VacationSelector
Durban
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Durban 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 Durban for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Penang for

  • culture and sights
  • food and drink
  • getting around

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. Durban 80, Penang 44: Durban leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Durban 60, Penang 86: Penang leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Durban 38, Penang 70: Penang leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Durban and Penang are level on 40.
Nature & outdoors. Durban 68, Penang 55: Durban leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Durban 38, Penang 42: Penang leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Durban 60, Penang 52: Durban leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Durban 20, Penang 40: Penang leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Durban and Penang are level on 42.
Affordability. Durban 72, Penang 78: Penang leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Durban 40, Penang 30: Durban leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Durban 30, Penang 42: Penang leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Durban and Penang.

Your match

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

Durban
49match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Penang
Best match
52match

Wins on culture and sights and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Durban in July

23 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
44 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
22 °Csea
10 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
DurbanPenang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDurbanPenang
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageMalay
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+2UTC+8
Emergency number112999
Elevation22 m4 m
Main airportKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureDurbanPenang
City population595,061794,313
People per km²2,634-
Museums within 10 km19
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Durban 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). 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. 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.