VacationSelector
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

Penang or Valletta?

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
  • prices
  • wellness

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

Choose Valletta for

  • day trips
  • beaches
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Valletta’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, Valletta 68: Valletta leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Penang 86, Valletta 55: Penang leads by 31 points.
Culture & sights. Penang 70, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Penang 40, Valletta 46: Valletta leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Penang 55, Valletta 56: Valletta leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Penang 42, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Penang 52, Valletta 58: Valletta leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Penang 40, Valletta 62: Valletta leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Penang 42, Valletta 38: Penang leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Penang 78, Valletta 50: Penang leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Penang 30, Valletta 44: Valletta leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Penang 42, Valletta 32: Penang leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Penang and Valletta.

Your match

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

Penang
52match

Wins on food and drink and prices with your weighting.

Valletta
Best match
55match

Wins on day trips 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

Valletta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PenangValletta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePenangValletta
Official languageMalayEnglish, Maltese
CurrencyMalaysian Ringgit (MYR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number999112
Elevation4 m56 m
Main airportPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasurePenangValletta
City population794,3135,197
People per km²-6,496
Museums within 10 km916
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months6 months

Where else could you go?

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