Climate and average weather in Bengkulu

In Bengkulu, the weather is oppressive, hot, wet, and mostly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near hot levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around November.

Best: mid May to late October

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Bengkulu typically varies from 24°C to 30°C, and is rarely below 23°C or above 31°C. May is the hottest month of the year, while December is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Bengkulu for warm-weather activities is from mid May to late October.

Hottest
May
30°
Coldest
Dec
24°
Wettest
Nov
348 mm
Driest
Jul
159 mm
Rain / yr
2853 mm
275 wet days
Daylight
11.8–12.2 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
19 m
3.8°S
Clearest
Jun
68% cloud

Bengkulu is city in Bengkulu Province, Indonesia.

Density
2,619/km²
people per km²
Founded
1719

Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.

Bengkulu weather by month, at a glance

The whole year in one picture — sky, rain, humidity, temperature and travel score. Click any band to jump to its full chart.

Each stripe is one measure across the whole year, stacked so a single day reads top to bottom. The sky band runs overcast grey on top down to clear blue at the base — more blue means sunnier — followed by the rainfall curve, the humidity band, a temperature strip that tints each stretch of the year by how warm its average high is, and the travel-score line at the foot. Scan straight down any date to read that day across every measure at once; the score climbs highest around mid May to late October.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Bengkulu, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.

Temperatures in Bengkulu stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is May, with an average high of 30°C and low of 25°C; the coolest is December, with an average low of 24°C and high of 28°C.

Days typically run about 4°C warmer than nights year-round.

20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2924
Feb2925
Mar2925
Apr2925
May3025
Jun2925
Jul2924
Aug2924
Sep2924
Oct2824
Nov2824
Dec2824

How hot and cold Bengkulu really feels

Feels-like highFeels-like lowactual air temp

The felt-temperature range through the year — heat index on the day's high (summer humidity), wind chill on the night's low (winter wind). The dashed lines are the plain thermometer; the gap is how much hotter or colder it really feels.

On the hottest afternoons, once humidity is folded in, Bengkulu feels like about 35°C (around May 18). About 232 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in May.

20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan32292424
Feb33292525
Mar34292525
Apr34292525
May35302525
Jun34292525
Jul33292424
Aug32292424
Sep32292424
Oct32282424
Nov32282424
Dec32282424

Average hourly temperature in Bengkulu

A compact picture of the whole year, hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled average temperature. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

Read left to right for the day of the year and top to bottom for the hour of the day; the color is the modeled temperature, cool blues through to hot reds on the same scale as the other charts. A vertical slice is a single day's swing — coolest just before dawn, warmest in the mid-afternoon — while a horizontal slice follows one hour across the seasons. The darker overlay marks night and the lighter one the twilight around sunrise and sunset. Colors run warmest on May afternoons, near 30°C, and coldest before dawn in December, near 24°C.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM

Bengkulu weather by month

Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan29° / 24°2842612.23.4
Feb29° / 25°24621.912.13.5
Mar29° / 25°24424123.4
Apr29° / 25°23524.811.93.3
May30° / 25°2092311.83.5
Jun29° / 25°1601911.84.0
Jul29° / 24°15919.211.84.3
Aug29° / 24°18818.911.94.4
Sep29° / 24°19720.5124.1
Oct28° / 24°25523.912.13.7
Nov28° / 24°34827.212.23.2
Dec28° / 24°32826.612.23.4

Chance of rain

How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.

Bengkulu gets about 2853 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is very wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 6.9 months, from around Oct 11 to May 7, peaking in November at about 92% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Aug 3.

November is the wettest month by volume, with 348 mm over about 27 wet days; July is the driest, with 159 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetNov 23 · 92%Aug 3 · 57%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan8326
Feb7822
Mar7824
Apr8325
May7423
Jun6419
Jul6119
Aug6119
Sep6821
Oct7824
Nov9027
Dec8727

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Bengkulu collects about 2853 mm of rain across 275 wet days — roughly 238 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. November is the wettest month with 348 mm, while July is the driest at just 159 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 34% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350400JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec284246244235209160159188197255348328
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan28426
Feb24622
Mar24424
Apr23525
May20923
Jun16019
Jul15919
Aug18819
Sep19721
Oct25524
Nov34827
Dec32827

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.

In Bengkulu, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows significant seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around May 5 and lasts for 5.1 months, ending around October 6. The clearest month is June, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 37% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around October 7 and lasts for 6.9 months, ending around May 4. The cloudiest month is December, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 97% of the time.

0%100%10%90%20%80%30%70%40%60%50%50%60%40%70%30%80%20%90%10%100%0%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJun 21 · 41%Dec 11 · 1%mostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan892
Feb991
Mar1189
Apr1288
May2575
Jun3763
Jul3565
Aug3367
Sep2476
Oct1486
Nov595
Dec397

Daylight, sunrise and sunset

DaylightNight

Hours of daylight through the year, with sunrise and sunset times.

The gold band is daylight — sunrise runs along its lower edge, sunset along the upper — so it widens toward summer and pinches toward winter, with night the dark area above and below. Close to the equator, Bengkulu barely changes through the year: days stay near 12 h 12 min of light in every season.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan12.26:146:26
Feb12.16:226:29
Mar12.06:206:21
Apr11.96:146:09
May11.86:126:02
Jun11.86:186:05
Jul11.86:236:11
Aug11.96:196:11
Sep12.06:066:05
Oct12.15:535:59
Nov12.25:516:01
Dec12.26:016:14

Sunny days

How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.

Bengkulu averages about 2 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 6 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.6 months, from around May 5 to Sep 22. The sunniest month is June, with roughly 6 sunny days (gloomy).

The greyest month is December, down near 0 sunny days — about 97% fewer than the June peak.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedJun 226 daysDec 100 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan1Gloomy
Feb1Gloomy
Mar1Gloomy
Apr1Gloomy
May3Gloomy
Jun5Gloomy
Jul5Gloomy
Aug4Gloomy
Sep2Gloomy
Oct1Gloomy
Nov0Gloomy
Dec0Gloomy

Humidity comfort

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Share of days at each humidity comfort level, based on the dew point — the measure that tracks how muggy it actually feels.

Humidity comfort is graded by the dew point — the temperature at which the air would be fully saturated — because it tracks how muggy it actually feels far better than relative humidity does. A low dew point feels dry and crisp; a high one feels sticky and oppressive no matter the reading on a humidity gauge.

Bengkulu is humid all year round — on a typical day the air feels at least humid, and there is no real dry season to wait for.

The stickiest month is January, when it feels muggy, oppressive or miserable about 100% of the time. Even in January, the mildest month, the air is dry or comfortable only 0% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecmiserableoppressive
Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan28316
Feb27722
Mar16831
Apr05545
May04060
Jun06535
Jul08911
Aug3908
Sep1909
Oct08614
Nov08218
Dec08514

Wind

Average wind speed through the year, banded into plain-language speed zones so a number reads as 'breezy' or 'calm' without knowing the scale.

This is the average sustained wind speed at the standard 10 metres above open ground — the steady flow a weather station reports, not the sharper gusts that come and go, which can run half again as fast. It's the number that says whether a place is generally breezy or calm.

Wind in Bengkulu is steady company: average speeds sit near 7 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeSep 14 · 8 km/hMay 2 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan7calm
Feb7calm
Mar7calm
Apr6calm
May5calm
Jun6calm
Jul7calm
Aug8calm
Sep8calm
Oct7calm
Nov7calm
Dec8calm

Best time to visit Bengkulu

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Bengkulu throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.

Around mid October, Bengkulu is still near the tail of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds already thinning.

Inferred from the travel-score curve; month-by-month visitor numbers are a planned addition.

The travel score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 18°C and 28°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Bengkulu for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid May to late October, with a peak score in the first week of August.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationAug 1 · 4.5

The travel score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

Travel score (0–10)Rating
Jan3.4poor
Feb3.5poor
Mar3.4poor
Apr3.3poor
May3.5fair
Jun4.0fair
Jul4.3fair
Aug4.4fair
Sep4.1fair
Oct3.7fair
Nov3.3poor
Dec3.4poor

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best times of year to visit Bengkulu for hot-weather activities run from late February to mid March and again from early May to mid October, with a peak score in the first week of August.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationAug 3 · 5.7

The beach/pool score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

What to pack for Bengkulu, by month

EssentialRecommendedOptional

Month by month, what's worth putting in the bag — from the temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind. Tap a month for a quick packing note.

Bengkulu packs about the same all year — highs hold near 30°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In May, Bengkulu sees daytime highs around 30°C and nights near 25°C. Pack light clothes and rain gear. Worth having: sun protection. About 23 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Bengkulu

Average ocean temperature at the nearest coast, month by month, banded into swim-comfort zones — the other half of the beach question.

The sea at the nearest coast (about 18 km away) is warmest in May at about 30°C and coldest in September near 28°C.

The water stays above 20°C all year — warm enough for a swim any month.

26°28°30°32°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwarmtropicalcomfortable to swim
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan29Tropical
Feb29Tropical
Mar30Tropical
Apr30Tropical
May30Tropical
Jun30Tropical
Jul29Tropical
Aug29Tropical
Sep28Tropical
Oct28Tropical
Nov29Tropical
Dec29Tropical

UV index (midday) in Bengkulu by month

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV index through the year, shaded by the WHO exposure levels — how much sun protection each month calls for.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Bengkulu peaks around February 19 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near July 15 at about 9 (very high).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — every month of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highExtremeFeb 19UV 15Jul 15UV 9
UV index (midday)Level
Jan14Extreme
Feb15Extreme
Mar15Extreme
Apr14Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun10Extreme
Jul9Very high
Aug11Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct14Extreme
Nov10Extreme
Dec13Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Bengkulu

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Modeled clear-sky UV for every hour of every day — when in the day sun protection actually matters.

The whole year hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled clear-sky UV index — the midday peak scaled down as the sun sits lower in the sky. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

UV falls off far faster than brightness as the sun drops, so even in February the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8.5 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 6.5 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM
UV ≥ 3 (h/day)UV ≥ 6 (h/day)
Jan86.5
Feb8.56.5
Mar86.5
Apr86.5
May7.55.5
Jun7.55
Jul75
Aug7.55.5
Sep86
Oct86.5
Nov7.55.5
Dec86

Air quality in Bengkulu by month

GoodModeratePoorUnhealthyVery unhealthy

Average fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) through the year — so you can see which months the air is worst, not just the yearly average.

Air quality in Bengkulu is worst in September — around 19 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 1.7× the cleanest month (January, 11 µg/m³).

Modeled monthly averages (CAMS reanalysis, 2015–2024).

0102030JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateGoodSep 2319 µg/m³Jan 1411 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan11Good
Feb11Good
Mar11Good
Apr11Good
May14Moderate
Jun14Moderate
Jul15Moderate
Aug17Moderate
Sep19Moderate
Oct19Moderate
Nov13Moderate
Dec11Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Bengkulu is frost-free year round — even the coldest nights rarely reach freezing, so there is no start or end to the growing season.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecfrost-free year round
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov1000
Dec1000

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 10°C)Frost-free shaded

Growing degree days tally heat above 10°C: each day adds however many degrees its average temperature runs over that threshold, and cold days add nothing. Bengkulu banks about 6,066 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around May.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan511
Feb468
Mar525
Apr512
May536
Jun511
Jul513
Aug507
Sep488
Oct503
Nov489
Dec504

Solar energy

Average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground, banded into brightness zones so the number means something at a glance.

Solar energy is how much sunlight actually reaches the ground each day, measured in kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) — the combined effect of how long the sun is up, how high it climbs, and how much cloud gets in the way. It's the raw fuel a solar panel has to work with: for scale, 1 kWh/m² a day is dim and wintry, while 7+ is desert-bright.

Bengkulu receives about 5.1 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 4.5 and 5.6 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightintenseSep 175.6 kWhDec 74.5 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.0Bright
Feb5.3Bright
Mar5.3Bright
Apr5.1Bright
May5.1Bright
Jun5.0Bright
Jul5.1Bright
Aug5.4Bright
Sep5.6Bright
Oct5.3Bright
Nov4.7Bright
Dec4.6Bright

Where is Bengkulu?

Bengkulu sits at 3.8°S, 102.3°E, 19 m above sea level, in Indonesia. The nearest listed city is Curup, 46 km away.

Topography around Bengkulu

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of Bengkulu.

Within 3 km, the terrain around Bengkulu has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 23 m around an average of 6 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 120 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,456 m.

The land around Bengkulu is covered by water (41%) and artificial surfaces (38%) within 3 km, water (51%) and trees (40%) within 16 km, and trees (64%) and water (34%) within 80 km.

3 km
23 m
16 km
120 m
80 km
2,456 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Curup 46 km · Lubuklinggau 87 km · Pagar Alam 112 km · Lahat 142 km · Tanjungagung 171 km · Baturaja 214 km · Sungai Penuh 217 km · Prabumulih 222 km

Indonesia travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type C / F
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 29% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$5,060
2025
Happiness
5.6 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
30%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
0.3
per 100k, 2022
Road deaths
11.3
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Upper middle
World Bank
English
Low
EF EPI 471
Religion
Muslim 87%Protestant 8%Roman Catholic 3%Hindu 2%

Sources: World Bank, US State Department, World Happiness Report, WHO/UNICEF, EF EPI, CIA World Factbook.

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for Bengkulu (-3.8004°, 102.2655°, elevation 19 m), computed from hourly ERA5 reanalysis — contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Sun figures are astronomical calculations, not observations. City data © GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain); interactive map © Google. Sea temperatures are the NOAA OISST v2.1 1991–2020 monthly climatology (public domain), sampled at the nearest ocean point. UV index is derived from CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) clear-sky UV data — contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information. Monthly air-quality (PM2.5) seasonality is from the CAMS EAC4 reanalysis (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service), scaled to the WHO annual mean where available. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).