When to visit Indonesia
Introduction
"Whoever sows the wind will reap the storm."
Indonesian proverb
In most of Indonesia the wet season falls between October and April, and the dry season between May and September. Rain tends to come in sudden tropical bursts, but it can also rain non-stop for days on end. In Kalimantan and Bali the difference between the seasons is slight, but in Nusa Tenggara there are droughts in the dry season and floods in the wet. Parts of Papua are also inaccessible. In Sumatra, the rains peak from October to January in the north, and from January to February in the south.
The Christmas holiday period brings a wave of Australian visitors, and Europeans tend to head for Bali, Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi in July and August. The main domestic holiday periods are the end of Ramadan, Christmas and mid-June to mid-July, when graduating high-school students head by bus to resorts on Java and Bali.