VacationSelector
Korenlei reflected in the Leie, Ghent
GhentKorenlei reflected in the Leie
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

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

Ghent 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 Ghent for

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

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

Choose Penang for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Ghent 25, Penang 44: Penang leads by 19 points.
Food & drink. Ghent 62, Penang 86: Penang leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Ghent 72, Penang 70: Ghent leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Ghent 55, Penang 40: Ghent leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Ghent 35, Penang 55: Penang leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Ghent 88, Penang 42: Ghent leads by 46 points.
Good for families. Ghent 50, Penang 52: Penang leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Ghent 78, Penang 40: Ghent leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Ghent 50, Penang 42: Ghent leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Ghent 38, Penang 78: Penang leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Ghent 60, Penang 30: Ghent leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Ghent 33, Penang 42: Penang leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Ghent 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

Ghent
54match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Penang
52match

Wins on prices 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.

Ghent in July

23 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
77 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 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
GhentPenang

Where the figures come from

Ghent 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.

Ghent's sunshine is measured 45 km from the centre, at Vlissingen.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Ghent: 2009-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Melle / Kalverhaag (10.1 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGhentPenang
Official languageFrench, German, DutchMalay
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112999
Elevation12 m4 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)56 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureGhentPenang
City population272,657794,313
People per km²1,728-
Museums within 10 km309
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km51
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 Ghent or Penang somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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.