VacationSelector
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Penang or Santa Monica?

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 Santa Monica for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Monica’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, Santa Monica 66: Santa Monica leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Penang 86, Santa Monica 60: Penang leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Penang 70, Santa Monica 35: Penang leads by 35 points.
Nightlife. Penang 40, Santa Monica 38: Penang leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Penang 55, Santa Monica 72: Santa Monica leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Penang 42, Santa Monica 64: Santa Monica leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Penang 52, Santa Monica 70: Santa Monica leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Penang 40, Santa Monica 52: Santa Monica leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Penang 42, Santa Monica 56: Santa Monica leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Penang 78, Santa Monica 14: Penang leads by 64 points.
Live music & performing arts. Penang 30, Santa Monica 38: Santa Monica leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Penang 42, Santa Monica 45: Santa Monica leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Penang and Santa Monica.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Penang
52match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Santa Monica
51match

Wins on beaches 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

Santa Monica in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PenangSanta Monica

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePenangSanta Monica
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 m32 m
Main airportPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePenangSanta Monica
City population794,31393,076
People per km²-4,270
Museums within 10 km919
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 Santa Monica 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.