The best time to visit Bali, and the season that is only bad on one coast
May, June and September. Why Bali's weather calendar and its crowd calendar are different, and why the wet season is world-class on the other coast.
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May, June or September. Same weather as July and August, without the peak crowds or the peak prices. September is the single best month if you can only take one.
That is the short answer, and it comes from noticing something most guides to this question miss: Bali has two calendars, not one. The weather calendar and the crowd calendar do not line up, and the gap between them is where the good months live.
Indonesian rupiah. Convert any figure on this page into your own currency at today's published rate.
Open the currency converter →The two calendars
The weather calendar is simple. Dry season April to October, wet season November to March, wettest in January and February.
The crowd calendar is driven by school holidays in two hemispheres, and it runs mid-June through September, heaviest in July and August, plus mid-December to early January. Both of those windows push villa and flight prices up 30 to 50%.
Lay them over each other and the answer falls out. May, June and September sit inside the dry season and outside the crowd peaks. July and August sit inside both, which means you pay half again as much for weather you could have had in May.
That is the whole argument, and it is worth more than any amount of month-by-month temperature data, because Bali's temperature barely moves. It sits between about 26 and 32 degrees every month of the year. What changes is the rain, the crowds and the price.
The wet season is only wet on one coast
Here is the part that changes what the wet season is worth, and almost nobody publishes it.
Bali's wind reverses between seasons, and so does its surf.
In the dry season, April to October, south-easterly trade winds blow across the Bukit Peninsula from land to sea. That makes them offshore on the west coast, which is why Uluwatu, Padang Padang and Impossibles are world-famous between June and August.
In the wet season, November to March, the wind swings round to the west and north-west. It arrives onshore on the west coast, which blows those breaks out. The same shift makes it offshore on the east coast, and Keramas, Serangan, Sanur and Nusa Dua turn on.
So "the bad season" is only bad if you booked the wrong side of the island. If you are going to Bali to surf and you can only travel in January, go east, and you will have some of the best conditions of the year with a fraction of the crowd.
The month table
| Month | Rain | Crowds | Price | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | Wettest | Low after the 10th | Low | Green, cheap, wet |
| Feb | Wettest | Low | Low | Same, plus Nyepi risk some years |
| Mar | Easing | Low | Low | Changeover, light winds |
| Apr | Dry begins | Building | Rising | Very good |
| May | Dry | Moderate | Moderate | Excellent |
| Jun | Dry | Rising mid-month | Rising | Excellent to mid-June |
| Jul | Driest | Peak | Peak | Great weather, worst value |
| Aug | Driest | Peak | Peak | Same |
| Sep | Dry | Easing | Easing | The best month |
| Oct | Dry ending | Low | Low | Changeover, excellent value |
| Nov | Wet begins | Low | Low | East coast turns on |
| Dec | Wet | Peak from the 20th | Peak from the 20th | Fine until mid-month |
The one date to plan around
Nyepi falls on Monday 8 March 2027.
Bali's Day of Silence stops the entire island for 24 hours. No travel, no lights after dark, nobody outdoors, and Denpasar airport closes completely with no arrivals and no departures. Hotels keep guests fed and inside, and the night before is the Ogoh-Ogoh parade, which is genuinely one of the great spectacles in Southeast Asia.
Being on the island for Nyepi is either a memorable enforced pause or a wasted day, depending on the traveller. Flying on it is not an option. The date moves each year with the Balinese saka calendar and usually falls in March, so check before you book.
What the season does to the money
The fixed costs do not move: the e-VOA at IDR 500,000 and the tourist levy at IDR 150,000, which is IDR 650,000 a head before you have eaten anything and is the same in February as in August.
Everything else moves a lot. A one-bedroom pool villa that runs IDR 1,200,000 to 2,500,000 a night in the shoulder months goes up by a third to a half in July, August and over the New Year. Flights do the same. A private driver stays around IDR 700,000 for eight to ten hours year-round, which makes it the most stable line in a Bali budget.
The full costs breakdown, with what a week actually comes to at three budget levels, is in seven days in Bali.
What each month is actually for
January and February are for people who want a green island, empty restaurants and a villa at half price, and who do not mind losing an afternoon to rain most days. The east-coast surf is excellent.
March and April are the changeover: light winds, drying out, low prices, and the best all-round surf conditions of the year. April is our quiet favourite.
May, June and September are the answer for almost everybody.
July and August are for people whose dates are fixed by a school term. There is nothing wrong with the weather. Book early, expect traffic, and accept the price.
October and November bring the shoulder back and the east coast on. October is the best-value month with reliable weather.
December is fine until about the 18th and then becomes the most expensive fortnight of the year.
What to skip
Choosing July because a guide said "dry season". It is true and it is not the recommendation. The dry season is seven months long and two of them cost half as much again.
Writing off the wet season without checking which coast you want. Covered above, and it is the difference between a compromise and a good decision.
Booking flights before checking Nyepi. The airport genuinely closes.
Assuming the wet season means cancelled plans. It means moving them to the morning. Bali's rain is an afternoon event and the mornings are frequently perfect.
Timing a trip around Bali's temperature. It does not change. Time it around rain, crowds and price, in that order.
Visa on arrival · 30 days, on all five passports we check.
Short tourist stays only. Checked 21 Aug 2026; rules change without notice and the government page is the source of truth.
Check your own passport →Checked 21 Aug 2026.
Everything we check for Indonesia →Before you book
Seven days in Bali is the route, with the costs table and the three entry charges laid out. Bali with kids makes the base decision a water-safety question, things to do in Bali with kids ranks the activities by age, and Bali family villas covers the accommodation. Staying longer than a holiday? Bali for digital nomads has the visa, the internet and the monthly costs. Our island anchor is the Ubud city guide and the wider practicalities are in the Indonesia country guide. The when to go hub does this job for everywhere else, and the month pages show what September looks like across the catalogue. Ready to look at rooms? Ubud stays are here.
Seasons, prices and the Nyepi date checked September 2026. The tourist levy is paid through the province's own platform and is now spot-checked at the major sites, and surf-season wind patterns are the reason the wet season is worth reconsidering rather than avoiding. Here is how we research and re-check guides.
