By: Emma Kwee

Indonesia is a tropical country and has two main seasons: the dry season that runs roughly from April to October and the wet season from November to March. That doesn’t mean it never rains outside of the wet season, but the heavy monsoon rains mostly fall in the wet season (with possible floods, mudslides and so on). Central and southern Maluku Islands experience the dry monsoon between November to March and the wet monsoon from May to August, which is the reverse of the rest of Indonesia. The dry monsoon’s average maximum temperature is 30°C while the wet’s average maximum is 23°C. Northern Maluku has its wet monsoon from November to March in line with the rest of Indonesia.

Best Time to Travel to Indonesia

Best time to visit Indonesia is during dry season between April and October. The humidity is slightly less and weather is pleasant at this time of the year. Even though generally speaking the dry season is hotter, the climate differs from island to island (which makes sense if you consider that there are more than 18.000 of them). The average temperature is 28°C and the humidity ranges from 70 and 90%. Don’t be fooled however, up in the mountains it gets fairly chilly!

Travel Indonesia during or after Ramadan

Another thing to consider is the holidays and then especially the Ramadan. Traveling Indonesia during Ramadan is certainly possible, but might be less convenient, as many Indonesians are fasting, shops and offices might be closed and (outside of religious activities) less is happening. These are the dates for the Ramadan month in the coming years:

At the end of Ramadan, many Indonesians celebrate their holidays during Eid-ul-fitr. This involves a temporary upheavel where millions of Indonesians hit the road, book flights, hotels and, consequently, prices can increase significantly. Bali especially bears the grunt of this mass migration. Other peak periods are around Christmas and mid-June to mid-July.