VacationSelector
The Teatro Amazonas, Manaus
ManausThe Teatro Amazonas
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Manaus by Jardelsliumba, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Manaus 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 Manaus for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

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

Choose Penang for

  • food and drink
  • day trips
  • 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. Manaus 38, Penang 44: Penang leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Manaus 56, Penang 86: Penang leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Manaus 46, Penang 70: Penang leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Manaus 42, Penang 40: Manaus leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Manaus 86, Penang 55: Manaus leads by 31 points.
Day trips. Manaus 12, Penang 42: Penang leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Manaus 35, Penang 52: Penang leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Manaus 27, Penang 40: Penang leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Manaus 36, Penang 42: Penang leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Manaus 63, Penang 78: Penang leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manaus 54, Penang 30: Manaus leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manaus 20, Penang 42: Penang leads by 22 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Manaus
43match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Penang
Best match
52match

Wins on food and drink and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Manaus in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
74 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
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
ManausPenang

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

Before you go

MeasureManausPenang
Official languagePortugueseMalay
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsCN60 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-4UTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193999
Elevation92 m4 m
Main airportEduardo Gomes International Airport (MAO)9 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureManausPenang
City population2,303,732794,313
People per km²202-
Museums within 10 km139
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Manaus 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.