Month by month
Bali in December
257mm of rain, 31C by day, and three quiet weeks followed by the busiest days of the year.
December is the second-wettest month of Bali's year and the only one that is really two different holidays, three weeks apart.
The southern lowlands take 257mm across the month. That is behind January, which is the wettest at 284mm, and it is about 7.1 times what falls in August. Days reach 31.0°C and nights hold at 25.0°C, the warmest nights Bali gets. None of that is the interesting part. The interesting part is that the first three weeks of December are among the quietest of the year and the last ten days are among the busiest, at the same temperature and in the same rain.
This page contains affiliate links. If you book through them we may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you. It helps keep this guide free.
What December actually measures
A single month's rainfall means nothing on its own, so here is December against the eleven months you are choosing between.
Rainfall
257 mm
Second only to January. An independent check at the same point puts it at 272mm.
Daytime high
31.0°C
Within a degree of nearly every other month; the year’s whole range is 2.4°C.
Night-time low
25.0°C
The warmest nights of the year, at 25.0°C, shared with November.
Two things are deliberately missing from this page. There is no count of rainy days, because the reanalysis and the airport station disagree by more than three times over and neither figure survives a check. And there is no separate rainfall figure for Ubud, Munduk or the east coast, because the models that claim to resolve them contradict each other and, in Amed’s case, contradict a coast known for its salt pans. The highlands are wetter; we are not going to put a number on how much.
December is two months in one
Almost every guide treats December as one thing and gives it one verdict. It is not one thing. Up to about the 19th, Bali is in the low season: the wet-season rain is falling, the island is green, rooms are easier to get and the popular places are pleasant rather than packed. That is the cheap, quiet Bali that the dry-season crowd never sees.
From roughly the 20th to the 2nd of January it becomes the opposite. Christmas and New Year is one of the two annual peaks alongside July and August, and it stacks the northern-hemisphere holidays on top of the Australian summer break. The rain has not changed and the temperature has not changed. What has changed is that the good rooms have gone, the south is at its worst for traffic, and the restaurants worth eating at need booking.
If your dates can move by a week, that is the single most valuable decision on this page. An early-December trip and a Christmas trip are different holidays at different prices in identical weather.
What 257mm feels like on the ground
Not like a wet week in Europe. The wet-season pattern is a warm and often bright morning, then a heavy downpour in the afternoon or evening that empties the sky and clears within an hour or two, leaving the air fresher than it was. Longer wet spells happen, and a day genuinely lost to rain is possible, but it is not the shape of the average December day.
What that means in practice is a change of order rather than a change of plan. Do the temple, the terraces, the waterfall or the boat in the morning. Leave the afternoon for the pool, the spa, a long lunch or the drive between places. Travellers who fight the pattern have a frustrating December; travellers who plan around it barely notice it.
Two practical consequences are worth knowing. Fast boats to Nusa Penida and Nusa Lembongan are cancelled when the sea is rough, which is more likely now than in August, so do not put an island day on your last full day. And the roads in the south flood in places during a heavy downpour, which turns an hour’s drive into two. Our Bali weather guide covers the seasons across the year, and when to visit sets December against the other months for crowds as well as rain.
Where to base yourself in December
The month tilts the answer south. The highlands catch more cloud and rain than the lowlands in every month of the year, and the gap is at its widest in the wet season, so a December week built around Munduk or Kintamani spends more of itself indoors and under cloud than the same week in July would. Both are still worth a night; neither is the base for the trip.
Sanur is the December pick if you want to swim. A reef takes the force out of the sea there, so the water stays calm when the west coast is churned up, and the flat seafront path is walkable between showers. Jimbaran and the Bukit are the other sensible bases, close to the airport and on the drier end of the island. Ubud works too, with the caveat that it is wetter than the coast and that the terraces you came for are best seen early.
The full comparison, with what the transfer from the airport costs to each, is on our where to stay in Bali page.
What December is good for
The rain is why the island looks the way it does in photographs. December is the green month: the rice terraces at Tegallalang are at their most vivid, and the waterfalls that are a trickle in September are running properly. If your reason for coming is the landscape rather than the beach, December flatters it.
Surfers should move east. From November to March the winds swing round and the Bukit reefs that define Bali's reputation turn messy, while Keramas on the east coast and the reefs off Nusa Lembongan come into their own. Our surfing guide has the seasonal switch in full. If you specifically came to surf Uluwatu, December is the wrong month and no amount of planning fixes that.
And the first three weeks are the quiet ones. Sites that are shoulder-to-shoulder in August are walkable, the drive north actually takes the time the map says, and a table at the good places is a matter of turning up. That window closes hard around the 20th.
Every month of the Bali year, with its measured rainfall and what the average hides, is on Bali month by month.
Bali in December: common questions
What is the weather like in Bali in December?+
Warm, humid and wet. The southern lowlands average 257mm of rain across the month, which is the second-highest figure of the year behind January at 284mm, and about 7.1 times what falls in August. Daytime highs sit at 31C and nights at 25C, which is as warm as Bali's nights get. The rain usually arrives as a heavy afternoon or evening downpour rather than as all-day drizzle, so mornings are often bright.
Is December a good time to visit Bali?+
It depends entirely on which part of December. The first three weeks are among the quietest and best-value of the year, with wet-season rain as the price. The last week, from roughly the 20th to the 2nd of January, is the busiest and most expensive period on the island alongside July and August, with the same rain. If your dates are flexible, the first half of the month is a very different trip from the last.
Does it rain all day in Bali in December?+
Rarely. The wet-season pattern is a warm, often sunny morning followed by a heavy downpour in the afternoon or evening that clears within an hour or two, though longer wet spells do happen. Plan outdoor things for the morning, keep the afternoons loose, and December stops being a problem. Our weather page covers the pattern across the whole year.
How hot is Bali in December?+
About 31C by day and 25C at night in the south, which is within a degree of most other months. Bali's daily maximum moves only 2.4C across the entire year, so the month you pick barely changes the heat. What it changes is the rain and the crowds. The highlands around Ubud, Munduk and Kintamani are several degrees cooler than these coastal figures at any time of year.
Where should you stay in Bali in December?+
The southern coast and the Bukit peninsula, rather than the highlands. The mountains catch more cloud and rain than the lowlands in every month and noticeably so in the wet season, so a December week built around Munduk or Kintamani spends more of itself indoors. Sanur, Jimbaran and the Bukit are the practical bases, and Sanur has the added advantage of calm, reef-protected water when the west coast is churned up.
Can you surf in Bali in December?+
Yes, but on the other coast. From November to March the winds swing round, the west-coast reefs of the Bukit turn messy, and the east coast comes into its own: Keramas and the reefs off Nusa Lembongan are the December breaks. If you have come to surf Uluwatu specifically, December is the wrong month for it.
How far ahead should you book for Christmas in Bali?+
Well ahead. Christmas and New Year is one of the two peaks in the Bali year, and it stacks the northern-hemisphere holidays on top of the Australian summer school holidays, so flights, the better rooms and the popular restaurants all go early. The three weeks before it are a different market entirely and need much less planning.