VacationSelector
Palacio Salvo under a blue sky, Montevideo
MontevideoPalacio Salvo under a blue sky
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Montevideo by Andrés Franchi Ugart…, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Montevideo 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 Montevideo for

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

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

Choose Penang for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Montevideo 55, Penang 44: Montevideo leads by 11 points.
Food & drink. Montevideo 57, Penang 86: Penang leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Montevideo 54, Penang 70: Penang leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Montevideo 50, Penang 40: Montevideo leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Montevideo 34, Penang 55: Penang leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Montevideo 55, Penang 42: Montevideo leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Montevideo 55, Penang 52: Montevideo leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Montevideo 54, Penang 40: Montevideo leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Montevideo 36, Penang 42: Penang leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Montevideo 42, Penang 78: Penang leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Montevideo 57, Penang 30: Montevideo leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Montevideo 38, Penang 42: Penang leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Montevideo and Penang.

Your match

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

Montevideo
49match

Wins on live music and the arts and getting around with your weighting.

Penang
Best match
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.

Montevideo in July

15 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
99 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
10 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
MontevideoPenang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Montevideo: 1991-2020 normals, Carrasco (19.2 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMontevideoPenang
Official language-Malay
CurrencyPeso Uruguayo (UYU)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsCFIL230 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-3UTC+8
Emergency number911999
Elevation41 m4 m
Main airportCarrasco General Cesáreo L. Berisso International Airport (MVD)17 km from centre15 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days-

By the numbers

MeasureMontevideoPenang
City population1,302,954794,313
People per km²1,785-
Museums within 10 km369
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Montevideo 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). 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. 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.