Gili Trawangan Night Market is the perfect one-stop experience to enjoy relaxed dining and leisure activities when you visit Gili Trawangan. It’s where you can treat yourself to a variety of fresh seafood and local dishes, all at affordable prices. The nightly food market is a very short walk west of the main road in the heart of the eastern side of Gili Trawangan. It’s a bustling place with a great choice of culinary delights, from the freshest fish to mouthwatering lobsters and everything in between.
The market is filled with the fragrance of barbecue smoke each evening and provides an alternative stopover for fun times on Gili Trawangan. Many people stop by just to grab a quick meal and drink before heading to the numerous party venues along the main beach street.
Gili Trawangan Night Market: A Culinary Haven
Many local eateries, known as warungs, offer inexpensive traditional Sasak dishes and popular Indonesian meals along the main southern beach street and across the island. However, if you’re seeking a comprehensive dining experience, head to the Gili Trawangan night market, open every night during the high season, from April – September from about 6 pm – 10 pm. Here, you’ll see stalls packed with just-caught seafood, grilled meats, Chinese stir-fries, and popular Indonesian dishes like fried rice and meatball soup (bakso).
At the night market, seafood is the main attraction, but you’ll also discover a range of skewered treats such as corn, chicken, beef sausages, and sliced vegetables. Once you’ve made your selections, the items are grilled to perfection. You can indulge in a warung-style buffet known as nasi campur as well, where you select rice and various accompaniments, which are then added to your bill.
Other stalls focus on offering snacks, pastries, and local sweets, such as fried spring rolls, sweet potato, and banana fritters, pancakes filled with chocolate, and various traditional salads. While the market targets budget travelers, it can attract a lot of tourists, so you might have to negotiate prices.
Things to Watch in Gili Trawangan Night Market
At Gili Trawangan Night Market, the excitement extends beyond the mouthwatering array of culinary delights. Amidst the hustle and bustle, visitors can explore a diverse range of attractions, from quaint bookshops inviting literary exploration to vibrant tattoo places offering unique expressions of art.
Gili Trawangan Island has a lively night market, where local sellers display their unique items. The walkways are filled with bright stalls selling handmade crafts and souvenirs representing the island’s culture. You can find turtle-shaped magnets or keychains to take home as a reminder of your visit!
Tips for Enjoying Your Night in Gili Trawangan Night Market
While exploring the night market, you may find it a bit confusing to order food, as the vendors operate on a self-service. You can simply join the line and point to the dishes you wish to try. The vendors will happily prepare your meal. Most vendors speak English, so don’t hesitate to ask. You can find a seat in the cafeteria-style area to enjoy your meal.
The night market is close to the main beach port, so it’s a great place to visit in the early evening. At this time around 6.30 PM, most stall owners start setting up their shops, lighting up the charcoal, setting up umbrellas, and displaying a variety of fresh seafood like lobsters, trevally, crabs, king prawns, clams, snapper, squid, and barracuda for you to check out.
Gili Trawangan Night Market Price and Location
After walking around, now let’s check out the prices at this market and help you plan better.
A plate of rice goes for around IDR 20,000. With extra side dishes, it will cost you around IDR 25,000. The market’s specialty, skewer, comes in several options like tuna, squid, and shrimp. One skewer is IDR 25,000. If you get two, it will come with a plate of rice and four side dishes for free. Medium-sized fish goes for IDR 150,000 a piece. The bigger one is IDR 300,000. You can also get a 2 kg lobster for IDR 950,000. Drinks are between IDR 5,000 and IDR 25,000. Beers are available in many stalls for around IDR 40,000. Their desserts are served in a range of muffins to local sweets, which come out to be between IDR 5,000 to IDR 25,000.
You can easily find Gili Trawangan Night Market in the central area of Gili Trawangan, right in front of Trawangan Jetty, or search on Google Maps. To get to this market from Lombok, you can take a public boat to Gili Island from Bangsal Harbour, which takes about 20 minutes. After a few stops, you will dock at Trawangan Harbour, no more than 200 metres from Art Market Gili Trawangan. It takes only 5 minutes of walking to reach the market to the left side.
Happy travelling!
