VacationSelector
The cathedral from Piazza del Duomo, Milan
MilanThe cathedral from Piazza del Duomo
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Milan by Jiuguang Wang, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Milan 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 Milan for

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Milan’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. Milan 20, Penang 44: Penang leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Milan 78, Penang 86: Penang leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Milan 78, Penang 70: Milan leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Milan 66, Penang 40: Milan leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Milan 65, Penang 55: Milan leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Milan 91, Penang 42: Milan leads by 49 points.
Good for families. Milan 55, Penang 52: Milan leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Milan 79, Penang 40: Milan leads by 39 points.
Shopping & style. Milan 92, Penang 42: Milan leads by 50 points.
Affordability. Milan 33, Penang 78: Penang leads by 45 points.
Live music & performing arts. Milan 82, Penang 30: Milan leads by 52 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Milan and Penang are level on 42.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Milan and Penang.

Your match

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

Milan
Best match
65match

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.

Milan in July

30 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
9 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
MilanPenang

Where the figures come from

Milan 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.

Milan's sunshine is measured 41 km from the centre, at Novara / Cameri.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Milan: 1991-2020 normals, Milano / Linate (8 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMilanPenang
Official languageItalianMalay
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112999
Elevation138 m4 m
Main airportMilan Malpensa International Airport (MXP)40 km from centre208 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureMilanPenang
City population1,354,196794,313
People per km²7,453-
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 Milan 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.