VacationSelector
Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan, New York
New YorkBrooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: New York by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

New York 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 York for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • shopping

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

Choose Penang for

  • 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. New York 50, Penang 44: New York leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. New York 92, Penang 86: New York leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. New York 89, Penang 70: New York leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. New York 97, Penang 40: New York leads by 57 points.
Nature & outdoors. New York and Penang are level on 55.
Day trips. New York 68, Penang 42: New York leads by 26 points.
Good for families. New York 70, Penang 52: New York leads by 18 points.
Getting around. New York 82, Penang 40: New York leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. New York 97, Penang 42: New York leads by 55 points.
Affordability. New York 12, Penang 78: Penang leads by 66 points.
Live music & performing arts. New York 99, Penang 30: New York leads by 69 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New York and Penang are level on 42.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: New York and Penang.

Your match

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

New York
Best match
71match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife with your weighting.

Penang
52match

Wins on prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

New York in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
107 mmrain in the month
22 °Csea
15 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 YorkPenang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. New York: 1991-2020 normals, LaGuardia Airport (12.9 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNew YorkPenang
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
Elevation25 m4 m
Main airportJohn F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)21 km from centre189 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureNew YorkPenang
City population8,804,190794,313
People per km²7,256-
Museums within 10 km1579
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow New York 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.