VacationSelector
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside
The Croatian National Theatre, Zagreb
ZagrebThe Croatian National Theatre

Photos: Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Zagreb by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Penang or Zagreb?

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

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • prices

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

Choose Zagreb for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Zagreb’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, Zagreb 10: Penang leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Penang 86, Zagreb 55: Penang leads by 31 points.
Culture & sights. Penang 70, Zagreb 56: Penang leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Penang 40, Zagreb 47: Zagreb leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Penang 55, Zagreb 62: Zagreb leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Penang 42, Zagreb 60: Zagreb leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Penang and Zagreb are level on 52.
Getting around. Penang 40, Zagreb 70: Zagreb leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Penang 42, Zagreb 40: Penang leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Penang 78, Zagreb 60: Penang leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Penang 30, Zagreb 52: Zagreb leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Penang 42, Zagreb 33: Penang leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Penang and Zagreb.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Penang
52match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

Zagreb
50match

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

Zagreb in July

29 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PenangZagreb

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre). Zagreb: 1991-2020 normals, Zagreb / Gric (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePenangZagreb
Official languageMalayCroatian
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 m127 m
Main airportPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinationsZagreb Franjo Tuđman International Airport (ZAG)11 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasurePenangZagreb
City population794,313767,131
Museums within 10 km927
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Zagreb 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.