The best cocktail bar on Gili Air

Sunset side vs the rest

The west coast is where the sunset bars are — beanbags and low tables set straight on the sand, a bonfire once the light goes, Mount Rinjani turning pink across the strait. They are relaxed rather than loud, the music is background, and most of them thin out by mid-evening as people drift off to dinner. Elsewhere on the island, the beach restaurants along the south and east have solid cocktail lists to go alongside dinner, and a few spots run live music — usually acoustic, one or two nights a week. There is no nightclub anywhere on Gili Air, no thumping beach party, no one handing out shot-bucket flyers. That absence is Gili Air; if it sounds like a loss rather than a relief, Gili Trawangan is fifteen minutes away.

The kinds of bar you’ll find

Roughly three. Sunset beach bars on the west — barefoot, sand underfoot, best 5–7pm, quieter after. Restaurant bars along the south and east — a proper back bar, a wine list, a bartender who can make a balanced drink, open through dinner service. Hotel and pool bars, including ours — open all day, good for a mid-afternoon drink by the water as much as an evening one. Prices are similar across all three: €6–10 for a cocktail, less for beer, more for wine.

What to order in this heat

Long, cold, citrus-forward, not too sweet. A gin and tonic with local botanicals; a fresh-lime margarita (ask for it not too sweet — some bars over-sugar); a Negroni or an Americano if the bar takes its vermouth seriously; a Paloma; or the local move, an arak sour — arak being the Balinese rice-and-palm spirit, sharpened with lime and a little palm sugar. A fresh young coconut, with or without a shot of rum, is the non-negotiable afternoon drink and rehydrates you at the same time. Skip the blended, neon, umbrella-heavy end of the menu unless that is genuinely the holiday you came for.

Timing the sunset

Sundown is roughly 6:00–6:30pm year round — this close to the equator it barely moves. Get to a west-coast bar about 45 minutes before for a front-row beanbag in July and August; on a quiet week you can wander down ten minutes before and still find a spot. The light is worth actually stopping and watching for about twenty minutes either side of the sun touching the horizon, Rinjani silhouetted behind. Our Sunset Point guide has the specifics, and the eating guide covers where to have dinner afterwards.

The bar at KOHO

Our poolside bar runs a deliberately short list built for the climate — citrus-forward, herb-forward, low on the syrupy stuff — alongside Balinese-roasted espresso for an espresso martini that actually tastes of coffee, and a wine list with a handful of safe classics and a few bolder bottles worth the detour. It is open right through the day, so it covers a cold drink brought to your daybed at 3pm as much as a proper aperitivo before dinner. Non-alcoholic is taken as seriously as the rest — house sodas, a good virgin sour, kombucha. The full bar menu is online. Nothing here is a big night; it is a good drink in a quiet garden, which on this island is exactly the right ambition.

If you want a bigger night

Take the 15-minute public island-hopping boat, or a private transfer, to Gili Trawangan — the bars there run late, there is an actual dancefloor, and the party scene is well established. The public boats back stop in the early evening, so a late night means pre-booking a private crossing (arrange it before you go over) or staying until the morning boat. Plenty of KOHO guests do exactly one Trawangan night, enjoy it, and are quietly relieved to come back to the silence.

Non-alcoholic, and staying out of the sun

The non-alcoholic side is taken more seriously here than it used to be. Every decent bar does fresh juices, young coconut straight from the shell, and at least a house soda or two; the better ones make a proper virgin sour, an alcohol-free spritz, or kombucha on tap. If you are not drinking — doing the wellness thing, pregnant, or just pacing a hot week — you will not be stuck with lime cordial. One practical point: the sun does half the work of a hangover on this island, so whatever you are drinking, alternate every round with water or coconut, and do your serious drinking in the shade or after sundown rather than on a lounger at midday.

A note on arak, and drinking safely

Legitimate bars and restaurants on Gili Air serve branded, properly produced spirits, and arak from a reputable bar is fine. The thing to avoid anywhere in Indonesia is cheap, unbranded “local spirits” or suspiciously cheap cocktails from a stall or a shop selling loose bottles, because of a real (if rare) risk of methanol contamination in bootleg arak. Stick to established venues, don’t buy loose spirits, don’t accept drinks from strangers, and if a deal looks too cheap to be real, it is. This is a small, low-crime island, but the standard travel sense still applies.

Practical notes

Alcohol is markedly more expensive than food — it is all imported and heavily taxed. Beer (Bintang) is cheap, spirits less so, imported wine is a genuine treat. Most bars and restaurants take cards; the smallest beach spots are cash only. And if you are doing the sauna and ice-bath circuit that day, save the drink for a different day — alcohol undoes most of the sleep benefit you did the circuit for in the first place.

Common questions

Written by the team at The KOHO Air Hotel, a four-star boutique wellness retreat five minutes’ walk from Gili Air harbour. We answer questions like these by message most days — just ask.