VacationSelector
The Casino de Monte-Carlo, Monaco
MonacoThe Casino de Monte-Carlo
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Monaco by otterboris, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Monaco 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 Monaco for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Penang for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • 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. Monaco 68, Penang 44: Monaco leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Monaco 57, Penang 86: Penang leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Monaco 55, Penang 70: Penang leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Monaco 48, Penang 40: Monaco leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Monaco 70, Penang 55: Monaco leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Monaco 84, Penang 42: Monaco leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Monaco 60, Penang 52: Monaco leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Monaco 78, Penang 40: Monaco leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Monaco 52, Penang 42: Monaco leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Monaco 3, Penang 78: Penang leads by 75 points.
Live music & performing arts. Monaco 63, Penang 30: Monaco leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Monaco 55, Penang 42: Monaco leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Monaco and Penang.

Your match

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

Monaco
Best match
58match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Penang
52match

Wins on prices 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.

Monaco in July

28 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
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
MonacoPenang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Monaco: 1991-2020 normals, Nice (19.9 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMonacoPenang
Official languageFrenchMalay
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsCEF230 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112999
Elevation68 m4 m
Main airportNice-Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE)18 km from centre130 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days-

By the numbers

MeasureMonacoPenang
City population38,857794,313
People per km²18,503-
Museums within 10 km149
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Monaco or Penang somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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). 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). Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. 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.