The Best Nightlife Areas in Mataram, Lombok
Mataram is on the west coast of Lombok, it is an agglomeration of villages, including Ampenan, Mataram Administrative Center and Cakranegara; they are once separated because of their large land areas and proximity range. But today it is all considered as Mataram, the capital city of West Nusa Tenggara. Because of their conservative Muslim religion, they are still limited with nightclubs, bars and restaurants that also resulted in less tourist, and backpackers. Nightlife is mostly concentrated in the areas of Senggigi. However, there are still some of the best nightlife areas in Mataram (Lonely Planet, 2013).
The Marina Pub is one of the few and one of the best nightlife areas in Mataram where live band, drinking, dining and party with cultural shows are available. Another enjoyable nightlife is the Plaza Karaoke & Lounge, where customers enjoy singing until their heart’s content with wide music selection, great food and drinks. On the most part of Mataram is simple and quiet scenery at late night (Hotels, 2015). But even their locals will basically visit the nearby nightlife, bars and clubs in Senggigi and in Trawagan if they want to party all night.
Getting to Mataram from Lombok Airport; they can select the public bus called Damri. Alternatively, they can also choose to travel using Bemo or minivan; they carry passengers from Lombok all over east to west route, towns and villages. Taxi is also available in most parts of the airport and in Lombok; they are also convenient and cheap if they flagged down their meter. This can be arranged accordingly, when only few passengers are traveling to Mataram. For solo travelers, they can also take the Ojek, horse-cart or motorbike service all the way to Mataram (Mydestination, 2015).
Some of the best nightlife areas; bars and restaurants in Mataram like the Marina Bar open around 6:00 pm until 3:00 am. If visitors and foreigners visit this place, it is highly advised to respect their culture and religion seriously. Sasaks highly adopt the strict practice of their Islamic religion. There are records of riots, killings and bombings because of religious disputes. Christians and Buddhist are the usual victims and they are mostly outsiders of Lombok (Vaisutis et al, 2007), but they should not be afraid as long as they do not talk against their religion.
Tags: Best Nightlife Areas in Mataram, Sasaks & Mataram Islam Religion, Light Nightlife in Mataram
References:
Berkmoes, R.V., Skolnick, A. (2013) Lonely Planet Bali & Lombok, Retrieved November 29, 2013 from: https://books.google.com.ph/books?id=KJTYj5dH5JQC&dq=mataram+lombok&source=gbs_navlinks_s
Hotels (2015) Lombok Island Nightlife, where to go After Dark in Lombok Island, Retrieved November 29, 2015 from: http://www.indonesia-holidays.com/lombok-island/nightlife.htm
Mydestinations.com (2015) Public Transport, Retrieved November 29, 2015 from: http://www.mydestination.com/lombokandgilis/usefulinfo/6182809/public-transport
Vaisutis, J., et al, (2007) Lonely Planet, Indonesia, London: Lonely Planet, pp 89