VacationSelector
Big Ben and Westminster Bridge, London
LondonBig Ben and Westminster Bridge
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: London by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

London 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 London for

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • nightlife

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

Choose Penang for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • food and drink

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. London 25, Penang 44: Penang leads by 19 points.
Food & drink. London 84, Penang 86: Penang leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. London 94, Penang 70: London leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. London 88, Penang 40: London leads by 48 points.
Nature & outdoors. London 57, Penang 55: London leads by 2 points.
Day trips. London 90, Penang 42: London leads by 48 points.
Good for families. London 82, Penang 52: London leads by 30 points.
Getting around. London 85, Penang 40: London leads by 45 points.
Shopping & style. London 95, Penang 42: London leads by 53 points.
Affordability. London 15, Penang 78: Penang leads by 63 points.
Live music & performing arts. London 98, Penang 30: London leads by 68 points.
Wellness & relaxation. London 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: London and Penang.

Your match

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

London
Best match
71match

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

Penang
52match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

London in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 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
LondonPenang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. London: 1992-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, London Weather Centre (1.3 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLondonPenang
Official languageEnglishMalay
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112 or 999999
Elevation4 m4 m
Main airportLondon Heathrow Airport (LHR)23 km from centre224 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year8 days-

By the numbers

MeasureLondonPenang
City population8,799,728794,313
People per km²5,598-
Museums within 10 km2169
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41
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 London 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.