Lombok fantastic. Stayed on Gili Trawangan, Sengigi and Tete Batu ( in the mountains ). People where great and is a lot less spoilt by high numbers of tourists etc. The beaches on Trawangan including the snorkelling were great. I have also heard that there are some great bays and beaches on the south of the island including Kuta ( as mentioned previously ). We also enjoyed Sumbawa however the island tends to be pretty dry and arid and transport across the island is very slow ( took us ~8 hours on a bus from Sumbawa Besar to Bima )unless you take the night bus which is rather hair raising at times so if your going by land put a lot of time aside ( couple of days won't do it ). The beaches we found weren't to flash however we only visited the northern side of the island between ferry port at Sumbawa Besar and the ferry port at Sape so not sure on the south side beaches at huu etc.
After all that ramble, would recommend to stick to Lombok unless your planning on a trip of a couple of weeks and head to one of the Gili's or Kuta.
Kano