VacationSelector
Turquoise water off Giftun Island, Hurghada
HurghadaTurquoise water off Giftun Island
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Hurghada by Andrey Korchagin, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Hurghada 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 Hurghada for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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

Choose Penang for

  • culture and sights
  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts

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. Hurghada 84, Penang 44: Hurghada leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Hurghada 34, Penang 86: Penang leads by 52 points.
Culture & sights. Hurghada 14, Penang 70: Penang leads by 56 points.
Nightlife. Hurghada and Penang are level on 40.
Nature & outdoors. Hurghada 72, Penang 55: Hurghada leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Hurghada 30, Penang 42: Penang leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Hurghada 62, Penang 52: Hurghada leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Hurghada 22, Penang 40: Penang leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Hurghada 24, Penang 42: Penang leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Hurghada 80, Penang 78: Hurghada leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hurghada 10, Penang 30: Penang leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hurghada 44, Penang 42: Hurghada leads by 2 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hurghada and Penang.

Your match

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

Hurghada
43match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Penang
Best match
52match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Hurghada in July

37 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
14 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
HurghadaPenang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hurghada: 1991-2020 normals, Hurguada (15.2 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHurghadaPenang
Official languageArabicMalay
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180999
Elevation11 m4 m
Main airportHurghada International Airport (HRG)9 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days-

By the numbers

MeasureHurghadaPenang
City population214,247794,313
Museums within 10 km19
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Hurghada 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). 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.