Bali’s Traffic Will Be Unavoidable This Christmas: Here’s What Tourists Need To Know 

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If you have ever traveled to Bali before, you know all too well how the island’s traffic can affect the flow of a vacation. If you’re visiting Bali for the first time in the coming weeks, brace yourself.

Here at The Bali Sun, we are experts at navigating Bali’s nightmare traffic and know how to keep moving even when traffic congestion is unavoidable. 

With the Christmas and New Year holidays just weeks away, Bali is preparing to welcome over one million tourists.

With the festive season a busy time for travel all around Indonesia, transportation and traffic units nationwide are putting operations into effect now to help ensure everyone keeps moving as the countdown to 2026 begins. 

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Sharing updates from Jakarta, the Traffic Corps (Korlantas) of the Indonesian National Police has confirmed that they predict that the peaks of the 2025 Christmas and 2026 New Year homecoming traffic will occur on 20th December 2025 and 24th December 2025.

This update was shared by the Head of the Indonesian National Police Traffic Corps, Inspector General Agus Suryonugroho. The Christmas and New Year holiday in Indonesia is referred to as Nataru, referring to ‘Natal’ and ‘Tahun Baru’. 

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The Traffic Corps relies on travel data from previous years as well as data from bookings and travel searches nationwide to forecast when the biggest mass movements of travellers, both internationally and domestically, will occur.

With all this taken into consideration, Korlantas will launch Operation Candle 2025 nationwide from 20th December until 2nd January 2026. A reduced operational service will be in place until 4th January as the final ‘homecoming’ traffic flows reach their destinations following the New Year holiday. 

Operation Candle 2025 will see increased traffic officers and security personnel stationed strategically nationwide, including in Bali.

This will range from increased staffing on toll roads, highways, and intersections prone to congestion, as well as increased patrols of major transportation hubs, including international airports such as Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai, and major ports and harbours such as Gilimanuk, Padangbai, and Sanur in Bali. 

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While Inspector General Suryonugroho is overseeing national operations, provincial transportation and security teams are already putting strategies in place to support Operation Candle 2025 and manage traffic flow on a hyperlocal level.

Speaking to reporters, Gianyar Police Chief, AKBP Chandra C. Kesuma, who is in charge of traffic operations in and around the increasingly popular destination of Ubud, shared his commitment to ensuring that traffic in the area is kept to a minimum this festive season.

He confirmed that urgent road repairs have been ordered around Gianyar Regency to help ensure all roads are useable, and that increased staffing will be in place in these areas, including Jalan Raya Laplapan Pejeng to Jalan Raya Gunung Sari Peliatan, where major repair work is currently taking place. 

With more than one million tourists set to visit Bali this Christmas and New Year period, traffic in Bali’s busiest tourism resorts is unavoidable.

This is why tourists need to think strategically about when and where they travel around the island. It is especially important to leave more than enough time to travel to Bali Airport on the day of departure.

While the Bali Mandara Toll Road cuts out a lot of congestion for airport-bound passengers, the roads leading to the toll gate are often congested, especially at rush hour.

In terms of traveling around the island for day trips and to visit attractions, tourists are advised to depart from their accommodation early in the morning to avoid peak traffic. An important lesson for first-time tourists to Bali to learn is that the estimated travel time given by most map apps is not accurate.

For example, Google Maps will often estimate that a trip from Berawa in Canggu to Uluwatu should take 2 hours. However, in peak traffic time, this trip can easily take 4 hours, especially if traffic is congested along Jalan Labuan Sait. Tourists are advised to talk directly with their driver, tour guide, or accommodation hosts to ascertain how much travel time is needed, especially during this festive season.