VacationSelector
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Lima 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 Lima for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • shopping

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

Choose Penang for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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. Lima 42, Penang 44: Penang leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Lima 88, Penang 86: Lima leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Lima 66, Penang 70: Penang leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Lima 62, Penang 40: Lima leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lima 45, Penang 55: Penang leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Lima 34, Penang 42: Penang leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Lima 42, Penang 52: Penang leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Lima 35, Penang 40: Penang leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Lima 52, Penang 42: Lima leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Lima 70, Penang 78: Penang leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lima 53, Penang 30: Lima leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lima 25, Penang 42: Penang leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lima and Penang.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Lima
51match

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

Penang
52match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Lima in July

19 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
1 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
12 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
LimaPenang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLimaPenang
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaMalay
CurrencySol (PEN)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+8
Emergency number111 or 911999
Elevation154 m4 m
Main airportJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days-

By the numbers

MeasureLimaPenang
City population9,943,800794,313
People per km²3,721-
Museums within 10 km479
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months12 months

Where else could you go?

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