VacationSelector
The SkyWheel by the beach, Myrtle Beach
Myrtle BeachThe SkyWheel by the beach
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Myrtle Beach by The ed17, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Myrtle Beach 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 Myrtle Beach for

  • beaches
  • families
  • day trips

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

Choose Penang for

  • culture and sights
  • food and drink
  • prices

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. Myrtle Beach 84, Penang 44: Myrtle Beach leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Myrtle Beach 38, Penang 86: Penang leads by 48 points.
Culture & sights. Myrtle Beach 20, Penang 70: Penang leads by 50 points.
Nightlife. Myrtle Beach 42, Penang 40: Myrtle Beach leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Myrtle Beach 46, Penang 55: Penang leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Myrtle Beach 50, Penang 42: Myrtle Beach leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Myrtle Beach 80, Penang 52: Myrtle Beach leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Myrtle Beach 18, Penang 40: Penang leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Myrtle Beach 38, Penang 42: Penang leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Myrtle Beach 52, Penang 78: Penang leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Myrtle Beach and Penang are level on 30.
Wellness & relaxation. Myrtle Beach 28, Penang 42: Penang leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Myrtle Beach and Penang.

Your match

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

Myrtle Beach
44match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Penang
Best match
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.

Myrtle Beach in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
172 mmrain in the month
28 °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
Myrtle BeachPenang

Where the figures come from

Myrtle Beach 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. Myrtle Beach: 1971-2000 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Myrtle Beach Air Force Base (5.5 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMyrtle BeachPenang
Official language-Malay
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number911999
Elevation8 m4 m
Main airportMyrtle Beach International Airport (MYR)5 km from centre60 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days-

By the numbers

MeasureMyrtle BeachPenang
City population35,682794,313
People per km²591-
Museums within 10 km29
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Myrtle Beach 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). 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.