VacationSelector
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside
Hawthorne Bridge and downtown, Portland
PortlandHawthorne Bridge and downtown

Photos: Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Portland by Cacophony, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Penang or Portland?

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
  • culture and sights
  • beaches

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

Choose Portland for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Portland’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, Portland 20: Penang leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Penang 86, Portland 68: Penang leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Penang 70, Portland 38: Penang leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Penang 40, Portland 52: Portland leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Penang 55, Portland 84: Portland leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Penang 42, Portland 58: Portland leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Penang 52, Portland 55: Portland leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Penang 40, Portland 62: Portland leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Penang 42, Portland 52: Portland leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Penang 78, Portland 38: Penang leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Penang 30, Portland 55: Portland leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Penang and Portland are level on 42.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Penang and Portland.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Penang
52match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Portland
52match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and live music and the arts 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
30 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Portland in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PenangPortland

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre). Portland: 1991-2020 normals, Portland International Airport (9.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePenangPortland
Official languageMalay-
CurrencyMalaysian Ringgit (MYR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number999911
Elevation4 m152 m
Main airportPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinationsPortland International Airport (PDX)10 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasurePenangPortland
City population794,313652,503
People per km²-1,736
Museums within 10 km917
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Penang or Portland 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.