The best time to visit Bali

Bali’s two seasons.

Bali has a dry season, from April to October, and a wet season, from November to March, with March and October months of transition. It is warm all year: the coast is typically about 27 to 32°C, and the highlands around Ubud, Kintamani, Bedugul and Sidemen are cooler, about 20 to 27°C, with much cooler nights near the volcanoes.

The rains build through November and December and are heaviest in January and February. For 2026–27, Indonesia’s meteorological agency expects the wet season to begin across most of Bali in December and to peak in February, shorter than usual.

Is the wet season a good time to visit?

For travellers who prefer a quieter island, yes. November is one of the quietest months of the year for visitors, and the landscapes are lush after the rains.

The east coast has its surf season in these months, and the villas of Ubud, with their pools and valley views, suit a slower, spa-centred stay. The trade-off is less reliable beach weather.

The coast and the highlands.

Bali’s weather changes with height as much as with the season, so a single journey can feel like two climates. Ubud and the villages of the interior are cooler than the coast, with cool evenings in the dry season, and the volcanoes of Batur and Kintamani cooler still before dawn. The dry season is the time for the sunrise trek to the crater lake of Mount Batur, with breakfast cooked in volcanic steam.

The coast, from Uluwatu and Jimbaran to Nusa Dua, is hotter and sunnier, with calm seas for diving and island-hopping in the dry months. Most luxury journeys spend a few nights in each, beginning in the highlands and ending by the sea.

A day in the wet season.

In the wet season, downpours often come in the afternoon, leaving mornings for temples, rice terraces and the spa. The island is greener, the surf on the east coast is at its best, and the busiest weeks are behind it.

Nyepi: the Day of Silence.

Once a year, on the Balinese New Year, the whole island stops for a day. In 2027, Nyepi falls on Monday 8 March. The airport closes for the day, no one, visitors included, may leave their hotel or walk the beaches and streets, and lights and noise are kept to a minimum.

The evening before, villages parade ogoh-ogoh, giant effigies, through the streets, a spectacle in its own right; roads are restricted that afternoon and evening. An advisor plans flights and transfers around it, and chooses a hotel where a day within its grounds is a pleasure.

Galungan and Kuningan.

Galungan celebrates the victory of good over evil, and Kuningan, ten days later, closes the festival. They follow the 210-day Balinese Pawukon calendar, so they fall twice in some years: in 2027, Galungan on 13 January and 11 August, and Kuningan on 23 January and 21 August.

Bamboo penjor poles stand along the roads for about two weeks after Kuningan. Some guides and drivers take time off and roads can be busy, so an advisor books both early.

Ceremonies every day of the year.

Balinese Hindu culture is a living, daily practice: offerings, temple ceremonies, gamelan and dance happen in every season, not only at the great festivals. Whatever month you travel, an advisor can arrange a private visit to a water temple, a purification ceremony with a priest, or a dance performance, with a local guide who explains what you are seeing.

Festivals worth planning around.

The Bali Arts Festival runs from mid-June to mid-July at the Taman Werdhi Budaya arts centre in Denpasar; in 2026 it ran from 13 June to 11 July. The Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, held in October, brings writers from around the world to Ubud; in 2026 it ran from 21 to 25 October.

Diving: mola mola and manta rays.

The waters around Nusa Penida and Nusa Lembongan, a short boat ride from Bali, are among the places to see the mola mola, or ocean sunfish, which rise from the deep with cold upwellings mainly between July and October.

Manta rays live around Nusa Penida all year, so they can be seen in any month. An advisor arranges a private boat and dive guide, timed for the calmest water of the day.

The surf seasons.

Bali has surf all year, on one coast or the other. The breaks of the Bukit peninsula and the west coast, such as Uluwatu, are at their best from April to October, with the biggest swells in July; the east coast, from Keramas to Nusa Dua, works from November to March.

Travelling with children.

Bali is one of the most welcoming islands for families, in every season. Several resorts in Ubud and Jimbaran run kids’ clubs with Balinese arts, the calm water off Sanur suits small children, and villa pools can be netted for safety. July and August are the busiest months, so family villas for those weeks are reserved early.

The arts of the villages.

Painting, woodcarving, silverwork and shadow puppetry are kept alive by village communities around Ubud, Celuk and Mas. Workshops and studios welcome visitors all year, and the rainy months are a good time for an afternoon with an artisan.

Health and safety.

Bali is Indonesia’s most tourism-adapted region, with a dedicated tourist police unit. An international-standard hospital in Nusa Dua provides emergency care, and Singapore is about two and a half hours away by air ambulance for complex cases.

The busiest and quietest months.

Bali welcomed almost 6.95 million foreign visitors in 2025, a record. July was the busiest month, at about 697,000, followed by August and June. The quietest were March, the month of Nyepi, and November, each below 500,000. Australia is the largest source of visitors, at about 1.63 million in 2025.

The finest villas for July and August, and for the festive weeks, are reserved early. April, May, September and early October combine dry weather with fewer visitors.

Where to stay in each season.

In the dry season, the clifftop resorts of Uluwatu and the beaches of Jimbaran and Nusa Dua are at their best. In the wet season, many travellers prefer Ubud and its river valleys, where rain on the jungle is part of the pleasure, or the east coast for its surf.

Most journeys combine the two: a few nights in the cooler highlands for culture and rice terraces, then the coast.

Getting around, in any season.

The road from the airport to Ubud takes about an hour, and longer in traffic; a helicopter makes the journey in about twenty minutes. Private jets land at Ngurah Rai International Airport, which has a terminal for private flights.

Traffic in the south is heaviest in the busy months of July and August, so an advisor plans each day’s drives around it, and uses helicopters where time matters most.

Beyond Bali: islands to add.

Bali is a gateway to the rest of Indonesia. A private charter reaches Komodo National Park in about an hour, for the Komodo dragons and the reef at Pink Beach, and the car-free Gili Islands are about ninety minutes by fast boat. Raja Ampat, reached through Sorong, adds some of the richest marine life on Earth.

An advisor chooses the season for each extension and joins it to the Bali stay.

A first visit and a return visit.

For a first visit, the dry shoulder months of April, May or September give the best balance: dry weather, Ubud and the coast, and fewer visitors than high summer.

For a return visit, many travellers choose the wet season for the quiet, a stay in East Bali for privacy and diving, or Nyepi itself, a day that exists nowhere else in the world.

Finding the quiet in the busy months.

Even in July and August, Bali has quiet corners. The south around Seminyak and Canggu is the most crowded; the jungle estates of Ubud, the cliff villas of Uluwatu and the clifftop resorts of East Bali, looking across the Lombok Strait, keep their privacy in every season.

How far ahead to book.

For July and August, Christmas and New Year, and the days around Nyepi and Galungan, reserve the finest villas and resorts early. An advisor knows which villas suit a family or a party and which can still be secured at shorter notice.

The best months, by what you want to do.

Choose the month by the journey you have in mind:

• Beaches and sightseeing: April to October, driest from June to September.
• Fewer visitors in dry weather: April, May and September.
• Mola mola at Nusa Penida: July to October.
• Manta rays: any month.
• Surf on the Bukit and west coast: April to October; on the east coast, November to March.
• Temple festivals: Galungan and Kuningan, and the Bali Arts Festival from mid-June.
• Literature and culture in Ubud: October.

Your questions.

Tell us when you would like to travel to Bali.

Recommendations chosen for you, an itinerary crafted around them, and every booking managed by an independent Ultra Advisor who works with local specialists in Bali.