Updated August 2026
Bali weather in August
The best month of the year for anything underwater, and the worst for anything with a queue. August gives with one hand and charges with the other.
August is the driest month on Bali, around 30 mm over two or three days, with nine hours of sun and the lightest humidity of the year. The sea is calm, the sky is reliable and the volcanoes are visible.
Its real distinction is underneath. Five months without river runoff give August the clearest water of the year, commonly thirty metres around the Nusa islands. On land it is the busiest and most expensive month, tied with July, and the two facts belong in the same sentence.
August 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
- 29 to 30 °C84 to 86 °F, mild and dry
- Night
- 23 °C73 °F, the coolest of the year
- Sea
- 27 °C81 °F, cool around the Nusa islands
- Rain
- About 30 mmtwo or three days with rain on them
- Sun
- 9 haverage per day, the year's high
- Humidity
- About 75 %the lightest air of the year
Is August a good time to visit Bali
The best month underwater
If the trip is about the sea, August is the answer. Visibility at Manta Point and Crystal Bay is at its yearly best, the mola mola season is running, and no crossing gets cancelled. Nothing else on the calendar competes.
If the trip is about the island, August is the hardest month to enjoy. Peak prices, rooms gone months ahead, and every famous site full from mid morning. If August is fixed for you, weight the days towards the water and towards the first two hours after opening.
Is August right for your trip
August is the most lopsided month on the calendar. Five out of five under the water, one out of five on the budget, and everything else falls between.
Diving in August
The clearest water of the year
The best month for this
Commonly thirty metres at Crystal Bay, against ten or twelve in February, and the mola mola season is at its most reliable. The manta stations are excellent. Two things to plan for: the boat traffic at every mooring from mid morning, and water that runs cold enough to want a full wetsuit.
Manta Point and what you actually see thereSurfing in August
Peak season, peak crowd
The best month for this
The trade winds hold, the swell is consistent and the Bukit reefs work every morning. August line ups are the most crowded of the year and the swell is still large enough to rule out beginners at the famous reefs. Dawn is not early enough at Uluwatu in August.
Families in August
Reliable, if booked early
Fine month for this
Perfect weather for children and the toughest logistics of the year. Family rooms go four to six months ahead and the queues land exactly where you were taking them. A snorkel trip is the best value day of an August week, because the thing August is best at happens to be the thing children like most.
What a Nusa Penida day trip really involvesCouples in August
Expensive and shared
Poor month for this
Cool nights and dry evenings are genuinely lovely, and everything else works against a trip for two. Quiet is the one thing August cannot sell you at any price. The east and north of the island stay calmer than the south, and Tirta Gangga before nine is still a private place.
Budget in August
The year's worst value
Avoid month for this
Peak on every line at once, and rooms are hard to find late at any price. The same place that costs a certain amount in February costs more than double now. September delivers most of August's conditions for a fraction less from the second week, which is the single most useful thing this page can tell a budget traveller.
Waterfalls in August
Low, and queued
Poor month for this
Five months into the dry season the smaller falls are thin, and the ones worth photographing have a line for the rock. Tegenungan is a fraction of its February self. The pools are clear and swimmable, which the wet season never allows, and the north coast falls still carry proper volume.
The waterfall guide, month by monthFirst time in August
Safe, and you will queue
Fine month for this
Nothing about the weather will catch you out, which matters on a first trip. What will catch you out is that the postcard version of every site exists only before nine in the morning in August. Build the itinerary around opening times rather than around distances.
August is not one month
August is peak throughout, so no window is cheap. What breaks the month up is a fixed date: 17 August, Indonesian Independence Day, which changes the character of a few days around it.
1 to 16 August
Northern summer at full volume
17 August
Independence Day
18 to 31 August
The peak holds
What August does badly
Perfect weather, shared
The photograph that sold you the place was taken at seven in the morning. This is the same spot at eleven in August, and it is what most visitors actually see.
Everything that is not the sea. August has flawless weather and the worst version of every famous site on the island. Queues, full car parks, and a photograph that requires either an alarm at five or a compromise. The weather page you are reading cannot fix that, and it is the thing people remember.
The second is availability rather than price. Good rooms disappear four to six months out and the first departures on popular tours go with them. August punishes late planning harder than any other month, and the penalty is not money, it is being stuck with the eleven o'clock boat to Nusa Penida.
Third, the wind. August has the strongest trade winds of the year, which is what gives you the visibility and also gives the east coast a persistent afternoon chop.
Booking around August
August is the month where booking early is the whole strategy. The first departures sell out first, and in August the first departure is the difference between the site you came for and a car park.
The clearest water of the year
Free cancellationBali day tours and island boat trips
- ✓The best underwater visibility of the year, commonly thirty metres at Crystal Bay
- ✓Mola mola season is at its most reliable around the Nusa islands
- ✓Pre dawn departures, the only version of an August trip that beats the crowd
- ✓Free cancellation on most listings, worth having when you book six months out
Affiliate link. Booking through GetYourGuide costs you nothing extra and supports the guide. Prices are indicative and vary by option and season.
Bali in August: common questions
Temperature, rain, the sea, crowds and what to wear.
Is August a good time to go to Bali?
Is August the driest month in Bali?
How hot is Bali in August?
When is the sea clearest in Bali for snorkelling?
How far in advance should I book Bali for August?
What happens in Bali on 17 August?
Read next
Bali weather month by month
All twelve months in one table, and what the two seasons really change.
Manta Point, Nusa Penida
The site August is best for, and what thirty metres of visibility actually gives you.
Nusa Penida day trips
Why the first departure is the only one worth taking in peak season.
Tirta Gangga water palace
Still a private place before nine, even at the height of August.
Best under the water, hardest above it
August rewards the days you spend at sea and punishes the ones you spend queueing. These guides say what each place is really like and the hour that changes what you see.