The View From the Beach

Took a little trip this last weekend to the neighboring island of Lombok. There’s been quite an uptick in interest in Lombok of late and some are trumpeting it as an up-and-coming area. I had not been in 10 years…

We went over to visit Villa Anandita, on Lombok’s north coast. The villa is next to the beautiful Hosaido Golf Course and right on the water. With a hectare to play with they did it right  — built the villa back off the water and left a nice coconut plantation lawn (see pic above). The approach is not only environmentally sensitive, but it gives a nice mellow feel to the place. John Lincoln was the architect on this one and he did a great job.

We left rather impressed with the whole arrangement. With great facilities, the Gilis only 10 minutes away by boat, the golf course next door and the Oberoi right around corner, it’s positioned to be a winner. Stay tuned for more details on this one!
more pictures from the Lombok trip can be found at Flickr… 

The villa market in neighboring Lombok seems to be showing some signs of life. Lombok has always been sort of Bali’s sleepy next door neighbor — with most people touching ground on the main island only long enough to hop a ferry to the Gilis. But, little by little the hotel scene has been growing and accommodations across the board improving. The airport’s inclusion on the list of destinations capable of granting visas on arrival kept the destination open as a possible first arrival point. Unfortunately the primary market for that service — Australia — has been less than lukewarm on the whole Indonesian experience for the last year or so.

So, with some suprise, I’ve been seeing several interesting villa properties emerge in the last couple of months. The new 18 hole golf course near the departure terminals for the Gilis is one factor and part of a growing trend towards providing luxury services.

Watch this space…