Gay Gili Islands: our ultimate gay travel guide

Blue Marlin is one of the best dive shops in the Gilis, but they also have a really cool bar that the diving community all head to. Something we've learnt from our travels – as a rule of thumb, the diving community is usually always the most tolerant, open-minded and accepting. This is certainly the case at Blue Marlin. On Mondays, the Blue Marlin bar is the designated late-night opening venue, so this is THE place to hang out if you're in the Gilis on a Monday. Blue Marlin's bar is spread over two floors. The upstairs has a large dance floor and sound system pumping out EDM, trance and tribal beats…it's not quite Shakira or Britney music, but at least we felt comfortable dancing together here!

Pearl Beach was our favourite little spot on Gili T to come to when we wanted a break from the main strip. It's located on the southeastern tip of the island, close to the Pondok Santi Estate. It's got a classy beachfront, which is ideal for our quintessential Nomadic Boys sunset cocktails. We also stayed on to try the food, which was recommended to us by Joana at Martas Guesthouse. It's European Asian fusion food with a twist – like pumpkin gnocchi (Seby's favourite) or my duck(!) Pad Thai. The Pearl Beach Lounge is open every day till around 11pm. After dinner, the bar area becomes a cool hangout for couples. We even noticed a few other gay couples when we were here.

The Exile is famous for the sea swing! All those Instagram Gili T pics you saw of influencers posing on a hammock swing by a dramatic sunset? That was taken here! The Exile is our favourite bar on Gili T for the sunset. It's located on the Western side of the island, so every night you know you're in for a spectacular photo shoot session. Also adding to the atmosphere is live reggae music with (some pretty hunky topless!) drummers dancing around a fire pit. The Exile is open every evening till late. It's generally a young and international crowd who aren't at all phased by a gay couple.

Evolution is another popular bar right in the heart of the main strip on the Eastern side of Gili T. During the day it's famous for being THE best place in the Gilis to come for fresh sushi and sashimi. In the evening, it transforms into a buzzy hangout with drinks offers, beer pongs and fire dancers. It's one of the stopovers in the “Pub Crawls” that many of the backpacker hostels offer, so expect a young chirpy crowd. Sunday evening is usually the night when Evolution leads the crowd into the early hours, with a live DJ pumping out electro beats.

Legend Bar is the best hangout for travellers staying on Gili Air in our opinion. It's located at the Northern tip of the island right on the beach. By day it's a chilled, hip beach bar that also serves Asian fusion food. We love the swings that you sit on at the bar – ie instead of bar stools! In the evening it transforms into a beach party vibe with fire performers and a popular Happy Hour from 5-7pm. Wednesday evening is the best night here when they have the “Legend Party”, which includes a live DJ set focusing on house and techno. Check out the Legend Instagram for more inspiration.

Sasak Cafe Bar is the best bar hangout for travellers staying on shy retiring Gili Meno. It's located on the western side of Gili Meno right on the beach. Not to be confused with The Sasak Bistro & Bar located over on the main strip on Gili T! This Sasak is a family-owned beach bar by day, restobar by night. As it's west-facing, the evening sunsets are the biggest draw. They have live music and delicious cocktails to help embellish the sundowner atmosphere. Most stay for dinner, which is decent local Indonesian dishes. Service is a little on the slow side, but you're staying on Gili Meno where life all but comes to a complete halt right?

Our trip to the Gilis was mainly to celebrate my birthday. When researching for the best place for my birthday dinner, we both agreed this would be it. We weren't disappointed. It was romantic af – dinner on the beach, barefoot feet in the sands, complete with candlelight. The food was delicious – Western dishes with a twist – from Seby's pumpkin gnocchi to my unique duck Pad Thai. The highlight was the cute staff all joining in to sing me ‘Happy Birthday!' as they presented me my cake+candles to blow out.

We did a lot of scuba diving around the Gili Islands. If you've ever done diving before you'll know how exhausting it is – and how much you crave carbs afterwards! Francesco's does the best pizzas in the Gilis – that is, if, like us, you're into thin crusts! It's right in the heart of the main strip close to the diving shops, so a handy place to come for lunch, dinner…or take out to pig out in your hotel room… It's a great find – service is efficient, if you eat in, there's a warm, cosy atmosphere, and they also cater to all diets, even offering a range of veggie/vegan pizzas.

Wilson's is located on the northern end of Gili T, away from the main strip. Confusingly, it may come up only as “Wilson's Retreat” on Google Maps as it's also a hotel. Wilson's is another favourite of ours on Gili T. It's super romantic with the tables right on the beach with live music. The food is French-inspired Asian fusion, and it's delicious! We shared some grilled prawns, then I had the steak and Seby the grouper with pea soup. Everything was beautifully presented and perfectly cooked. The staff were sweet/smiley and service overall very efficient – this stood out for us because a lot of restaurants in the Gilis are notorious for having veeeery slow snail service! Cannot fault Wilson's – a terrific meal that ticked all the boxes for us.

Ruby's is one of our favourite restaurants on Gili Air. It's located slightly inland towards the southeastern side of the island, a few blocks away from Scallywags. They do traditional Indonesian local food like beef rendang, chicken satay and some yummy curries. They also offer a selection of Western dishes. For us, it was all about the burgers here. We did try (and loved!) their local food, but there was something about the Ruby burgers which we just fell in love with. Easily THE best burgers we had in the Gili Islands!

Ya Ya Warung is both a fantastic beach hangout on Gili Meno as well as an excellent inexpensive restaurant on the island. It was certainly our favourite on Meno. The speciality here is local traditional Indonesian food like nasi goreng, gado gado and pelecin ayam (chicken) – all nicely washed down with a few Bintang beers. Ya Ya Warung is located on the Eastern side of Meno, right on the beach. You can leave your stuff here with the staff whilst you go snorkelling. We saw several turtles just off the beach right here – pretty impressive!

The scuba diving around the Gili islands is excellent. There are dive sites spread out across all 3 islands. The best diving schools are mainly based along the main strip of Gili T. We did a couple of fun dives with Dive Central Gili who we recommend. The divemasters are terrific and super patient – Seby needs a massive helping hand getting his gear ready! The dives themselves, incredible! We saw turtles and reef sharks on almost every dive we did, as well as lots of triggerfish, clownfish, and my favourite, the colourful pirate. The best dive site (at least when we were there – subject to weather conditions, of course) was the Shark Point reef. Here we saw a family of 4 reef sharks just going about their daily business!

A snorkelling trip is something you don't want to miss, especially if you don't want to go diving. Why? Almost every time we put our face in the water we saw turtles swimming around! That's how phenomenal the waters are here. The best way to maximise your chances of spotting lots of large turtles is via a snorkelling trip because the guides will know exactly where to go. Snorkelling trips are usually half-day and will include lunch stopovers on a remote beach on either Gili Air or Meno. They also include full gear: fins, mask and snorkel.

Subwing was our #1 discovery on the Gilis! You are pulled through the water by a speedboat that moves along slowly. You hold on to plastic wings, which you manoeuvre in the direction you want to move – ie down/up, left/right and even a few loops once you get the hang of it! It's an exciting alternative to snorkelling allowing you to go deeper more efficiently. You don't need to swim so you use a lot less energy, allowing you to hold your breath for longer. It literally feels like you're gliding through the water like a mermaid! The subwing guys are based both on Gili Trawangan and Air.

The Gili islands are pretty much geared towards magical sunsets, particularly if you're on the west side of one of the 3 islands. It truly is spectacular, every evening. We recommend checking out one of the places that have installed sunset swings for the most dramatic photos. The main 3 are located on the western side of Gili T: the Ombak Sunset Hotel swing, the Pandawa Hotel swing and the Exile Bar swing (read more about Exile above). The best time to come is around 5-6:30pm, but during peak busy period, there may be a small queue for them.

Indonesian food is an exciting adventure. This is a country comprised of over 300 ethnic groups, retaining strong influences from its colonial Dutch/Portuguese past. Nasi goreng is the main dish to try. Others include nasi campur, chicken satay, gado gado and many more. Find our more about Indonesian food in our article about the best foods to try in Indonesia. We also recommend you do a cooking class with the Sweet & Spicy Gili Cooking School on Gili T. Here, you get to try out some of the most famous Indonesian staples with a local and a professional chef. It's a fantastic way to learn more about Indonesian culture through food.