VacationSelector
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside
The cathedral above the old town, Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de CompostelaThe cathedral above the old town

Photos: Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Santiago de Compostela by Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga), CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Penang or Santiago de Compostela?

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

  • food and drink
  • prices
  • beaches

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

Choose Santiago de Compostela for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago de Compostela’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, Santiago de Compostela 32: Penang leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Penang 86, Santiago de Compostela 68: Penang leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Penang and Santiago de Compostela are level on 70.
Nightlife. Penang 40, Santiago de Compostela 45: Santiago de Compostela leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Penang 55, Santiago de Compostela 62: Santiago de Compostela leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Penang 42, Santiago de Compostela 72: Santiago de Compostela leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Penang 52, Santiago de Compostela 42: Penang leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Penang 40, Santiago de Compostela 70: Santiago de Compostela leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Penang 42, Santiago de Compostela 35: Penang leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Penang 78, Santiago de Compostela 64: Penang leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Penang 30, Santiago de Compostela 40: Santiago de Compostela leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Penang and Santiago de Compostela are level on 42.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Penang and Santiago de Compostela.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Penang
52match

Wins on food and drink and prices with your weighting.

Santiago de Compostela
54match

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

Santiago de Compostela in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
41 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PenangSantiago de Compostela

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre). Santiago de Compostela: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago / Labacolla (8.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePenangSantiago de Compostela
Official languageMalaySpanish
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 m260 m
Main airportPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinationsSantiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport (SCQ)10 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePenangSantiago de Compostela
City population794,313100,965
People per km²-459
Museums within 10 km96
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Santiago de Compostela 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.