VacationSelector
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside
The Riva in front of Diocletian's Palace, Split
SplitThe Riva in front of Diocletian's Palace

Photos: Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Split by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Penang or Split?

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
  • shopping

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

Choose Split for

  • day trips
  • beaches
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Split’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, Split 75: Split leads by 31 points.
Food & drink. Penang 86, Split 57: Penang leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Penang 70, Split 66: Penang leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Penang 40, Split 52: Split leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Penang 55, Split 77: Split leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Penang 42, Split 78: Split leads by 36 points.
Good for families. Penang 52, Split 54: Split leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Penang 40, Split 67: Split leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. Penang 42, Split 32: Penang leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Penang 78, Split 45: Penang leads by 33 points.
Live music & performing arts. Penang 30, Split 37: Split leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Penang 42, Split 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 Split.

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.

Split
Best match
57match

Wins on day trips and beaches 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

Split in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
25 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PenangSplit

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre). Split: 1991-2020 normals, Split / Marjan (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePenangSplit
Official languageMalayCroatian
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 m0 m
Main airportPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinationsSplit Saint Jerome Airport (SPU)12 km from centre69 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasurePenangSplit
City population794,313160,577
Museums within 10 km911
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km14
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Penang or Split 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.