VacationSelector
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside
Elizabeth Quay and the centre of Perth, Perth
PerthElizabeth Quay and the centre of Perth

Photos: Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Perth by Samuel Wiki, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Penang or Perth?

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 Penang for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Perth for

  • beaches
  • families
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Perth’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. Penang 44, Perth 86: Perth leads by 42 points.
Food & drink. Penang 86, Perth 58: Penang leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Penang 70, Perth 42: Penang leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Penang 40, Perth 42: Perth leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Penang 55, Perth 72: Perth leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Penang 42, Perth 48: Perth leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Penang 52, Perth 74: Perth leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Penang 40, Perth 55: Perth leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Penang 42, Perth 44: Perth leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Penang 78, Perth 28: Penang leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Penang 30, Perth 50: Perth leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Penang 42, Perth 38: Penang leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Penang and Perth.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Penang
52match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Perth
53match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Perth in July

19 °Cdaytime high
8 °Cnight-time low
145 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
20 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PenangPerth

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre). Perth: 1991-2020 normals, Perth (7.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePenangPerth
Official languageMalayEnglish
CurrencyMalaysian Ringgit (MYR)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+8
Emergency number999000
Elevation4 m2 m
Main airportPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinationsPerth International Airport (PER)10 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasurePenangPerth
City population794,3132,141,834
People per km²-334
Museums within 10 km915
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Penang or Perth 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.