VacationSelector
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside
Savannah City Hall and its golden dome, Savannah
SavannahSavannah City Hall and its golden dome

Photos: Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Savannah by Chris M Morris, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Penang or Savannah?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Savannah for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Savannah’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, Savannah 55: Savannah leads by 11 points.
Food & drink. Penang 86, Savannah 58: Penang leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Penang 70, Savannah 68: Penang leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Penang 40, Savannah 52: Savannah leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Penang 55, Savannah 48: Penang leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Penang 42, Savannah 60: Savannah leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Penang 52, Savannah 50: Penang leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Penang 40, Savannah 58: Savannah leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Penang and Savannah are level on 42.
Affordability. Penang 78, Savannah 35: Penang leads by 43 points.
Live music & performing arts. Penang 30, Savannah 40: Savannah leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Penang 42, Savannah 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 Savannah.

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 food and drink with your weighting.

Savannah
51match

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
30 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Savannah in July

34 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
144 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PenangSavannah

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre). Savannah: 1991-2020 normals, Savannah Airport (9.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePenangSavannah
Official languageMalay-
CurrencyMalaysian Ringgit (MYR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number999911
Elevation4 m15 m
Main airportPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinationsSavannah Hilton Head International Airport (SAV)12 km from centre39 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasurePenangSavannah
City population794,313147,780
People per km²-524
Museums within 10 km919
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Penang or Savannah 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.