VacationSelector
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside
The Cap Spartel lighthouse among palms, Tangier
TangierThe Cap Spartel lighthouse among palms

Photos: Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Tangier by Ideophagous, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Penang or Tangier?

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
  • families
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Tangier for

  • day trips
  • wellness
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Tangier’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, Tangier 50: Tangier leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Penang 86, Tangier 58: Penang leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Penang 70, Tangier 57: Penang leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Penang 40, Tangier 30: Penang leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Penang and Tangier are level on 55.
Day trips. Penang 42, Tangier 72: Tangier leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Penang 52, Tangier 35: Penang leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Penang and Tangier are level on 40.
Shopping & style. Penang and Tangier are level on 42.
Affordability. Penang 78, Tangier 76: Penang leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Penang 30, Tangier 28: Penang leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Penang 42, Tangier 50: Tangier leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Penang and Tangier.

Your match

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

Penang
Best match
52match

Wins on food and drink and families with your weighting.

Tangier
49match

Wins on day trips and wellness 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

Tangier in July

29 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
22 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PenangTangier

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre). Tangier: 1991-2020 normals, Tanger Aerodrome (9.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePenangTangier
Official languageMalayArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight
CurrencyMalaysian Ringgit (MYR)Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1
Emergency number999Police 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15
Elevation4 m56 m
Main airportPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinationsTangier Ibn Battuta Airport (TNG)11 km from centre50 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasurePenangTangier
City population794,3131,275,428
People per km²-6,393
Museums within 10 km96
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months3 months

Where else could you go?

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