VacationSelector
The Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, Las Vegas
Las VegasThe Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Las Vegas by Christian David, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Las Vegas 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 Las Vegas for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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

Choose Penang for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • 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. Las Vegas 10, Penang 44: Penang leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Las Vegas 68, Penang 86: Penang leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Las Vegas 25, Penang 70: Penang leads by 45 points.
Nightlife. Las Vegas 88, Penang 40: Las Vegas leads by 48 points.
Nature & outdoors. Las Vegas 68, Penang 55: Las Vegas leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Las Vegas 25, Penang 42: Penang leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Las Vegas 25, Penang 52: Penang leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Las Vegas 38, Penang 40: Penang leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Las Vegas 64, Penang 42: Las Vegas leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Las Vegas 35, Penang 78: Penang leads by 43 points.
Live music & performing arts. Las Vegas 78, Penang 30: Las Vegas leads by 48 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Las Vegas 40, Penang 42: Penang leads by 2 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Las Vegas
47match

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

Penang
Best match
52match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Las Vegas in July

40 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
9 mmrain in the month
No seasea
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°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Las VegasPenang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Las Vegas: 1991-2020 normals, McCarran International Airport (8.5 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLas VegasPenang
Official language-Malay
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number911999
Elevation610 m4 m
Main airportHarry Reid International Airport (LAS)4 km from centre159 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureLas VegasPenang
City population641,903794,313
People per km²1,843-
Museums within 10 km219
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Las Vegas 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. 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.