Discover the best time of year, based on historical climate, temperature, and precipitation.
The best weather in Makassar is from July, August, September. — consistent weather climate
🌡Hot & dry
| Score | 39 | 39 | 39 | 45 | 50 | 56 | 74 | 83 | 79 | 64 | 47 | 38 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Climate | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & dry | Hot & dry | Hot & dry | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy |
| Temperature | 25–28°C | 24–28°C | 24–29°C | 25–29°C | 25–30°C | 24–29°C | 23–29°C | 23–31°C | 24–31°C | 25–31°C | 25–30°C | 25–29°C |
| Feels like | 29–34°C | 29–34°C | 29–35°C | 30–36°C | 30–36°C | 29–35°C | 28–35°C | 27–35°C | 28–36°C | 29–37°C | 30–36°C | 29–35°C |
| Precipitation | 463mm 30 days | 374mm 30 days | 292mm 30 days | 238mm 22 days | 185mm 16 days | 175mm 14 days | 80mm 9 days | 36mm 5 days | 54mm 6 days | 111mm 11 days | 214mm 22 days | 431mm 30 days |
| Sunshine | 4.6h ☀︎ 37% | 4.8h ☀︎ 39% | 5.8h ☀︎ 48% | 7.2h ☀︎ 60% | 9.4h ☀︎ 79% | 9.6h ☀︎ 82% | 11.0h ☀︎ 93% | 11.6h ☀︎ 97% | 11.5h ☀︎ 95% | 10.5h ☀︎ 86% | 7.4h ☀︎ 60% | 4.7h ☀︎ 38% |
| Wind | N · 14 km/h | N · 14 km/h | N · 12 km/h | NE · 11 km/h | S · 11 km/h | S · 11 km/h | SW · 12 km/h | SW · 16 km/h | SW · 17 km/h | SW · 16 km/h | N · 13 km/h | N · 13 km/h |
| Humidity (%) | 88% | 87% | 87% | 86% | 85% | 84% | 81% | 73% | 71% | 75% | 83% | 87% |
| Day length | 12.4h | 12.3h | 12.1h | 12.0h | 11.9h | 11.8h | 11.9h | 11.9h | 12.1h | 12.2h | 12.3h | 12.4h |
This lively city festival takes over the Losari Beach waterfront with food stalls, live music, fashion shows, and firewo…
Conventional advice points straight to August for Makassar, but July is the smarter arrival: you get the sudden relief of dry, sunny skies over the Makassar Strait before the city hits peak domestic gridlock.
For centuries, Makassar has faced outward toward the sea, a bustling eastern Indonesian gateway shaped by spice traders, Bugis sailors, and the warm, salty air of the Makassar Strait. Most travelers know it as a transit hub on the way to the highlands of Tana Toraja, but treating it solely as an airport runway misses the maritime hum of a historic port. The rhythms of life here are dictated strictly by the monsoon. When the rains break, the city spills onto the waterfront promenade to eat grilled seafood and watch the red sun slip beneath the horizon. When the monsoon settles in, life retreats indoors under unrelenting downpours.
Standard climate tables point to August as Makassar's absolute meteorological peak, but July is where the real traveler's advantage lies. July marks the definitive collapse of the long wet season. The skies over the Makassar Strait abruptly clear, delivering eleven hours of bright daily sunshine, while the punishing coastal humidity eases just enough for the waterfront to become genuinely inviting.
Crucially, you beat the absolute apex of domestic tourism. In July, you can explore the stone ramparts of Fort Rotterdam or stroll the docks at Paotere harbour without competing against the massed crowds of late summer. The city feels energetic rather than congested, offering all the benefits of the dry season before August turns the urban volume to maximum.
By August, Makassar reaches its maximum density. The weather is bone-dry and reliably sunny, but the city runs at full throttle. Crowds peak alongside the F8 Makassar Festival, which completely takes over the Losari Beach waterfront with food stalls, live stages, and evening spectacles. The atmosphere along the promenade is exhilarating if you want to immerse yourself in South Sulawesi street culture and seaside dining, but navigating the coastal strip requires patience.
September continues this golden run of weather. The ocean breeze keeps the waterfront bearable, though midday heat radiates heavily off the asphalt. If you visit now, adjust your routine to the local cadence: seek shade or air conditioning through the blazing midday hours, and emerge around five in the afternoon when Losari Beach comes alive with cooling sea breezes, vendors, and vibrant sunset crowds.
October brings a noticeable shift in atmospheric pressure. The deep dry spell breaks, humidity surges back to oppressive levels, and brief, sharp showers begin to interrupt the late afternoons. It is the hottest-feeling stretch of the year; walking anywhere before twilight feels like wading through warm broth.
November sees a peculiar and counterintuitive spike in visitors despite rapidly deteriorating weather. Rain intensity ramps up significantly, yet domestic travel surges. Visiting in November means getting caught between two worlds: heavy, plan-disrupting cloudbursts rolling off the sea and crowded thoroughfares. Unless your schedule demands it, this is a month to bypass.
The winter monsoon is not a gentle affair in South Sulawesi. From December through March, torrential storms sweep off the sea, dumping immense sheets of water across the coastal plain. Roads flood easily, low-lying alleys back up, and the sun rarely breaks through the grey overcast for more than a few hours a day.
December and January represent the absolute nadir for sightseeing. The waters off Losari Beach turn churned and grey, and the wooden schooners docked at Paotere harbour creak under ceaseless rain. Curiously, visitor numbers in December remain high due to nationwide holiday travel, meaning you will face wet-weather disruptions alongside crowded terminals. If you must pass through in these months, treat Makassar purely as an overnight staging ground and head inland.
The retreat of the wet season is a slow, lingering process. April and May are marked by high heat and patchy rain; the downpours are no longer daily deluges, but sudden afternoon cloudbursts still occur with regularity. Sunshine hours gradually climb, yet the lingering moisture keeps the apparent temperature stifling throughout the day.
June begins to show real promise. Rain drops to manageable levels and the sky opens up, offering warm, breezy evenings by the sea. Crowds start building again toward the school break, but the atmosphere remains relaxed. If you cannot make July, late June serves as the first viable window to experience the coastal city at its unhurried best.