What is the Best Time to Visit Indonesia?

What is the best time to visit Indonesia? TLDR: the best times to visit are the months of May, June and September. For the long answer, keep reading. ;)

The first stage of planning your next holidays usually consists in a few uninspired searches on your favourite search engine, and one of them involves, without fail, an enquiry about the best time to visit such and such place.

This is Unity Indonesia, so:

What is the perfect time of the year to visit Indonesia?

In this post we’ll answer this question by talking about the weather, a few cultural events/festivals, and the religious holidays.

THE WEATHER

Our happy archipelago completely lies within the intertropical zone, with its over 17,000 islands sprinkled North and South of the equator.

In Indonesia you can expect hot and humid weather all year round, with lows around 23 °C (73 °F) and highs around 33 °C (91 °F), and cooler temperatures along the costal areas and inland. Essentially, there is no bad time to visit Indonesia, but you may want to avoid the rains!

Indonesia has only 2 seasons:

• the dry season, and
• the wet season.

That’s it: a permanent summer that could be dry or rainy, depending on the time of the year. In most areas, the wet season (or low season) falls between October and April, whereas the dry season (or high season) falls between May and September.

If your intention is to go out in the nature for activities such as trekking, hiking and cycling, then you should shun the wettest months. Some hikes (e.g. volcano hikes) will be closed during these months. This usually means avoiding December, January and February.

Don’t forget that the rains will make the roads muddy, so transportation will become less efficient during the wet season. This is especially true in Kalimantan, Nusa Tenggara and Papua.

(Dela) I personally recommend visiting Indonesia in May, June or September, when the days are dry and sunny, but not too hot, humid and crowded with tourists as the peak time in July and August.

HOLIDAYS AND RELIGIOUS EVENTS

There are both pros and cons of visiting Indonesia during these holidays. The main cons are that flights and hotels will be more expensive, and the obvious pros are that that particular event is what you are interested in!

Here’s a short list of the main Indonesian holidays, and the date (where available) for next occurrence.

• Chinese New Year, 12 February 2021;
• Nyepi Day (Balinese day of Silence), 14 March 2021;
• Ramadan, 12 April to 11 May 2021;
• Waisak Day, celebrating the birth, enlightenment and death of Gautama Buddha, sometime in May 2021;
• Hari Raya Idul Fitri, predicted 13 May 2021;
• Independence Day, 17 August;
• Islamic New Year, 20 August 2020;
• New Year, 31 December.

Finally, we would like to describe one peculiar religious event.

Yadnya Kasada is a ceremony that takes place in June at Mount Bromo, belonging to the indigenous Tenggerese community. The ceremony is held on the 14th day of the Kasada month, according to the Hindu lunar calendar. Based on the legend of Roro Anteng and Joko Seger, this ceremony is dedicated to Sang Hyang Widhi, or the Almighty God.

(This picture is courtesy of Putri. Check out her Instagram @putrimeibawati!)

As the legend goes, Roro Anteng and Joko Seger could not have children, and afte being married for many years, they climbed up to Mount Bromo and prayed the gods of the mountain to give them children. The prayer was answered, with the condition that the 25th child should be sacrificed by having it thrown into the crater of the volcano.

Today this ritual is repeated every year, obviously without human sacrifices. Instead, other offerings are thrown into the crater. It is believed that throwing your possessions into the mouth of the active volcano will win you the favours of the gods, keeping you healthy and strong.