Best Time to Visit in Jakarta
Part of the Jakarta travel guide — see every topic in All Jakarta Guides.
Jakarta sits six degrees south of the equator at sea level and is hot and humid every day of the year — highs of 31–33°C and lows around 24°C, with humidity above seventy-five per cent. What changes is rain and, more importantly for a visitor, the calendar. The wet season from November to March brings genuine flooding, and the days around Idul Fitri see millions of people leave the city at once, which transforms it in a way no weather does.
The seasons
The wet season runs roughly November to March, peaking in January and February, and Jakarta's rain is not incidental: large parts of the city sit at or below sea level and are subsiding, drainage is overwhelmed, and serious flooding occurs most years, closing roads and occasionally displacing tens of thousands of people. The dry season, May to September, is hot, dusty and reliable. April and October are transitional. If you have a choice, come in the dry season and specifically avoid January and February.
Idul Fitri and the exodus
At the end of Ramadan, mudik — the annual return to home villages — empties Jakarta of several million people over about a week, in what is regularly described as the largest annual human migration on earth. Roads, trains, buses, ferries and flights are booked solid and prices multiply. Then, for a few extraordinary days, Jakarta becomes quiet: no traffic, empty malls, half the restaurants closed. It is a genuinely remarkable thing to witness and a very bad week to try to travel anywhere in Indonesia.
Air quality
Jakarta's air is poor for much of the year and on bad days ranks among the worst of any major city, driven by traffic, coal power and regional burning. It is generally worse in the dry season, when there is no rain to clear it, and better after a downpour. Anyone with asthma or a respiratory condition should check an air quality index before planning outdoor time, and a mask is not an unreasonable thing to carry. It is one of the genuine costs of visiting.
Choosing
For weather: May to September, accepting worse air. For fewest crowds and lowest prices: the wet season, accepting rain and flood risk. For the city at its most interesting: any Sunday, for Car-Free Day, and Chinese New Year in Glodok. Avoid: January and February for flooding, and the week either side of Idul Fitri for travel, though the city itself is fascinating then. Jakarta is a two-to-three-day city for most itineraries, so the calendar matters more than the season.
Best Time to Visit at a glance
| Temperature | 31–33°C day, ~24°C night, year-round |
|---|---|
| Wet season | November–March; serious flooding in Jan–Feb |
| Dry season | May–September — hot and dusty, worse air |
| The exodus | Idul Fitri mudik — the city empties, travel is impossible |
| Air quality | Poor much of the year — check an index |
| Best single day | Any Sunday, for Car-Free Day |