VacationSelector
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Penang or Rotterdam?

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
  • beaches

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

Choose Rotterdam for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Rotterdam’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, Rotterdam 27: Penang leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Penang 86, Rotterdam 52: Penang leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. Penang 70, Rotterdam 58: Penang leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Penang 40, Rotterdam 52: Rotterdam leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Penang 55, Rotterdam 44: Penang leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Penang 42, Rotterdam 85: Rotterdam leads by 43 points.
Good for families. Penang 52, Rotterdam 66: Rotterdam leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Penang 40, Rotterdam 78: Rotterdam leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Penang 42, Rotterdam 55: Rotterdam leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Penang 78, Rotterdam 38: Penang leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Penang 30, Rotterdam 58: Rotterdam leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Penang and Rotterdam are level on 42.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Penang and Rotterdam.

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.

Rotterdam
Best match
55match

Wins on day trips and getting around 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

Rotterdam in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PenangRotterdam

Where the figures come from

Rotterdam has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Rotterdam's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre). Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePenangRotterdam
Official languageMalayDutch
CurrencyMalaysian Ringgit (MYR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number999112
Elevation4 m10 m
Main airportPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasurePenangRotterdam
City population794,313664,311
People per km²-2,080
Museums within 10 km940
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km15
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 Rotterdam 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.