VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles for

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • families

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

Choose Penang for

  • prices
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

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. Los Angeles 60, Penang 44: Los Angeles leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles 84, Penang 86: Penang leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, Penang 70: Penang leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Penang 40: Los Angeles leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Penang 55: Los Angeles leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, Penang 42: Los Angeles leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Penang 52: Los Angeles leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Penang 40: Penang leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, Penang 42: Los Angeles leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Penang 78: Penang leads by 54 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Penang 30: Los Angeles leads by 53 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Penang 42: Los Angeles leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Los Angeles and Penang.

Your match

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

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

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

Penang
52match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
20 °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
Los AngelesPenang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesPenang
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
Elevation106 m4 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesPenang
City population3,898,747794,313
People per km²2,994-
Museums within 10 km399
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 Los Angeles 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.