VacationSelector
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside
The City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia
ValenciaThe City of Arts and Sciences

Photos: Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Valencia by Francesco Ungaro, Pexels License.

Penang or Valencia?

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 Valencia for

  • getting around
  • beaches
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Valencia’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, Valencia 78: Valencia leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Penang 86, Valencia 74: Penang leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Penang 70, Valencia 68: Penang leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Penang 40, Valencia 66: Valencia leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Penang 55, Valencia 60: Valencia leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Penang 42, Valencia 70: Valencia leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Penang 52, Valencia 75: Valencia leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Penang 40, Valencia 76: Valencia leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Penang 42, Valencia 57: Valencia leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Penang 78, Valencia 57: Penang leads by 21 points.
Live music & performing arts. Penang 30, Valencia 55: Valencia leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Penang and Valencia are level on 42.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Penang and Valencia.

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.

Valencia
Best match
65match

Wins on getting around 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

Valencia in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
7 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PenangValencia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre). Valencia: 1991-2020 normals, Valencia (1.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePenangValencia
Official languageMalaySpanish
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 m15 m
Main airportPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinationsValencia Airport (VLC)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePenangValencia
City population794,313840,792
People per km²-6,242
Museums within 10 km945
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Valencia 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.