VacationSelector
Shitennō-ji temple, Osaka
OsakaShitennō-ji temple
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Osaka by Sarmat Batagov, Pexels License; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Osaka 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 Osaka for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • nightlife

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

Choose Penang for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • 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. Osaka 34, Penang 44: Penang leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Osaka 91, Penang 86: Osaka leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Osaka 63, Penang 70: Penang leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Osaka 80, Penang 40: Osaka leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. Osaka 58, Penang 55: Osaka leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Osaka 97, Penang 42: Osaka leads by 55 points.
Good for families. Osaka 88, Penang 52: Osaka leads by 36 points.
Getting around. Osaka 90, Penang 40: Osaka leads by 50 points.
Shopping & style. Osaka 80, Penang 42: Osaka leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Osaka 60, Penang 78: Penang leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Osaka 66, Penang 30: Osaka leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Osaka 66, Penang 42: Osaka leads by 24 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Osaka and Penang.

Your match

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

Osaka
Best match
73match

Wins on day trips and getting around 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.

Osaka in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
175 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 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
OsakaPenang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Osaka: 1991-2020 normals, Osaka (1.8 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOsakaPenang
Official languageJapaneseMalay
CurrencyYen (JPY)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119999
Elevation20 m4 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)38 km from centre62 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days-

By the numbers

MeasureOsakaPenang
City population2,751,862794,313
People per km²12,340-
Museums within 10 km449
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km61
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months12 months

Where else could you go?

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