Galungan 2027: Dates, Where to Celebrate and Travel Tips

Galungan 2027 falls twice: on Wednesday 13 January 2027 and again on Wednesday 11 August 2027 ^{1 2 4}. Kuningan, which closes each cycle, falls ten days later on Saturday 23 January 2027 and Saturday 21 August 2027 ^{1 4}. The August cycle repeats the same rituals in the dry season.

The date moves because Galungan follows the 210-day Pawukon calendar, not the solar year. It always lands on Buda Kliwon Dungulan, the Wednesday of the eleventh week of the Pawukon cycle ^{1 2}. Since 210 days is exactly 30 weeks, every Galungan is a Wednesday and every Kuningan a Saturday, and some solar years fit two cycles while others fit only one.

In 2026 there was only one Galungan, on Wednesday 17 June 2026, with Kuningan on Saturday 27 June 2026 ^{1 3}. The Bali governor's 2026 holiday circular gave dispensation days on 16 June (Penampahan Galungan), 17 June (Galungan), 18 June (Umanis Galungan), 26 June (Penampahan Kuningan) and 27 June (Kuningan) ⁶.

Key days of the January 2027 cycle, as estimated in Bali's 2026/2027 school calendar pending the governor's circular for 2027 ⁵:

• Penampahan Galungan: Tuesday 12 January 2027 ⁵

• Galungan: Wednesday 13 January 2027 ⁵

• Umanis Galungan: Thursday 14 January 2027 ⁵

• Kuningan: Saturday 23 January 2027 ⁵

The second cycle of Galungan 2027 in Bali runs from Wednesday 11 August 2027 to Kuningan on Saturday 21 August 2027, so a summer trip can catch the same penjor-lined roads under drier skies ^{1 4}. After that, Galungan returns on 8 March 2028 and 4 October 2028 ¹.

The sign that Galungan is near is the penjor: a tall, curved bamboo pole hung with janur coconut leaves, bananas, sugarcane, fabric and snacks, seen as a bridge between the living and the ancestors ¹⁶. Its arc is often read as the outline of Gunung Agung, and each family raises its own outside the gate ³.

Galungan is not an Indonesian national holiday; it is a Balinese Hindu holy day, so banks and government offices on Bali may close or shorten hours while the rest of Indonesia works normally ³. The provincial circular, not the national calendar, sets which Galungan days count as holidays for Bali's schools and civil servants ⁶.

Tip: Plan to arrive by Penampahan, the day before Galungan. That is when families slaughter pigs, cook lawar and raise penjor, and it is the busiest preparation day you can see from the street.

No ticket exists for Galungan, because it is a family and village holy day rather than a staged event. Prayers take place at household shrines, the banjar temple and larger temples such as Pura Agung Jagatnatha in Denpasar, and nobody sells entry to them ^{2 13}. Direct participation is generally for Balinese Hindus; respectful watching from a distance is welcome, and a local may invite you to join part of the day ³. Without an invitation, visitors generally cannot join the ceremony itself ².

On Galungan day in July 2019, thousands of worshippers filled Pura Jagatnatha in Denpasar, many from families who could not travel home, and foreign tourists stood among them watching and in some cases joining the prayers ¹³. That large city temple is the most practical place for a visitor in Denpasar to see collective Galungan worship without intruding on a private family compound.

What you will actually spend money on:

• Bali tourist levy: IDR 150,000 per foreign visitor, paid once on arrival ¹⁸

• Small change for ngelawang groups: households give punia (alms) when the barong dances at their gate ¹⁰

• A sarong and sash for temple courtyards, needed at any Bali temple you enter ³

• Regular entry fees at tourist-run sites such as Tirta Empul or Penglipuran village, which stay open over Galungan

The story behind Galungan gives Tirta Empul in Tampaksiring extra weight during the holiday: the god Indra is said to have created its spring while defeating the trickster king Mayadenawa ³. Expect locals in full temple dress at the purification pools, and give bathers space.

Behaviour matters more than money here. Ask before photographing anyone praying, step around canang sari offerings on the pavement rather than over them ³. Greeting people with "Selamat hari raya Galungan" is always appreciated ².

Note: Temples attract monkeys, and Bali has street dogs. GOV.UK advises immediate medical help after any bite or scratch, and the ambulance number in Indonesia is 118 ²⁰.

Galungan is celebrated island-wide, so the "venue" is wherever you stay; Ubud, Sidemen and Penglipuran feel the most immersive, while Sanur and Denpasar offer family-scale celebrations close to the airport ³. Denpasar, the capital and the reference point for most transfers, sits at -8.650, 115.217 ¹⁷.

The only airport is I Gusti Ngurah Rai International (DPS) on the southern isthmus. From there to Ubud is about 36–40 km by road ¹⁹. Fares and times for this trip as of June 2026 ¹⁹:

• Official airport taxi counter: IDR 300,000–500,000 for central Ubud, paid by prepaid voucher ¹⁹

• Grab or Gojek from the in-terminal pickup lounge: IDR 300,000–450,000, higher at peak times ¹⁹

• Travel time: about 1.5–2 hours in daytime traffic, 2–2.5 hours or more between 16:00 and 19:00 ¹⁹

• Late night or early morning: about 1 hour ¹⁹

Many Balinese guides and drivers take several days off around Galungan, so private drivers for day trips should be booked before you fly; some non-Hindu drivers keep working ². Ride-hailing apps still operate, but expect fewer cars in villages on Galungan morning itself.

Three places outside Ubud are worth the drive. Penglipuran in Bangli regency, near Kintamani, is the classic penjor street: rows of decorated poles line the village and girls in traditional dress carry banten offerings to the village pura ¹⁵. Munggu village in Mengwi, Badung, holds the Mekotek pole ritual on Kuningan ¹¹. Pura Sakenan on Serangan, about 12 km from central Denpasar, can be reached by car since land reclamation joined the island to Bali; before 2000 worshippers crossed by boat ¹².

Central Denpasar also puts on penjor displays, and the Kerobokan area is known for decorated streets ². Large ceremonies can block roads briefly while processions pass, and village pecalang (traditional security guards) direct traffic and parking ^{2 12}.

Tip: Walk the penjor-lined streets early in the morning, before cars and motorbikes fill the narrow roads, when the light on the coconut-leaf decorations is softest ³.

Galungan is a sequence of named days rather than a single festival day, starting nearly a week before and ending with Kuningan ten days after ⁸. The name comes from Old Javanese and means to fight or to win ⁸. Each day has its own task:

• Sugihan Jawa (Thursday of wuku Sungsang): cleansing of the outer world ^{8 13}
• Sugihan Bali (Friday of wuku Sungsang): self-cleansing ^{8 13}
• Penyekeban (Sunday): green bananas sealed in clay pots to ripen for offerings ^{2 8}
• Penyajaan (Monday): families make jaja, the rice cakes used in offerings ^{2 8}
• Penampahan (Tuesday): pigs or chickens slaughtered, lawar cooked, penjor raised ^{2 9}
• Galungan (Wednesday): prayers at home shrines and temples in full temple dress ²
• Umanis Galungan (Thursday): visiting relatives, friends and neighbours ^{2 13}
• Kuningan (Saturday, ten days later): yellow-rice offerings, rites finished by midday ^{7 8}

Penampahan starts before dawn. In Banjar Ole in Tabanan in 2016, a jointly bought 100 kg pig was slaughtered and shared among 15 to 20 households, a practice called mepatung, and the work was done before sunrise ⁹. The meat becomes lawar and be balung for that day, with other dishes preserved to last until Kuningan ⁹. In Desa Adat Samsam in Tabanan, families light cotton-wrapped linting sticks on Penampahan night ¹⁰.

On Galungan day, women carry tall offering boxes to the temple and families pray at the household shrine, which serves as a temporary home for the ancestors ^{2 3}. In Desa Medahan in Gianyar, villagers bring tumpeng offerings to couples who married in the previous six months ¹⁰. Between Galungan and Kuningan, children's ngelawang groups dance the Barong Bangkung from gate to gate to drive off bad influences ¹⁰.

Kuningan on Saturday 23 January 2027 brings nasi kuning (yellow rice) and woven tamiang shields, ter and endongan pouches hung at shrines ^{7 8}. Ceremonies close around 12:00, because the gods and ancestors are believed to stay on earth only until midday ⁸. In Munggu, hundreds of young men stack long wooden poles into pyramids at every crossroads for Mekotek ¹¹. Pura Sakenan often holds its piodalan temple festival over Kuningan, with worship running from morning until late afternoon ¹². In parts of Tabanan, families scatter money for neighbours in Mesuryak ⁷. Penjor come down at Pegat Wakan, the formal end of the wider ritual period ⁷.

A January Galungan sits in the middle of Bali's wet season, which in Denpasar runs from 11 November to 29 March ¹⁷. Average conditions in Denpasar from WeatherSpark's 1980–2016 records ¹⁷:

• January: highs around 31°C, lows around 25°C, about 262 mm of rain over 18.2 wet days ¹⁷

• August: highs around 29°C, lows around 23°C, about 15 mm of rain over 2.2 wet days ¹⁷

In practice, the January 2027 Galungan in Ubud and Denpasar means humid mornings, heavy afternoon downpours and wet penjor drooping by Kuningan, while the August 2027 cycle brings clear, dry days that suit long walks between villages ¹⁷. Humidity peaks in January, and it is Denpasar's cloudiest month ¹⁷.

Crowd levels differ sharply by day, rated here from 1 (quiet) to 5 (packed):

• Penampahan: 3, markets and roadsides busy with preparations

• Galungan morning: 2 on main roads, 5 at large temples such as Pura Jagatnatha ¹³

• Umanis Galungan: 5 on roads to the highlands and family visits ^{2 14}

• Kuningan morning: 4 at Pura Sakenan and other major temples ¹²

Umanis Galungan is the day to avoid long drives. On that day in 2013, queues around Bedugul, Ulun Danu Beratan and the Kebun Raya botanical garden ran more than 5 km from around 13:00 WITA, and police from Polres Tabanan were posted at each attraction ¹⁴. Families heading to relatives also fill coastal roads ².

Arrive in Bali at least a day before Galungan, so that Penampahan is your first full day. For Kuningan, be at the temple you want to see early in the morning, because rites wind down by midday ^{7 8}.

Tip: In January, carry a light rain jacket rather than an umbrella. Narrow village lanes, processions and motorbikes leave little room for a wide canopy, and afternoon storms are short but heavy.

Ubud puts you inside the kind of village life Galungan is built around: walkable streets lined with penjor, banjar temples between guesthouses, and easy drives to Sidemen, Tampaksiring and Bangli ³. Seminyak, Canggu and Uluwatu stay busy with beach clubs and feel far less connected to the holiday ³.

Where to stay, by what you want to see:

• Ubud: penjor streets, ngelawang groups in the lanes, short drives to Tirta Empul and Penglipuran ^{3 15}

• Sidemen: quiet rice-terrace villages in east Bali where the holiday feels intimate ³

• Sanur: family-oriented celebrations and the shortest drive to Pura Sakenan ^{3 12}

• Denpasar: Pura Jagatnatha and central penjor displays within walking distance ^{2 13}

• Nusa Penida: quieter, more traditional observances, including ceremonies at Ped temple ^{3 4}

Family-run homestays are the best seat for Galungan. Hosts often give guests fruit and rice cakes from their offerings ², and the household shrine is a few steps from your room, so you see the morning prayers without seeking them out. Ask your host the evening before whether the family minds you watching from the courtyard edge.

Domestic school holidays matter more than Galungan for room prices. Bali's odd-semester school holiday ends on Saturday 2 January 2027, so the January Galungan cycle falls after the year-end peak ⁵. The August 2027 cycle falls in Bali's dry season, the busier period for foreign visitors, so book Ubud rooms earlier for that trip ¹⁷.

Book transport alongside your room. Since many guides and drivers take time off for their own family ceremonies, a guesthouse that can arrange a trusted driver for Umanis Galungan and Kuningan morning saves a lot of waiting ². Most restaurants, shops and attractions in tourist areas stay open; a few locally run warungs close on Galungan day itself ^{2 3}.

Tip: Ask for a room facing the lane rather than the rice fields. On Galungan week the lane is where the penjor, the processions and the barong pass.

Mobile data, not Wi-Fi, carries you through Galungan, because the festival is spread across village lanes, temples and rural roads rather than a single site with hotspots. Your phone does four jobs on a Galungan trip in Bali: live traffic, messages from hosts and drivers, translation, and payments.

What uses data during the holiday:

• Live maps to dodge the Umanis Galungan traffic that once queued more than 5 km at Bedugul ¹⁴

• Booking a Grab or Gojek car from the airport pickup lounge or a village road ¹⁹

• Paying the IDR 150,000 tourist levy by QRIS or transfer through Love Bali ¹⁸

• Voice notes and pins from homestay hosts tracking where the ngelawang barong is dancing ¹⁰

• Translating Balinese and Indonesian signs at temple gates and offering stalls

The heaviest use is video. Kuningan morning at Pura Sakenan, the Mekotek pole pyramids in Munggu and the barong in the lanes are all moments people film and share on the spot ^{11 12}. Sending clips home over mobile data in a crowd is slower than at your guesthouse, so upload in the evening and keep the daytime connection for maps and messages.

Signal in Ubud, Denpasar and Sanur is generally strong, but crowds at major temples on Galungan and Kuningan mornings can slow it. In rice-field villages around Sidemen and on the highland roads to Bangli, coverage thins, so save an offline map of each day's route the night before.

Set up your plan at home rather than at a counter in Ngurah Rai's arrivals hall. An eSIM for Indonesia installed before departure activates on landing, so the airport ride, the levy voucher and your first messages to your host all work from the jet bridge.

Tip: Share your live location with your group before Galungan morning. Processions can split you up in seconds on a narrow lane lined with penjor.