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Quick answer: The best time to visit Bali with kids is April to May or October to November. The weather is mostly good, the big school holiday crowds are gone and villas cost less. July to September has the driest weather but the most people and the highest prices. December to March is the rainy season: cheaper and greener, with rain that usually comes in bursts rather than all day.
We’ve been in Bali with our three kids in every month of the year: Rico Jr (12), Rosalia (6) and Risa Mia (3). So this isn’t a weather chart copied from somewhere. It’s what each season is actually like with children: when it rains and for how long, which months are hot, when the beaches and roads are packed, and when the mosquitoes are worse. At the end you’ll find the festival dates for 2027 and the school holidays that fill up the island.
Table of Contents
Bali’s two seasons in short
Bali has a dry season and a wet season. There’s no winter, and it’s warm all year: around 30°C in the day, sea temperatures that are fine for kids in every month.
- Dry season: roughly April to October. Sunny days, lower humidity, calmer evenings. This is when most tourists come.
- Wet season: roughly November to March. More rain, higher humidity and more mosquitoes. January and February are usually the wettest. Long-term averages for Denpasar put January at around 300 mm of rain and August at around 40 to 50 mm (Climate-Data.org, Weather2Travel).
The seasons don’t switch on a fixed date. Some years the rain starts in October, some years it’s still dry well into November. Plan on the pattern, not on a single day.
The best time to visit Bali with kids
If we had to pick two weeks for a family holiday, we’d choose October or November, or April or May.
October and November sit just before the rainy season really starts. There are fewer crowds than in August and September, and it’s not properly rainy yet. April and May are the same idea on the other side: the rainy season is ending, the island is green, and the summer crowds haven’t arrived.
In both windows you get most of the good weather of the dry season without the peak prices. For families, that balance matters more than a perfectly blue sky every day. A villa that costs a lot less, beaches with space for the kids and shorter queues at Waterbom make a bigger difference to your holiday than one rain shower in the afternoon.
Our pick by what you care about most
| If you want | Go in | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The best balance for families | April to May, October to November | Good weather, fewer crowds, lower prices |
| The driest weather | July to September | Least rain, but busiest and most expensive |
| The lowest prices | January to March | Rainy season, quieter and cheaper |
| The fewest crowds | February, March, early November | Low season, check the weather and Nyepi dates |
| The ogoh-ogoh parade | The evening before Nyepi (7 March 2027) | The best ceremony to see with kids |
Bali month by month with kids
This is how the year feels to us, with the kids, living mostly in Canggu. Crowds and prices follow the school holidays in Australia and Europe, so they can shift a little from year to year.
| Month | Weather | Crowds | Our take with kids |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | Wet, humid | Busy first week, then quiet | Cheap after New Year, plan mornings outside |
| February | Wettest stretch | Quiet | Low prices, more mosquitoes, be flexible |
| March | Still wet, slowly drying | Quiet | Check the Nyepi date before you book |
| April | End of rainy season | Getting busier around Easter | One of our favourite months |
| May | Mostly dry, green | Medium | One of our favourite months |
| June | Dry | Busier | Good weather, book ahead |
| July | Dry | Busy (school holidays) | Great weather, high prices |
| August | Dry | Busiest | Book villas early, expect traffic |
| September | Dry, getting hot | Still busy | One of the hottest months for the kids |
| October | Hot, mostly dry | Quieter | Great shoulder month, bring lots of water |
| November | Rain starts, often not much yet | Quiet | Good value before the holiday rush |
| December | Wet | Busy at Christmas | Festive, but book early and pay more |
January to March: rainy season and low prices
After the first week of January the island goes quiet. This is the cheapest time for villas, and you’ll have beaches and cafés much more to yourself. The rain is real, but it doesn’t wash out every day (more on that below). The catch is humidity and mosquitoes, which are at their worst in these months. Nyepi usually falls in March, so check that date before you book flights.
April and May: the end of the rain
Our favourite window. The rice fields are bright green from the rainy season, the rain is fading and the big summer crowds haven’t come yet. It’s a good time for rice terrace walks, waterfalls and day trips from the south, like the ones in our Bali day trips from Canggu with kids. Easter and the Dutch May holiday make some weeks busier, but nothing like August.
June to September: dry season and peak crowds
The driest and sunniest part of the year, and that’s exactly why everyone comes. In our experience the busiest months are August and September. Roads around Canggu, Seminyak and Uluwatu get slow, the popular places fill up and villa prices go up. September and October are also the hottest months for the kids, because the island has had months of sun and the rain hasn’t cooled things down yet.
If school holidays leave you no choice, it still works well. Book your villa early, leave for day trips first thing in the morning and keep the middle of the day for the pool.
October and November: the second sweet spot
After the summer rush the island calms down, prices drop, and the rainy season isn’t properly here yet. October can be very hot, so plan shade and water. In November the first showers come, but often not much more. Our Bali packing list for families covers what to bring for both.
December: Christmas in Bali
The rainy season is on, and the holidays bring the crowds back. Christmas and New Year are among the busiest and most expensive weeks of the year. Book villas and flights early if you want to be here for the festive season.
What the rainy season is really like with kids
This is the part most guides get wrong. “Rainy season” sounds like grey skies all day, but that’s not what we see.
In our experience the rain mostly falls early in the morning and later in the day. Often it’s a short burst of very heavy rain, and then the sun comes back. Other times it’s longer, normal to light rain. Full days of rain happen, but they’re not the rule.
For a family that means:
- Plan the outside things for the middle of the morning. Once the early rain stops, you usually have a good window for the beach, a playground or a day trip.
- Have a rain plan for the afternoon. A play café, a long lunch, a mall, swimming in the villa pool (kids don’t care if it rains in the pool).
- Use Grab instead of the scooter. A heavy burst on a scooter with kids is no fun, and roads can flood for a short while in some spots.
- Pack light rain jackets and quick-dry clothes. It’s still warm, so nobody gets cold.
The rainy season is also when the island looks its best. Waterfalls are full, the rice terraces are deep green, and everything feels a bit slower.
Mosquitoes and dengue
There are more mosquitoes in the rainy season, and that’s the time we’re most careful with the kids. Dengue is spread by mosquitoes that bite during the day, so it’s not only an evening problem. Bali’s health office has said that cases usually rise from December to April or May, after the rain, though cases also turn up in the dry season.
What helps: repellent on the kids during the day as well as at night, long light clothes in the evening, mosquito nets or plug-ins in the bedroom, and a villa without standing water around it. If a child gets a high fever in Bali, see a doctor and mention dengue. Our is Bali safe for families post has more on health and clinics.
Sea, surf and swimming by season
For little ones, the sea doesn’t change much between seasons in our experience. What matters most is the tide. At low and high tide the same beach can feel completely different: calm and shallow one hour, strong waves the next. In the middle of the rainy season we notice a little more current and stronger tides.
Two things do change with the season on the west coast (Canggu, Seminyak, Kuta). The dry season brings the bigger, cleaner swell, and the rainy season brings more onshore wind and choppier water (Surf-Forecast). And from about December to March, monsoon winds and swollen rivers wash rubbish onto these same beaches (Al Jazeera). Cleaning crews sweep the main beaches, but some mornings it’s not where you want a toddler digging.
So whatever month you come, check the tide before you go to the beach, swim between the red and yellow flags where there are lifeguards, and stay within arm’s reach of small kids. Lifeguard cover in Canggu is patchy, so don’t count on it. Our guide to Canggu beaches with kids explains which beaches are actually safe for swimming.
For older kids, surf lessons work all year. Rico Jr learned at Batu Bolong, and our kids surf schools in Canggu post has tips on the best season and tide for a first lesson.
Villa prices: high season vs low season
The price difference between high and low season is big. In practice you choose one perk over the other: lower cost with more rain, or better weather with higher prices.
A few tips:
- Book early for July, August and Christmas. The good family villas go first, and prices only go up closer to the date.
- Ask for a monthly rate in low season. If you stay longer, many villas give a much better price per night.
- The shoulder months are the best value. In April, May, October and November you often get dry-season weather for something closer to a low-season price.
Not sure which area to pick? See where to stay in Canggu with kids, or search villas on Booking.com.
School holidays: when Bali is busiest
Most of the crowds follow two calendars: Australian school holidays and the European summer. When they overlap, Bali is full.
- Australia: the long summer break over Christmas and January, plus shorter breaks around April, early July and late September to early October. Dates differ by state, so check your state’s calendar (for example NSW 2027 term dates).
- The Netherlands, summer 2027: region North 10 July to 22 August, Middle 17 July to 29 August, South 24 July to 5 September. Christmas holiday is 19 December 2026 to 3 January 2027, and the May holiday 24 April to 2 May 2027 (Rijksoverheid).
- Indonesian holidays: domestic travel also goes up around Lebaran (Eid) and the long weekends.
If you can travel outside school holidays, even a week either side makes a difference to prices and to how busy the beaches are.
Bali festivals and ceremonies with kids
Of all the ceremonies we’ve seen with the kids, the one that really stands out is the ogoh-ogoh parade on the evening before Nyepi. It’s quite a show: huge monster statues carried through the streets, with music and noise and crowds everywhere. Definitely worth it with kids. It gets crowded, so come on time to save a good spot. It can also be very hot while you wait, so bring drinks, hats and light clothes for the kids. The other ceremonies we’ve seen are much smaller, and honestly less amazing for kids.
Nyepi, the Day of Silence (8 March 2027)
Nyepi is the Balinese New Year, and it’s unlike anything else. For 24 hours the whole island stops. No flights, no traffic, no going out on the streets, and lights are kept low at night. Hotels and villas keep running for guests, but you stay inside. In 2026 Ngurah Rai airport closed from 6am on Nyepi day until 6am the next day.
In 2027 Nyepi falls on Monday 8 March, according to Indonesia’s official 2027 holiday list. The evening before is the ogoh-ogoh parade, the one we’d plan a trip around with kids. In 2027 that’s Sunday 7 March. Nyepi day itself is easier than it sounds with children if you plan for it: stock up on food the day before, download films and games, and make it a pool and board game day. Don’t plan to arrive or leave on Nyepi, because there are no flights.
Galungan and Kuningan
Galungan celebrates the victory of good over evil, and it’s when Bali looks its most festive. Tall decorated bamboo poles (penjor) line the streets, and families go to the temples in their best clothes. Kuningan comes ten days later and closes the celebration. For kids it’s less of a spectacle than the ogoh-ogoh parade, but the decorated streets are lovely to see. Because they follow the 210-day Balinese calendar, they come twice in some years. In 2027, Galungan falls on 13 January and 11 August, and Kuningan on 23 January and 21 August.
Around these days some businesses close or open shorter hours, and temples are busy with ceremonies. Visitors are welcome to watch respectfully: wear a sarong and sash at temples, don’t walk in front of people who are praying, and keep the kids close.
So, when should you go?
If you can choose freely: April to May or October to November. If school holidays decide for you, Bali still works in July and August, just book early and start your days early. And if you want a cheaper, quieter Bali and don’t mind some rain, the rainy season with kids is much better than its reputation.
Before you fly, check the Bali tourist levy and entry rules for the whole family, and for a first plan, our 1 week in Bali with kids itinerary.
Planning a family trip? Our complete guide to Bali with kids covers the best areas, activities by age, food, safety and getting around.
FAQ
What is the best month to visit Bali with kids?
For most families, May or October. The weather is good, the big school holiday crowds have gone and villas are cheaper than in July and August. April and November are close behind.
Is it worth visiting Bali in the rainy season with children?
Yes, if you plan around the rain. It mostly comes early in the morning or later in the day, often as a short heavy burst. Prices are lower and it’s quieter. Be more careful with mosquitoes in these months.
When is Bali most crowded?
August and September, and the Christmas to New Year weeks. July is busy too because of the European and Australian school holidays.
What is the hottest month in Bali for kids?
For us, September and October, just before the rainy season. Plan shade in the middle of the day and keep the kids drinking water.
Is the sea safe for kids in the rainy season?
The sea doesn’t change much by season. The tide matters more, though there can be a bit more current in the middle of the rainy season. Always check the tide and swim where there are lifeguards.
Can you fly to Bali on Nyepi?
No. The airport closes for 24 hours on Nyepi. In 2027, Nyepi is on Monday 8 March, so avoid flying in or out that day.
Questions about this? Ask us here