Bali Weather and Climate

The wide variety of tropical plants is surprising. You'll see huge banyan trees in villages and temple grounds, tamarind trees in the North, clove trees in the highlands, acacia trees, flame trees, and mangroves in the South. In Bali grow a dozen species of coconut palms and even more varieties of bamboo. And there are flowers, flowers everywhere. You'll see (and smell the fragrance of) hibiscus, bougainvillea, jasmine, and water lilies. Magnolia, frangipani, and a variety of orchids are found in many front yards and gardens, along roads, and in temple grounds. Flowers are also used as decorations in temples, on statues, as offerings for the gods, and during prayers. Dancers wear blossoms in their crowns, and even the flower behind the ear of your waitress seems natural in Bali.

Elephants and tigers don't exist any more in Bali since early this century. Wildlife, however, includes various species of monkeys, civets, barking deer and mouse deer, and 300 species of birds including wild fowl, dollar birds, blue kingfishers, sea eagles, sandpipers, white herons and egrets, cuckoos, wood swallows, sparrows, and starlings. You can watch schools of dolphins near Lovina, Candi Dasa, and Padangbai. Divers will see many colorful coral fish and small reef fish, moray eels, and plankton eating whale sharks as well as crustaceans, sponges, and colorful coral along the east coast and around Menjangan Island near Gilimanuk.

The Bali Indonesian archipelago straddles the equator and the climate is tropical. In the lowlands, temperatures average between 25°C and 34°C (depending on the season), but in the mountains it can drop as low as 5°C. Humidity varies but is always high, between 60% and 100%. In general, Bali Indonesia experiences two yearly seasons of monsoon winds: the southeast monsoon, bringing dry weather (musim panas – the dry season), and the northwest monsoon, bringing rain (musim hujan – the rainy season). Often the changing seasons can also bring on a period of high waves (musim ombak). The rainy season is normally November-April, with a peak around January/February, when its rains for several hours each day. The rain is predictable, however, usually occurring in the afternoons, after which the sun comes out again. Before its rain, the air gets very sticky; afterwards it is refreshingly cool. The dry season, May-October, is a better time to visit Bali, in particular June-August, the Balinese “winter”. This is perhaps the best time to climb mountains, go on hikes through the paddies or visit the Bali Barat National Park where wild bulls are on the move in search of water and sea turtles lay eggs more often.

Bali is on Central Indonesian Standard Time, or Greenwich mean time +8 hours, and lies in the middle of Indonesia's three time zones.