VacationSelector
The harbour seen from above, Marmaris
MarmarisThe harbour seen from above
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Marmaris by Mstyslav Chernov, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Marmaris 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 Marmaris for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • nightlife

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

Choose Penang for

  • culture and sights
  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts

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. Marmaris 80, Penang 44: Marmaris leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Marmaris 40, Penang 86: Penang leads by 46 points.
Culture & sights. Marmaris 18, Penang 70: Penang leads by 52 points.
Nightlife. Marmaris 60, Penang 40: Marmaris leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Marmaris 72, Penang 55: Marmaris leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Marmaris 65, Penang 42: Marmaris leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Marmaris 62, Penang 52: Marmaris leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Marmaris 55, Penang 40: Marmaris leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Marmaris 38, Penang 42: Penang leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Marmaris 62, Penang 78: Penang leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Marmaris 12, Penang 30: Penang leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Marmaris 50, Penang 42: Marmaris leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Marmaris 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

Marmaris
51match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Penang
52match

Wins on culture and sights and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Marmaris in July

32 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
8 mmrain in the month
25 °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
MarmarisPenang

Where the figures come from

Marmaris's temperatures are measured 49 km from the centre, at Dalaman.

Marmaris has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Marmaris: 2000-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Dalaman (48.8 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMarmarisPenang
Official languageTurkishMalay
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+8
Emergency number112999
Elevation7 m4 m
Main airportDalaman International Airport (DLM)49 km from centre61 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureMarmarisPenang
City population97,818794,313
People per km²111-
Museums within 10 km19
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Marmaris 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.