VacationSelector
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja

Photos: Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License.

Penang or Reykjavik?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Reykjavik for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Reykjavik’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, Reykjavik 12: Penang leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Penang 86, Reykjavik 42: Penang leads by 44 points.
Culture & sights. Penang 70, Reykjavik 25: Penang leads by 45 points.
Nightlife. Penang 40, Reykjavik 45: Reykjavik leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Penang 55, Reykjavik 92: Reykjavik leads by 37 points.
Day trips. Penang 42, Reykjavik 35: Penang leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Penang 52, Reykjavik 55: Reykjavik leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Penang 40, Reykjavik 55: Reykjavik leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Penang 42, Reykjavik 25: Penang leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Penang 78, Reykjavik 6: Penang leads by 72 points.
Live music & performing arts. Penang 30, Reykjavik 45: Reykjavik leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Penang 42, Reykjavik 88: Reykjavik leads by 46 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Penang and Reykjavik.

Your match

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

Penang
Best match
52match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Reykjavik
44match

Wins on wellness and nature and the outdoors 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

Reykjavik in July

15 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
50 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
20 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PenangReykjavik

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre). Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePenangReykjavik
Official languageMalayIcelandic
CurrencyMalaysian Ringgit (MYR)Iceland Krona (ISK)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC
Emergency number999112
Elevation4 m8 m
Main airportPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinationsKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasurePenangReykjavik
City population794,313138,772
People per km²-569
Museums within 10 km923
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Penang or Reykjavik 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.