VacationSelector
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside
Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
VaranasiRowing boats below the ghats in the morning light

Photos: Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Varanasi by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Penang or Varanasi?

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

  • families
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Varanasi for

  • live music and the arts
  • prices
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Varanasi’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, Varanasi 4: Penang leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Penang 86, Varanasi 55: Penang leads by 31 points.
Culture & sights. Penang 70, Varanasi 80: Varanasi leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Penang 40, Varanasi 10: Penang leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Penang 55, Varanasi 18: Penang leads by 37 points.
Day trips. Penang and Varanasi are level on 42.
Good for families. Penang 52, Varanasi 5: Penang leads by 47 points.
Getting around. Penang 40, Varanasi 28: Penang leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Penang 42, Varanasi 55: Varanasi leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Penang 78, Varanasi 92: Varanasi leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Penang 30, Varanasi 58: Varanasi leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Penang 42, Varanasi 30: Penang leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Penang and Varanasi.

Your match

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

Penang
Best match
52match

Wins on families and beaches with your weighting.

Varanasi
40match

Wins on live music and the arts and prices 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
30 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Varanasi in July

35 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
249 mmrain in the month
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PenangVaranasi

Where the figures come from

Varanasi has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasurePenangVaranasi
Official languageMalayHindi, English
CurrencyMalaysian Ringgit (MYR)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+5:30
Emergency number999108 or 112
Elevation4 m76 m
Main airportPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasurePenangVaranasi
City population794,3131,198,491
People per km²-14,598
Museums within 10 km92
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Penang or Varanasi 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.