VacationSelector
A galleon on the Motława below the old crane, Gdansk
GdanskA galleon on the Motława below the old crane
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

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

Gdansk 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 Gdansk for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

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

Choose Penang for

  • food and drink
  • prices
  • wellness

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. Gdansk 40, Penang 44: Penang leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Gdansk 50, Penang 86: Penang leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Gdansk 68, Penang 70: Penang leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Gdansk 52, Penang 40: Gdansk leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Gdansk 58, Penang 55: Gdansk leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Gdansk 62, Penang 42: Gdansk leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Gdansk 62, Penang 52: Gdansk leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Gdansk 72, Penang 40: Gdansk leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Gdansk and Penang are level on 42.
Affordability. Gdansk 68, Penang 78: Penang leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Gdansk 52, Penang 30: Gdansk leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Gdansk 36, Penang 42: Penang leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Gdansk and Penang.

Your match

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

Gdansk
Best match
55match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Penang
52match

Wins on food and drink and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Gdansk in July

22 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
85 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
17 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
GdanskPenang

Where the figures come from

Gdansk 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.

Gdansk's sunshine is measured 55 km from the centre, at Elblag.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Gdansk: 1991-2020 normals, Gdansk-Rebiechowo (12.7 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGdanskPenang
Official languagePolishMalay
CurrencyZloty (PLN)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsCE50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112999
Elevation11 m4 m
Main airportGdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport (GDN)13 km from centre72 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureGdanskPenang
City population487,834794,313
People per km²714-
Museums within 10 km349
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Gdansk 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). 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.