VacationSelector
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge

Photos: Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped; San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License.

Penang or San Francisco?

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
  • beaches
  • food and drink

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

Choose San Francisco for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on San Francisco’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, San Francisco 25: Penang leads by 19 points.
Food & drink. Penang 86, San Francisco 82: Penang leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Penang 70, San Francisco 68: Penang leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Penang 40, San Francisco 58: San Francisco leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Penang 55, San Francisco 80: San Francisco leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Penang 42, San Francisco 72: San Francisco leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Penang 52, San Francisco 66: San Francisco leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Penang 40, San Francisco 70: San Francisco leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Penang 42, San Francisco 58: San Francisco leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Penang 78, San Francisco 14: Penang leads by 64 points.
Live music & performing arts. Penang 30, San Francisco 76: San Francisco leads by 46 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Penang and San Francisco are level on 42.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Penang and San Francisco.

Your match

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

Penang
52match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

San Francisco
Best match
59match

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

San Francisco in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
13 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PenangSan Francisco

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre). San Francisco: 1981-2010 normals, Alameda Naval Air Station (9.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePenangSan Francisco
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 m16 m
Main airportPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinationsSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePenangSan Francisco
City population794,313873,965
People per km²-1,455
Museums within 10 km951
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 San Francisco 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.