Best Time to Visit Bali

The driest months in Bali are July and August, and the wettest are December through February. Climate normals for south Bali show about 1 inch of rain in July and about 14 inches in January, with temperatures near 80°F all year. For most visitors the best time is May, June or September, when rainfall is low and the peak summer crowds are absent.

Bali's two seasons

Bali has a dry season and a wet season, and temperature has almost nothing to do with it. Monthly climate normals for the Denpasar station in the south put the average temperature between about 79°F in August and 83°F in November. What changes through the year is rain, and it changes a great deal.

The dry season

The dry months in south Bali run from about May to October. The normals show rainfall falling from about 4 inches in April to under 3 inches in June, then to about 1 inch in July and 1.4 inches in August, before rising slowly through September and October, which each see about 2.5 inches.

The wet season

The wet months run from about November to March. Rainfall climbs to about 5 inches in November and about 13 inches in December, peaks near 14 inches in January, and is still above 9 inches in March. Those are averages for a whole month at one station, not a description of any single day.

The seasons do not start on a date

Indonesia's meteorological agency forecasts the start of each season zone by zone, every year, and the dates move. For 2026 it predicted that the dry season would arrive earlier than normal across most of Bali, with the peak in August. A normal is a long-run average; the year you travel will differ from it.

Month by month

Bali's year divides into four stretches for a visitor, using the south Bali rainfall normals as the guide. The figures are monthly averages in inches, converted from the millimeters published for the Denpasar station, and they describe the south coast where most visitors stay.

• December to February: the wettest stretch, at about 11 to 14 inches a month.
• March and April: rain easing, from about 9 inches to about 4.
• May to October: the dry stretch, from under 4 inches down to about 1 in July.
• November: the turn back to wet, at about 5 inches.

What the numbers do not show

The normals come from one weather station at sea level near the airport. They do not describe Ubud, the central mountains or the north coast, and they say nothing about how many days it rains or for how long. We have no official figures for those, so we do not state any.

Crowds and prices follow a different calendar

Rain is one calendar; demand is another, and the two do not line up neatly. July and August are the driest months and also the northern summer vacation, and late December is wet and busy at once. We have no official visitor or price statistics by month, so we describe the pattern without numbers.

The calendar effects we can source

Indonesia's own holidays move demand, and those dates are published. In 2027 the national holidays around Nyepi and Eid al-Fitr run together in March, creating a long break for the whole country. Bali's day of silence, Nyepi, falls on Monday, March 8, 2027, and press reports of the airport operator's 2026 announcement describe regular flights halting for 24 hours.

Festivals worth choosing

Galungan, when decorated bamboo poles line the roads, comes every 210 days. In 2027 it falls on January 13 and August 11. A visitor who would like to see it can pick dates around it; a visitor who wants the quietest roads can pick dates away from it.

Best time by what you want to do

The best time to visit Bali depends on the trip you have in mind, because the activities do not share a season. Beach days, mountain hikes and boat crossings favor the dry months. Surf depends on the coast as much as the month. Low prices and green landscapes favor the wet months.

Beaches and sunsets

For beach weather, the low-rainfall months of May through October are the safer choice on the numbers. July and August are the driest. Our advice for travelers who can choose freely is May, June or September, when the rainfall normals are low and school vacations in the United States are not driving demand.

Hiking and volcano sunrises

Mountain weather is not covered by the south coast normals, and conditions at altitude differ from the beach. The dry months are the conventional choice for a sunrise trek, since a clear summit is the whole point. Ask your guide about recent conditions before committing to an early start.

Surfing

Surf guides describe a split by coast: the west-facing breaks are at their best in the dry season, when the trade winds blow offshore there, and the east-facing breaks take over in the wet season. A surfer can find waves in any month by choosing the right side of the island.

When not to go

No month is closed to visitors in Bali, though two periods deserve a second look. January has the heaviest rainfall in the normals, at about 14 inches, which matters most for a short trip built around beaches and boats. Press reports of the airport operator's 2026 announcement describe a 24-hour halt to regular flights on Nyepi, so check arrival and departure dates against it and confirm with your airline.

Short trips and wet months

On a two-week trip, a few wet days are absorbed. On a one-week trip, they are a large share of the vacation. Our advice is that the shorter the trip, the more the dry months are worth paying for, since a short trip has no spare days to give to the weather.

What this decision actually sits inside

Notice what happened across all of this. "When" kept turning into "where" and "what". The driest months are the busiest, the best surf moves from one coast to the other, the mountains follow their own weather, and the calendar adds a day when nothing moves. The month you choose changes which base makes sense and which activities belong in the plan.

How the month, the coast and the base fit together is worked through in Bali, in Its Own Time.