April is the first month of the Bali dry season and, on the balance of what actually matters to a trip, the best one. Rainfall collapses to around 90 mm over eight days, the sea settles for the island crossings, and eight hours of sun come back.
What makes April unusual is that it holds the good parts of both seasons at once. The landscape is still soaked green from five months of rain, the waterfalls still carry volume, and neither the crowds nor the high season rates have turned up. If you can pick your dates freely, pick these.
On this page
April in figures
Orders of magnitude measured on the south coast, which is where every published average for Bali comes from. Ubud runs wetter and cooler at night, and above a thousand metres none of it applies.
| Day | 31 °C | 88 °F, the year's joint warmest |
|---|---|---|
| Night | 24 °C | 75 °F, still soft |
| Sea | 29 °C | 84 °F, warm and clearing |
| Rain | About 90 mm | roughly eight days with rain on them |
| Sun | 8 h | average per day, back to dry season levels |
| Humidity | About 80 % | dropping week by week |
Is April a good time to visit Bali
The best month of the year
April is the answer to the question most people are actually asking. It sits in the gap between the rain leaving and the crowds arriving, which is the only window where the weather, the prices and the number of people at each site all point the same way.
Compared with July, you give up a small amount of certainty on any given afternoon and you get back walkable sites, rooms at a third less, and a landscape that is still green rather than dusty. That is not a close trade.
Is April right for your trip
April is the rare month with no bad answer. It scores four or five for every kind of trip, which no other month on the calendar manages, and it is the only month where the waterfalls and the diving are both good.
Diving in April: Good, and getting better
Strong month for this. The crossings run most days and visibility climbs through the month as the runoff stops, usually reaching eighteen to twenty five metres by late April. The manta cleaning stations are calm and far less busy than they will be in August. Mola mola season has not started, which is the only thing September and October have that April does not.
Manta Point and what you actually see there
Surfing in April: The season opens, empty
Strong month for this. The south west swell starts filling in and the trade winds turn offshore on the Bukit, so Uluwatu and Padang Padang come back online. The crowd does not arrive until June. Swell is less consistent than in July and the line ups are a fraction of the size, which for most surfers is the better deal.
Families in April: Excellent, and affordable
Strong month for this. Reliable enough weather to plan beach days, sites quiet enough to enjoy with children, and shoulder season rates rather than July ones. Easter can land in April and lifts prices for a fortnight, so check that against your dates. Outside it, this is the best family month of the year.
What a Nusa Penida day trip really involves
Couples in April: The pick of the calendar
The best month for this. Green landscape, dry evenings, warm sea and famous places you can actually be alone in. The clifftop and valley hotels are at shoulder rates, which puts places out of reach in July within reach now. Tirta Gangga on an April morning is close to empty.
Budget in April: The best value of the year
The best month for this. February is cheaper in absolute terms. April is better value, which is a different thing. You pay shoulder rates, well below June, for weather that is nearly as good as July's. Nothing else on the calendar gives you that ratio, and it is why this page argues for April rather than describing it.
Waterfalls in April: The one month that has both
The best month for this. April is the only month where the falls carry serious volume and the water is clear enough to swim in. Five months of rain are still draining through the catchments and the silt has settled. Tukad Cepung and Tibumana are at their best now, not in August.
The waterfall guide, month by month
First time in April: The month to pick
The best month for this. If it is a first trip and the dates are yours to choose, choose April. Everything is open, nothing gets cancelled, the sites are quiet enough that arriving at ten does not ruin them, and the money goes further. There is no argument for July over April unless school holidays make the decision for you.
The Gates of Heaven, and the queue nobody warns you about
April is not one month
April has no crowd calendar of its own. What splits it is the changeover date, which is not a date at all, and Easter, which moves and which lifts prices for about a fortnight when it lands here.
1 to 15 April: The season is still settling
The first fortnight can still throw a wet season week, because the changeover is not a fixed date and it shifts a little every year. The upside is that it is greener and cheaper than the second half, and the falls are still running hard.
16 to 30 April: Settled, and still quiet
By the second half the dry season is properly established: settled sea, reliable mornings, clear evenings. Rates have not moved yet and the crowd is still two months away. This is the single best fortnight on the Bali calendar for a trip with free dates.
What April does badly
Very little, which is the point of the month, but two things are honest to state. The first fortnight is a bet on the changeover. The wet season does not end on a date, it fades over a couple of weeks and the timing shifts each year. An early April trip occasionally gets a week that behaves like March.
The second is that April misses two things the late dry season has. The haze over the interior has not lifted yet, so the volcano views from Lempuyang and from the Batur rim are less reliable than they are from June onward. And the mola mola season has not started, so Crystal Bay is an ordinary good dive rather than a famous one.
Neither of those changes the verdict. They are the reasons April is not a five out of five for divers and photographers specifically.
Booking around April
April is the month where booking early buys you price rather than availability. Tours run with space on them and the good places are still gettable, but the rates start moving as soon as May does.
The month with the best odds
Free cancellationBali day tours and island boat trips
- ✓Crossings to the Nusa islands run most days from April onward
- ✓Waterfalls with volume and clear enough water to swim in, the only month with both
- ✓Shoulder pricing on tours and drivers, well below June
- ✓Free cancellation on most listings, which still matters in the first fortnight
Affiliate link. Booking through GetYourGuide costs you nothing extra and supports the guide. Prices are indicative and vary by option and season.
Bali in April: common questions
Temperature, rain, the sea, crowds and what to wear.
