VacationSelector
The pyramids of Giza, Cairo
CairoThe pyramids of Giza
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Cairo by Ricardo Liberato, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Cairo 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 Cairo for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Penang for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • 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. Cairo 10, Penang 44: Penang leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Cairo 60, Penang 86: Penang leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Cairo 96, Penang 70: Cairo leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Cairo 48, Penang 40: Cairo leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cairo 30, Penang 55: Penang leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Cairo 66, Penang 42: Cairo leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Cairo 32, Penang 52: Penang leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Cairo 35, Penang 40: Penang leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Cairo 58, Penang 42: Cairo leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Cairo 95, Penang 78: Cairo leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cairo 50, Penang 30: Cairo leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cairo 15, Penang 42: Penang leads by 27 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cairo 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

Cairo
50match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

Penang
52match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cairo in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
CairoPenang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cairo: 1991-2020 normals, Helwan (21.9 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCairoPenang
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
Elevation23 m4 m
Main airportCairo International Airport (CAI)17 km from centre127 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCairoPenang
City population9,801,536794,313
People per km²18,564-
Museums within 10 km489
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Cairo 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.