Just How Bad is Bali’s Wet Season? Tips for Surviving the Monsoon
Cars stranded on roads that have turned to rivers from torrential rain, being left without electricity for hours due to the storms, and the only wearable piece of clothing you have is a brightly colored plastic rain poncho. Sounds like the monsoon season is a terrible time to be in Bali, right? Well, maybe so – but what I’m describing is an exceptionally rainy week last July, at the height of Bali’s Dry Season. The truth is Bali, and Indonesia overall, are tropical destinations with unpredictable weather patterns (it just happens to rain a bit more during the Wet Season). Do I think coming to Bali during Monsoon is worth it? Keep reading to find out.
About Katie: I’ve been based in Bali for the past three years and I’ve traveled all over Indonesia’s Outer Islands.
💧 The Mini Rainy Season: Sep – Nov
I love spending the fall in Bali, and I’ve spent three years worth of September – December there. Although it’s on paper the “Rainy Season”, the weather doesn’t behave that much differently from the Dry Season until you go into December. It will be more cloudy/drizzly in the mornings, but the trade-off is you can benefit from fewer tourist crowds.
☔️ The Heavy Rainy Season Dec – Feb
Dec – Feb is the real rainy season, with the worst months being January and February. During Jan & Feb certain popular activities like climbing Mount Rinjani, attending a surf camp, and taking a Komodo Boat Tour shut down until March, because of slippery mud and the risk of thunderstorms.
Guide to where to stay in Bali from someone who lives there: All the best places for your first visit!
✔️ Quick Guide: What You Need to Know
- 📆 The best time to go: Bali’s official Dry Season runs May – September, and the Wet Season is Oct-March, with the worst months being Jan & Feb. 👉 I recommend visiting Bali during the shoulder months of Sep & Oct, you still get dry weather and the island is a little less crowded.
- 🦟 Mosquito issues: The rainy season is a breeding time for mosquitos that thrive in the pools of stagnant water everywhere. This is a big problem because mosquitos in Bali carry Dengue Fever.
- ☔️ The weather in Bali is unpredictable: You can get unlucky and run into a week of pure thunderstorms even if you visit at the height of the “Dry Season”.
- 🛵 Dangerous roads: A big issue is when it rains in Bali it rains hard, and scooters (the main way to get around on the island) don’t work well in the rain. There are no windshield wipers on scooters. You’ll see people driving still through storms, but they’re pretty much driving blind and it’s incredibly dangerous.
- 💧The island shuts down when it rains: Most activities in Bali are outdoors, and this coupled with the generally poor infrastructure on the island means you’re pretty much stuck at home if it’s raining. On really stormy days restaurants and cafes close, and you can’t order anything online for delivery through the Grab/Gojek apps because there are such crazy supply vs. demand issues with drivers.
- 👩💻 A productive time for Digital Nomads: Some ex-pats on the island love the rainy season specifically because they’re stuck at home with nothing to do and are forced to be productive – go figure 🤷♀️.
- 👉 My opinion? Sep-Dec is fine, but in Jan & Feb I would rather be in Thailand where the sun is shining ☀️
Why I Don’t Like Being in Bali in January & February
Full disclosure: I don’t really like the height of the rainy season in Bali (Jan & Feb), because more often than not you’re stuck at home if there’s a big storm. I like to do things…well, actually I’m a bit of a homebody. I like to at least go to the gym and the grocery store if I need to, and driving a scooter on a crazy Bali highway during torrential rain is no fun. So, in January and February, you will most likely find me on a beach in Thailand instead of in the Jungle in Bali.
You Can’t Drive Your Scooter
Scooters don’t come with windshields, and after I got caught in a massive storm driving back to Ubud from North Bali where the rain was so strong I couldn’t see the roads at all (and if I couldn’t see, neither could anyone else driving – and that’s scary!), I will never attempt to drive my scooter in a tropical storm in Bali again. Since almost no one has a car on the island, this means I’m stuck at home during the monsoons.
renting scooters in Bali: how to do it legally, safely, affordably.
Grab Stops Working
Grab, Indonesia’s answer to Uber, is what’s called a “Super App”. I use Grab every day and for everything; taxi rides, food and pharmacy delivery, renewing my passport, and even hiring movers when I switch bungalows. As I just mentioned above, I can’t drive my scooter when it’s pouring rain, so that’s when Grab deliveries come the most in handy – right? Well, everyone else has the same idea. Every time it rains I can never manage to get a Grab order, and when I do it can take up to 2 hours due to road conditions and overbookings. So – if you’re staying in Bali during the rainy season it’s in your best interest to keep a good stock of food, supplies, and drinking water at home.
There is no Uber in Bali, but Bali has its own version of Uber you can use!
Many Outdoors Activities are Closed
Everything stays open until December, but during the height of the season – Jan & Feb – lots of activities close. Not everything closes, for example, the beach clubs will be open as long as you have a sunny-ish day, but some of my favorite Indonesia travel highlights; climbing Mt. Rinjani Volcano, taking a Komodo Boat Tour, and attending a surf camp in Lombok, are all closed down for the peak rainy months.
ULTIMATE guide to visiting Komodo Islands & National Park from Bali
The Mosquito Issue
Mosquitos carry diseases like Dengue Fever, and more rarely Malaria, in Bali. As if that’s not concerning enough, during the rainy season all the stagnant water lying around serves as the perfect breeding ground for mosquitos and the population explodes.
Katie’s Tips ✶
You can buy a really strong mosquito repellant called “Soffel” at any convenience store in Bali for around $1 which works better than any bug spray I brought from home!
Things You Can Still Do in Bali During Monsoon
- Work in a CoWork
- Visit a Treehouse Cafe
- Have a romantic dinner at an indoor restaurant
- Do some yoga/meditation retreats
- Attend a Balinese cooking class
- Listen to live music
- Have a flower bath or massage at a spa
- Attend a jewelry-making workshop
- Visit an (indoor) Balinese Traditional Dance
The Wrap-Up: Should You Visit Bali During the Off-Season?
Maybe? If you’re coming to Bali for the networking/coworking opportunities, then sure – you can probably get a good deal on a villa / CoWork and get to network with everyone. Similarly, if you’re coming to Bali for some sort of retreat or activity, like yoga, meditation, or spirituality-related, you can be productive even if it’s raining.
It does need to be said that the vast majority of the activities in Bali are outdoors: think temples, beach clubs, monkey forests, volcano hikes, etc – Some of these activities close down for January & February and open back up again in March.
