People ask me what the weather will be like, and the honest answer is that it doesn't matter as much as they think. Nothing here is cancelled by rain. Things are just better or worse at different hours, and the trick is knowing which hours.
So: the five days you'll actually get, and what each one is for.
26–28° and clear
Ayung River raftingUbud
Half a day, and the drive up is the good part of the drive.
The Jungle ClubUbud
Somewhere to land afterwards that isn't a beach club.
Bambu Indah's river warungUbud
Lunch that turns into the afternoon, which is the intended outcome.
The rarest and the most wasted. It's cool enough to be outside all day, so people fill it with driving. Don't. This is the day for the thing that takes hours: the boat, the far beach, the long lunch that turns into the afternoon. Go early and stay put.
29–31° and humid
Luna MassagePererenan
The middle of the day, solved. Book it before you need it.
MonsoonCanggu
A long lunch worth sitting through the heat for.
nüdeCanggu
Early coffee, before the eleven o'clock cut-off.
The standard-issue Bali day, and the one to structure properly. Everything outdoors happens before eleven or after four. The middle five hours belong to a pool, a long lunch somewhere with a fan, or a massage. If you fight that you'll spend the evening exhausted and cross.
Nobody's holiday was ever ruined by rain. Plenty have been ruined by scheduling a temple at one in the afternoon.
32° and up
Moonstone Beach LoungeSukawati
Sea, shade and somewhere to put a drink down.
PADAMARA cooking classSidemen
The hike I'd move you to. Cool kitchen, better story.
UdaraCemagi
Yoga and a pool, twenty minutes from Pererenan.
Sea or shade, and I mean that literally. This is the day I move things: a hike becomes a boat, a market becomes a cooking class in a cool kitchen. Guests who insist on the original plan on a day like this are the ones who spend the next day in bed.
Rain in the afternoon
BonnieUbud
Book it for four and let the rain happen around you.
Falala ChocolateKuta
An hour indoors that children will actually thank you for.
The ArkPererenan
Sauna and cold plunge while it passes over.
Which is most of the wet season, and it's almost always a two-hour event, not a day. Take the morning seriously, book something indoors and good for four o'clock, and watch it from a veranda with a drink. The light after it stops is the best light you'll get all trip.
Rain that sets in
Begawan BijiPayangan
The farm-table lunch you couldn't get into in dry season.
Whisper CoveUbud
A bar with a roof and no reason to leave.
Yama BalianSelemadeg
Far enough that a wet day is the excuse to finally go.
A handful of days a year. This is the one people dread and I quietly like: the spa is empty, the restaurant you couldn't get into has tables, and the island stops performing for a day. I'd rather you had one of these than a fifth identical beach afternoon, and if you get one I'll rearrange around it before you've asked.
Planning something like this?
Tell me the dates and roughly how you like to travel, and I'll tell you honestly what I'd do with them.