VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Madrid 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 Madrid for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

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

Choose Penang for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • 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. Madrid 5, Penang 44: Penang leads by 39 points.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, Penang 86: Penang leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, Penang 70: Madrid leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, Penang 40: Madrid leads by 45 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, Penang 55: Madrid leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, Penang 42: Madrid leads by 47 points.
Good for families. Madrid 68, Penang 52: Madrid leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Madrid 84, Penang 40: Madrid leads by 44 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, Penang 42: Madrid leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Madrid 50, Penang 78: Penang leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, Penang 30: Madrid leads by 47 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, Penang 42: Penang leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Madrid and Penang.

Your match

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

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on day trips and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Penang
52match

Wins on beaches 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.

Madrid in July

33 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
9 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 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
MadridPenang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMadridPenang
Official languageSpanishMalay
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112999
Elevation663 m4 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days-

By the numbers

MeasureMadridPenang
City population3,506,730794,313
People per km²5,801-
Museums within 10 km889
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 Madrid 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.