VacationSelector
The Hôtel du Palais, Biarritz
BiarritzThe Hôtel du Palais
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Biarritz by Lilipiapia, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Biarritz 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 Biarritz for

  • day trips
  • beaches
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Biarritz’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. Biarritz 68, Penang 44: Biarritz leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Biarritz 62, Penang 86: Penang leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Biarritz 33, Penang 70: Penang leads by 37 points.
Nightlife. Biarritz 36, Penang 40: Penang leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Biarritz 74, Penang 55: Biarritz leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Biarritz 80, Penang 42: Biarritz leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Biarritz 62, Penang 52: Biarritz leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Biarritz 58, Penang 40: Biarritz leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Biarritz and Penang are level on 42.
Affordability. Biarritz 30, Penang 78: Penang leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. Biarritz 38, Penang 30: Biarritz leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Biarritz 64, Penang 42: Biarritz leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Biarritz 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

Biarritz
54match

Wins on day trips and beaches 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.

Biarritz in July

24 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
97 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 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
BiarritzPenang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Biarritz: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Biarritz (2.5 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBiarritzPenang
Official languageFrenchMalay
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112999
Elevation0 m4 m
Main airportBiarritz Pays Basque airport (BIQ)3 km from centre25 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBiarritzPenang
City population26,206794,313
People per km²2,240-
Museums within 10 km89
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Biarritz 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.