VacationSelector
The opera house on Place de la Comédie, Montpellier
MontpellierThe opera house on Place de la Comédie
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Montpellier by Peter, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Montpellier 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 Montpellier for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Montpellier’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. Montpellier 64, Penang 44: Montpellier leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Montpellier 64, Penang 86: Penang leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Montpellier 60, Penang 70: Penang leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Montpellier 56, Penang 40: Montpellier leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Montpellier 72, Penang 55: Montpellier leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Montpellier 85, Penang 42: Montpellier leads by 43 points.
Good for families. Montpellier 62, Penang 52: Montpellier leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Montpellier 74, Penang 40: Montpellier leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Montpellier 47, Penang 42: Montpellier leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Montpellier 50, Penang 78: Penang leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Montpellier 63, Penang 30: Montpellier leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Montpellier and Penang are level on 42.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Montpellier and Penang.

Your match

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

Montpellier
Best match
62match

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.

Montpellier in July

30 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
17 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
21 °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
MontpellierPenang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Montpellier: 1991-2020 normals, Montpellier (7.8 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMontpellierPenang
Official languageFrenchMalay
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112999
Elevation7 m4 m
Main airportMontpellier-Méditerranée Airport (MPL)8 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureMontpellierPenang
City population310,240794,313
People per km²5,452-
Museums within 10 km149
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Montpellier 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). 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.