VacationSelector
The steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi, New Orleans
New OrleansThe steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: New Orleans by Bernard Spragg, CC0; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

New Orleans 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 New Orleans for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • getting around

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

Choose Penang for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • wellness

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. New Orleans 14, Penang 44: Penang leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. New Orleans 84, Penang 86: Penang leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. New Orleans 67, Penang 70: Penang leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. New Orleans 85, Penang 40: New Orleans leads by 45 points.
Nature & outdoors. New Orleans 42, Penang 55: Penang leads by 13 points.
Day trips. New Orleans 52, Penang 42: New Orleans leads by 10 points.
Good for families. New Orleans 55, Penang 52: New Orleans leads by 3 points.
Getting around. New Orleans 55, Penang 40: New Orleans leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. New Orleans 54, Penang 42: New Orleans leads by 12 points.
Affordability. New Orleans 40, Penang 78: Penang leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. New Orleans 80, Penang 30: New Orleans leads by 50 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New Orleans 25, Penang 42: Penang leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: New Orleans and Penang.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

New Orleans
54match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife 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.

New Orleans in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
169 mmrain in the month
30 °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
New OrleansPenang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. New Orleans: 1991-2020 normals, New Orleans Airport (2.7 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNew OrleansPenang
Official language-Malay
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number911999
Elevation-2 m4 m
Main airportLouis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)18 km from centre51 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureNew OrleansPenang
City population383,997794,313
People per km²423-
Museums within 10 km169
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow New Orleans 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.