VacationSelector
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Penang or Wellington?

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
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

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

Choose Wellington for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Wellington’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, Wellington 33: Penang leads by 11 points.
Food & drink. Penang 86, Wellington 62: Penang leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Penang 70, Wellington 44: Penang leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Penang 40, Wellington 45: Wellington leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Penang 55, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Penang 42, Wellington 40: Penang leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Penang 52, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Penang 40, Wellington 68: Wellington leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Penang and Wellington are level on 42.
Affordability. Penang 78, Wellington 33: Penang leads by 45 points.
Live music & performing arts. Penang 30, Wellington 56: Wellington leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Penang 42, Wellington 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 Wellington.

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 culture and sights with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts 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

Wellington in July

12 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PenangWellington

Where the figures come from

Wellington's sunshine is measured 47 km from the centre, at Paraparaumu Aerodrome.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePenangWellington
Official languageMalayEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyMalaysian Ringgit (MYR)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number999111
Elevation4 m0 m
Main airportPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasurePenangWellington
City population794,313216,200
People per km²-487
Museums within 10 km912
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 Wellington 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.