Tourism is an important source of income on Lombok. The most developed tourism area of the island is on the west coast of the island and is centered about the township of Senggigi. The immediate surrounds of the township contain the most developed tourism facilities. The west coast coastal tourism strip is spread along a 30 kilometres (19 miles) strip following the coastal road north from Mataram and the old airport at Ampenan. The principal tourism area extends to Tanjung in the northwest at the foot of Mount Rinjani and includes the Sire and Medana Peninsulas and the highly popular Gili Islands lying immediately offshore. These three small islands are most commonly accessed by boat from Bangsal near Pemenang, Teluk Nare a little to the south, or from further south at Senggigi and Mangsit beach. Many hotels and resorts offer accommodations ranging from budget to luxurious. Recently direct fast boat services have been running from Bali making a direct connection to the Gili islands. Although rapidly changing in character, the Gili islands still provide both a lay-back backpacker's retreat and a high-class resort destination.

The island is to the immediate east of the Lombok Strait which marks the biogeographical division between the fauna of the Indomalayan ecozone and the distinctly different fauna of Australasia; this distinction, known as the "Wallace Line" (or "Wallace's Line") takes its name from Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913). Wallace was the first person to comment on the division between the two regions, as well as on the abrupt boundary between the two biomes.

When someday comes you'll need to get in.

When someday comes you'll need to be able to get around.