INDONESIA—Karma Royal Group has opened The Reef on The Gillis, the trio of islands clustered near the northwestern corner of Lombok, Indonesia.
Located on Gili Meno, the the luxury boutique resort will operate under Karma Royal Group’s Chakra Resorts brand and brings the group’s total number of resorts across Southeast Asia, India, Australia and Europe to 24.
The Reef utilizes bamboo and other ethnic local materials, and offers sea-facing, lumbung bungalows with private balconies. Each lumbung at The Reef sleeps a maximum of four people and offers a private kitchen and ensuite bathroom, flat-screen television and DVD player, tea and coffee making amenities, telephone and air-conditioning.
The Reef’s Karma Beach Club has seating for 70 diners for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and offers Mediterranean-meets-New-World cuisine with an emphasis on locally caught seafood.
Gili Meno’s attractions include a saltwater lake, a bird sanctuary and dive sites, such as the Meno Wall, Sea Turtle Point and Blue Coral Point. Sparsely populated by about 300 locals, the island has no cars or motorcycles; all travel is by horse-drawn carriages, known as cidomos, by bicycle or on foot.
Direct public boat transfers to Gili Meno can be arranged from Bangsal Harbour on Lombok Island, approximately thirty minutes away, or Padang Bai Harbour in Bali, approximately 75 minutes away; travel between the three Gilis takes between five to ten minutes via regular daily island-hopping boats. Helicopter transfers are also available. Lombok International Airport, on Lombok’s south side, is the closest airport to The Gillis while Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar serves a greater number of international routes.