VacationSelector
Philae temple on the Nile, Aswan
AswanPhilae temple on the Nile
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Aswan by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Aswan or Penang?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Aswan for

  • prices
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Aswan’s own page.

Choose Penang for

  • food and drink
  • beaches
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Penang’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Aswan 10, Penang 44: Penang leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Aswan 30, Penang 86: Penang leads by 56 points.
Culture & sights. Aswan 64, Penang 70: Penang leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Aswan 8, Penang 40: Penang leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Aswan 45, Penang 55: Penang leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Aswan 52, Penang 42: Aswan leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Aswan 32, Penang 52: Penang leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Aswan and Penang are level on 40.
Shopping & style. Aswan 30, Penang 42: Penang leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Aswan 92, Penang 78: Aswan leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Aswan 14, Penang 30: Penang leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Aswan 40, Penang 42: Penang leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Aswan and Penang.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Aswan
38match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

Penang
Best match
52match

Wins on food and drink and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Aswan in July

42 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Penang in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
189 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
AswanPenang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Aswan: 1991-2020 normals, Asswan (18 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAswanPenang
Official languageArabicMalay
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180999
Elevation99 m4 m
Main airportAswan International Airport (ASW)16 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAswanPenang
City population401,890794,313
People per km²1,072-
Museums within 10 km39
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Aswan or Penang somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.