When to go to Raja Ampat?

Is there a travel season to Raja Ampat? It is hard to say. The answer could be yes, and no! It depends on which criteria you base your choice, and the type of trip to Raja Ampat you wanna do. Either based on the weather forecast or on the rainy season, either you go for a cruise in Raja Ampat or you plan to stay in a secret guesthouse on-stilt in paradise, the best time to travel in the Raja Ampat archipelago could slightly change then.

What’s the weather forecast in Raja Ampat?

Raja Ampat is a tropical area and it is hot or "nice and warm" all year round, depending on personal perception. The air temperature is a comfortable 31C during the day and drops only slightly to an average of 25C at night. Jumping from the bungalow directly into the sea at night? Definitely! In the dark you don't need a bathing suit either.

When is the rainy season in Raja Ampat?

The year-round warm temperatures of the tropics also mean that it can rain on any day. There is no such thing as a travel time to Raja Ampat when you can completely rule out rain. However, most rains are short showers that dissipate quickly. Long periods of rain, with rainfall lasting for days, hardly ever occur.

So, is there a best time to travel to Raja Ampat?

In a nutshell, you can always travel to Raja Ampat. There is no best time to travel to Raja Ampat. Unlike many parts of Indonesia, there is no distinct rainy season in Raja Ampat. In addition, many of the islands in the Raja Ampat archipelago have their own microclimate, i.e. the annual averages recorded centrally in Sorong have little significance for an individual island.

When is the cruising season in Raja Ampat?

However, there is one small restriction if you want to cruise in Raja Ampat. In the period from June to August the sea is a bit rougher. If you want to travel in small boats, or are easily prone to seasickness, you may want to avoid these months. But again, this isn't a statement of law!

If you plan a diving cruise in Raja Ampat, it is possible to dive all year round. But the majority of the diving cruises in Raja Ampat are scheduled from October to June to allow the boats to offer Komodo dive cruises the rest of the year, as the diving season is from June to August in the Komodo archipelago.

So in conclusion, is there really no best time to travel to Raja Ampat?

During the period from October to April, the probability of rain is slightly lower than in the rest of the year. However, the rains are much heavier during this time. In other words, it rains less often from October to April, but if it does rain, it rains harder. This dilemma leads to the fact that we do not want to call this period the best time to travel. Especially since the differences are not very big and can vary considerably from island to island. In addition, Raja Ampat is not spared from climate change, which leads to the fact that the already not very meaningful measurements from Sorong loose even more of their predictive power.

Well, that was a lot of text for very little information. To conclude, we say: you can and should go to Raja Ampat at any time. Base your trip on your personal time schedule and not on weather forecasts.

Since you are interested in the best time to travel in Raja Ampat, are you possibly planning a trip there soon? Good for you! We would be happy to help you in planning your trip to Raja Ampat. We have been there many times, on land, underwater, on a boat, in a wooden house, and will be happy to answer your questions.