VacationSelector
Hobart below kunanyi/Mount Wellington, Hobart
HobartHobart below kunanyi/Mount Wellington
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Hobart by Gary Houston, CC0; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Hobart 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 Hobart for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Penang for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • beaches

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. Hobart 30, Penang 44: Penang leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Hobart 60, Penang 86: Penang leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Hobart 56, Penang 70: Penang leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Hobart 30, Penang 40: Penang leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hobart 85, Penang 55: Hobart leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Hobart 60, Penang 42: Hobart leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Hobart 56, Penang 52: Hobart leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Hobart 45, Penang 40: Hobart leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Hobart 38, Penang 42: Penang leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Hobart 35, Penang 78: Penang leads by 43 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hobart 45, Penang 30: Hobart leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hobart 40, Penang 42: Penang leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hobart and Penang.

Your match

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

Hobart
48match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips with your weighting.

Penang
Best match
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.

Hobart in July

13 °Cdaytime high
5 °Cnight-time low
42 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
13 °Csea
9 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
HobartPenang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hobart: 1991-2020 normals, Hobart (2.3 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHobartPenang
Official languageEnglishMalay
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+10, UTC+11 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number000999
Elevation54 m4 m
Main airportHobart International Airport (HBA)17 km from centre9 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days-

By the numbers

MeasureHobartPenang
City population197,451794,313
People per km²116-
Museums within 10 km89
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Hobart 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.