VacationSelector
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum

Photos: Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Penang or Rome?

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
  • families

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

Choose Rome for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Rome’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, Rome 50: Rome leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Penang 86, Rome 82: Penang leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Penang 70, Rome 99: Rome leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Penang 40, Rome 58: Rome leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Penang 55, Rome 58: Rome leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Penang 42, Rome 92: Rome leads by 50 points.
Good for families. Penang 52, Rome 50: Penang leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Penang 40, Rome 60: Rome leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Penang 42, Rome 72: Rome leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Penang 78, Rome 38: Penang leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Penang 30, Rome 68: Rome leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Penang 42, Rome 40: Penang leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Penang and Rome.

Your match

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

Penang
52match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Rome
Best match
64match

Wins on day trips 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
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PenangRome

Where the figures come from

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre). Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePenangRome
Official languageMalayItalian
CurrencyMalaysian Ringgit (MYR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number999112
Elevation4 m21 m
Main airportPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinationsRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePenangRome
City population794,3132,748,109
People per km²-2,135
Museums within 10 km9178
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km17
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 Rome 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.