VacationSelector
Whitehall, Henry Flagler's mansion, now the Flagler Museum, Palm Beach
Palm BeachWhitehall, Henry Flagler's mansion, now the Flagler Museum
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Palm Beach by Khowald, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Palm 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 Palm Beach for

  • beaches
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Palm Beach’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. Palm Beach 82, Penang 44: Palm Beach leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Palm Beach 47, Penang 86: Penang leads by 39 points.
Culture & sights. Palm Beach 45, Penang 70: Penang leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Palm Beach 32, Penang 40: Penang leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Palm Beach 58, Penang 55: Palm Beach leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Palm Beach 55, Penang 42: Palm Beach leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Palm Beach 62, Penang 52: Palm Beach leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Palm Beach 32, Penang 40: Penang leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Palm Beach 66, Penang 42: Palm Beach leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Palm Beach 12, Penang 78: Penang leads by 66 points.
Live music & performing arts. Palm Beach 45, Penang 30: Palm Beach leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Palm Beach 55, Penang 42: Palm Beach leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Palm Beach and Penang.

Your match

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

Palm Beach
49match

Wins on beaches and shopping with your weighting.

Penang
Best match
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.

Palm Beach in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
145 mmrain in the month
29 °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
Palm BeachPenang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Palm Beach: 1991-2020 normals, Palm Beach International (6.8 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePalm 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
Elevation2 m4 m
Main airportPresident Donald J. Trump International Airport (DJT)6 km from centre42 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasurePalm BeachPenang
City population9,245794,313
People per km²322-
Museums within 10 km49
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

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