VacationSelector
The Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Austin 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 Austin for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • day trips

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

Choose Penang for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

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. Austin 30, Penang 44: Penang leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Austin 66, Penang 86: Penang leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Austin 40, Penang 70: Penang leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Austin 65, Penang 40: Austin leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Austin 57, Penang 55: Austin leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Austin 58, Penang 42: Austin leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Austin 55, Penang 52: Austin leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Austin 30, Penang 40: Penang leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Austin 45, Penang 42: Austin leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Austin 33, Penang 78: Penang leads by 45 points.
Live music & performing arts. Austin 77, Penang 30: Austin leads by 47 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Austin 40, Penang 42: Penang leads by 2 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Austin and Penang.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Austin
50match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife with your weighting.

Penang
52match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Austin in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
49 mmrain in the month
10 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
AustinPenang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Austin: 1991-2020 normals, Camp Mabry/Austin City Asos (3.7 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAustinPenang
Official language-Malay
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number911999
Elevation149 m4 m
Main airportAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAustinPenang
City population961,855794,313
People per km²1,217-
Museums within 10 km219
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Austin 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.