VacationSelector
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside
The Great Mosque with the mountains behind, Tirana
TiranaThe Great Mosque with the mountains behind

Photos: Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Tirana by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Penang or Tirana?

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
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

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

Choose Tirana for

  • day trips
  • nightlife
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Tirana’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, Tirana 46: Tirana leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Penang 86, Tirana 57: Penang leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Penang 70, Tirana 42: Penang leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Penang 40, Tirana 58: Tirana leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Penang 55, Tirana 62: Tirana leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Penang 42, Tirana 64: Tirana leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Penang 52, Tirana 40: Penang leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Penang 40, Tirana 54: Tirana leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Penang 42, Tirana 32: Penang leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Penang 78, Tirana 76: Penang leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Penang 30, Tirana 32: Tirana leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Penang 42, Tirana 27: Penang leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Penang and Tirana.

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 culture and sights with your weighting.

Tirana
49match

Wins on day trips and nightlife 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

Tirana in July

31 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
43 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
PenangTirana

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre). Tirana: 1961-1990 normals, Tirana (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePenangTirana
Official languageMalayAlbanian
CurrencyMalaysian Ringgit (MYR)Lek (ALL)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number999112
Elevation4 m110 m
Main airportPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinationsTirana International Airport Mother Teresa (TIA)13 km from centre121 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasurePenangTirana
City population794,313389,323
People per km²-9,314
Museums within 10 km911
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Tirana 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.