VacationSelector
Florence and the Arno, Florence
FlorenceFlorence and the Arno
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Florence by Wolfgang Weiser, Pexels License; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Florence 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 Florence for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • shopping

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

Choose Penang for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • 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. Florence 14, Penang 44: Penang leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Florence 74, Penang 86: Penang leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Florence 94, Penang 70: Florence leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Florence 42, Penang 40: Florence leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Florence 58, Penang 55: Florence leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Florence 98, Penang 42: Florence leads by 56 points.
Good for families. Florence 45, Penang 52: Penang leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Florence 78, Penang 40: Florence leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Florence 72, Penang 42: Florence leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Florence 35, Penang 78: Penang leads by 43 points.
Live music & performing arts. Florence 58, Penang 30: Florence leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Florence and Penang are level on 42.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Florence and Penang.

Your match

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

Florence
Best match
59match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Penang
52match

Wins on prices 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.

Florence in July

32 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
37 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
No seasea
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
FlorencePenang

Where the figures come from

Florence has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Florence's sunshine is measured 71 km from the centre, at Pisa / S. Giusto.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Florence: 1995-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Firenze / Peretola (5.6 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFlorencePenang
Official languageItalianMalay
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112999
Elevation50 m4 m
Main airportFlorence Airport, Peretola (FLR)6 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureFlorencePenang
City population360,930794,313
People per km²3,528-
Museums within 10 km1419
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41
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 Florence 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). 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. 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.