VacationSelector
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside
The Arctic Cathedral, Tromso
TromsoThe Arctic Cathedral

Photos: Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Tromso by Moyan Brenn, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Penang or Tromso?

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
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Tromso for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Tromso’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, Tromso 8: Penang leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Penang 86, Tromso 36: Penang leads by 50 points.
Culture & sights. Penang 70, Tromso 27: Penang leads by 43 points.
Nightlife. Penang 40, Tromso 38: Penang leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Penang 55, Tromso 92: Tromso leads by 37 points.
Day trips. Penang 42, Tromso 14: Penang leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Penang 52, Tromso 45: Penang leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Penang 40, Tromso 60: Tromso leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Penang 42, Tromso 15: Penang leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Penang 78, Tromso 11: Penang leads by 67 points.
Live music & performing arts. Penang 30, Tromso 32: Tromso leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Penang 42, Tromso 38: Penang leads by 4 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Penang
Best match
52match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Tromso
35match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Tromso in July

16 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
24 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PenangTromso

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

Before you go

MeasurePenangTromso
Official languageMalayNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi
CurrencyMalaysian Ringgit (MYR)Norwegian Krone (NOK)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number999Police 112, ambulance 113, fire 110
Elevation4 m20 m
Main airportPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinationsTromsø Airport (TOS)4 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePenangTromso
City population794,31379,943
People per km²-32
Museums within 10 km98
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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