Lombok Travel Guide

Many interesting places you must visit in Mataram. Lets we start from your first arrived in Lombok.

The city of Mataram is the capital of Lombok. Together with with Ampenan, Cakranegara & Sweta these four small towns make up the main business district of Lombok and are considered by many as being one main city.

A former port town, Mataram has grown to be the main business and administrative area. Government offices, universities, shops, banks and restaurants are all readily available within the Mataram district. Hotel accommodation in Mataram caters mainly to local businessmen and merchants.

The heritage and culture of Lombok are easily noticeable in Mataram, antique shops, traditional markets and the museum with priceless artifacts tell the tale of former times.

Mataram is the capital of the province which has in the past decades joined with Ampenan, the port, and Cakranegara to become the province's biggest urban complex.

Ampenan

Museum Negeri of NTB

Taman Budaya 

Van Ham Grave 

Bertais Traditional Market

Taman Mayura
The Mayura Park is what remains of the once existing Karang Asam kingdom of Bali whose King A.A. Ngurah built it in 1744. In the middle of a large pond is a structure called Balai Kambang which at the time functioned as a legal court of justice as well as a hall for important meetings. Curiously, its architecture shows both Hindu as well as Islamic influence, whereas around the place statues made of stone are found in the form of a Moslem hajji

Pura Meru
Another relic remaining from the Karang Asam Kingdom is the Meru Temple at Cakranegara, close to Mataram. The temple was built in 1720 during King A.A. Made's rule as a symbol of Hindu unity on Lombok island.

Several structures are found in this complex, all of them designated to function for particular purposes, including the 33 stalls located next to the main temple.

Narmada
Taman Narmada, 11 kilometers east of Mataram, was built in 1727 by King Anak Agung Gede Ngurah Karang Asem as both a pleasure garden and place to worship Shiva. Its big pool is said to represent Segara Anakan, the crater lake on the volcano Rinjani where they used to make offerings by throwing valuables into the water. As the became too old to make the pilgrimage up the 3,726 meter high mountain, he had Narmada made to represent the mountains and the lake. Near the pond is A place of worship and a spring whose water is believed to give dedicated pilgrims eternal youth.

Pura Lingsar
This may be the only Hindu shrine in the world where both Hindus and Moslems come to worship. About 7 kilometers west of Narmada, it was built in 1714 and rebuilt in 1878 to symbolize harmony and unity between the Hindu Balinese and Moslem Sasak population of the area, especially those who adhere to Lombok's unique Wektu Telu school of Islam.

The Balinese temple is built on higher ground, behind the Moslem section in the compound. In the lower yard is a spring in which pilgrims in the temple yard stage a mock battle between Hindus and Moslems in which troth parties hurl rice cakes at each other.

Pura Agung Gunung Sari
This great temple on a hill at Gunung Sari, about four kilometers from Mataram, was witness to the Puputan battle to the last man, fought on November 22, 1894, between Lombok's last Balinese ruler, Anak Agung Nengah and followers, and the Dutch troops under General Van der Vetter's command.