VacationSelector
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside
The church of San Francisco under a blue sky, Quito
QuitoThe church of San Francisco under a blue sky

Photos: Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Quito by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Penang or Quito?

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

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • families

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

Choose Quito for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Quito’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, Quito 5: Penang leads by 39 points.
Food & drink. Penang 86, Quito 54: Penang leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Penang 70, Quito 77: Quito leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Penang and Quito are level on 40.
Nature & outdoors. Penang 55, Quito 86: Quito leads by 31 points.
Day trips. Penang 42, Quito 55: Quito leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Penang 52, Quito 32: Penang leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Penang 40, Quito 45: Quito leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Penang 42, Quito 40: Penang leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Penang and Quito are level on 78.
Live music & performing arts. Penang 30, Quito 38: Quito leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Penang 42, Quito 44: Quito leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Penang and Quito.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Penang
52match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

Quito
50match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips 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

Quito in July

18 °Cdaytime high
5 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PenangQuito

Where the figures come from

Quito's station stands 208 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre). Quito: 1961-1990 normals, Izobamba-Santa Catalina (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePenangQuito
Official languageMalaySpanish, Shuar, Northern Quichua
CurrencyMalaysian Ringgit (MYR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-5
Emergency number999911
Elevation4 m2,850 m
Main airportPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinationsMariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO)20 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasurePenangQuito
City population794,3131,763,275
People per km²-4,735
Museums within 10 km916
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Quito 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.