VacationSelector
The twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas, Guadalajara
GuadalajaraThe twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

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

Guadalajara 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 Guadalajara for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • day trips

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

Choose Penang for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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. Guadalajara 5, Penang 44: Penang leads by 39 points.
Food & drink. Guadalajara 75, Penang 86: Penang leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Guadalajara 62, Penang 70: Penang leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Guadalajara 68, Penang 40: Guadalajara leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Guadalajara and Penang are level on 55.
Day trips. Guadalajara 66, Penang 42: Guadalajara leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Guadalajara 55, Penang 52: Guadalajara leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Guadalajara and Penang are level on 40.
Shopping & style. Guadalajara 60, Penang 42: Guadalajara leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Guadalajara and Penang are level on 78.
Live music & performing arts. Guadalajara 60, Penang 30: Guadalajara leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Guadalajara 35, Penang 42: Penang leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Guadalajara and Penang.

Your match

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

Guadalajara
Best match
55match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife with your weighting.

Penang
52match

Wins on beaches 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.

Guadalajara in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
205 mmrain in the month
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Penang in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
189 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
GuadalajaraPenang

Where the figures come from

Guadalajara has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Guadalajara: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGuadalajaraPenang
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaMalay
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+8
Emergency number911999
Elevation1,536 m4 m
Main airportGuadalajara International Airport (GDL)17 km from centre70 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days-

By the numbers

MeasureGuadalajaraPenang
City population1,385,621794,313
People per km²9,556-
Museums within 10 km179
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 Guadalajara or Penang somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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). 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.