VacationSelector
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside
The White Tower from the promenade, Thessaloniki
ThessalonikiThe White Tower from the promenade

Photos: Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Thessaloniki by Destinygreece, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Penang or Thessaloniki?

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
  • wellness

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

Choose Thessaloniki for

  • nightlife
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Thessaloniki’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, Thessaloniki 55: Thessaloniki leads by 11 points.
Food & drink. Penang 86, Thessaloniki 77: Penang leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Penang 70, Thessaloniki 73: Thessaloniki leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Penang 40, Thessaloniki 76: Thessaloniki leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Penang 55, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Penang 42, Thessaloniki 74: Thessaloniki leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Penang 52, Thessaloniki 50: Penang leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Penang 40, Thessaloniki 60: Thessaloniki leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Penang 42, Thessaloniki 50: Thessaloniki leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Penang 78, Thessaloniki 66: Penang leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Penang 30, Thessaloniki 52: Thessaloniki leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Penang 42, Thessaloniki 33: Penang leads by 9 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Penang and Thessaloniki.

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.

Thessaloniki
Best match
61match

Wins on nightlife 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
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Thessaloniki in July

32 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PenangThessaloniki

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre). Thessaloniki: 1991-2020 normals, Thessaloniki Airport (14 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePenangThessaloniki
Official languageMalayGreek
CurrencyMalaysian Ringgit (MYR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number999112
Elevation4 m6 m
Main airportPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinationsThessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (SKG)14 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-15 days

By the numbers

MeasurePenangThessaloniki
City population794,313309,617
People per km²-16,042
Museums within 10 km932
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

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