Best time to visit Penang
Malaysia · Southeast Asia
All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.
The year in Penang
Tap a month for its page
- JanJPenang in January: sweet spot, busy
- FebFPenang in February: ok, busy
- MarMPenang in March: ok
- AprAPenang in April: ok
- MayMPenang in May: avoid
- JunJPenang in June: ok
- JulJPenang in July: sweet spot
- AugAPenang in August: ok
- SepSPenang in September: avoid
- OctOPenang in October: avoid
- NovNPenang in November: avoid
- DecDPenang in December: ok, busy
- Sweet spot
- Good
- OK
- Avoid
- Busy
No dry season: more than 6 rainy days in every month.
Plan this trip
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Flights from
Flights
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Where are you flying from? Choose your city for its flights and fares.
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Where to stay
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Luxury
Things to do
Car hire
Travel insurance
Check whether your bank card or home insurance already covers this trip.
If the trip needs a visa, the travel agent or visa centre usually sells the cover it asks for.
Mobile data (eSIM)
Your own plan's EU roaming may already cover this.
Renting a pocket Wi-Fi is the other common way to stay connected.
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Things to do in Penang
- Penang Hill Mountain
- Kek Lok Si Buddhist temple situated in Air Itam in Penang
- Khoo Kongsi Chinese clan temple in George Town, Penang, Malaysia
- Arulmigu Balathandayuthapani Temple, Penang Waterfall Hill Hindu Temple in Malaysia
- Snake Temple Chinese temple in George Town, Penang, Malaysia
- Pinang Peranakan Mansion Historic house museum in Penang, Malaysia
- Kong Hock Keong Temple Taoist temple in George Town, Malaysia
Tours and tickets in Penang
Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too. Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank
Sights and their lines from Wikivoyage, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, and Wikidata; in order of how often each one's Wikipedia article was read on phones in the last 12 months.
Month by month
No fare history for this route yet, so this ranking is climate and crowds only — the price column will fill in as the scanner collects.
| Month | Max °C | Rain days | Humidity | Sun h/day | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 30° | 10d | 81% | 9.3h | sweet spot busy | busier than usual |
| Feb | 31° | 9d | 79% | 10.1h | okbusy | busier than usual |
| Mar | 31° | 13d | 82% | 10.1h | ok | 31C max, 13 rainy days |
| Apr | 31° | 13d* | 86% | 9.4h | ok | 31C max, 13 rainy days |
| May | 30° | 22d | 87% | 8.7h | avoid | monsoon: 22 rainy days, 419mm |
| Jun | 30° | 15d | 85% | 9.3h | ok | 30C max, 15 rainy days |
| Jul | 30° | 12d | 84% | 9.4h | sweet spot | 30C max, 12 rainy days |
| Aug | 30° | 14d | 85% | 9.1h | ok | 30C max, 14 rainy days |
| Sep | 30° | 18d | 86% | 8.3h | avoid | monsoon: 18 rainy days, 332mm |
| Oct | 29° | 23d | 88% | 8.1h | avoid | monsoon: 23 rainy days, 442mm |
| Nov | 29° | 25d | 89% | 7.6h | avoid | monsoon: 25 rainy days, 412mm |
| Dec | 30° | 14d | 85% | 8.4h | okbusy | busier than usual |
Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.
Weather read at George Town, the old town, 14 km from the airport (PEN): ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.* Rainy days in April are as the weather station at Penang (14 km away) counts them, where it and the model disagree on a wet month (WMO 48601, 2017–2026).
A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.
How busy it gets
Then and now
Penang's March days now average 31.1°C, 1.2°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 7 of 12 months are clearly warmer.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981–90 | 29.4° | 29.9° | 29.9° | 29.8° | 29.8° | 30.1° | 29.7° | 29.7° | 29.0° | 28.7° | 28.6° | 28.8° |
| 2017–26 | 30.2° | 30.9° | 31.1° | 30.5° | 30.4° | 30.3° | 30.4° | 30.2° | 29.7° | 29.3° | 29.1° | 29.6° |
| Change | +0.8° | +1.0° | +1.2° | +0.7° | +0.6° | +0.1° | +0.7° | +0.4° | +0.7° | +0.6° | +0.5° | +0.7° |
The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.
Getting there
How far Penang is, and what it costs, depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.
- from Kuala Lumpur
- from Singapore
- from Ho Chi Minh City
- from Bangkok
- from Jakarta
- from Kolkata
- from Chennai
- from Hong Kong
Open in Rome2rio for every way from to Penang, flying or not.
Before you go
Type G plugs at 240 V. Drives on the left. The currency is the Malaysian ringgit. UK Foreign Office: avoid all but essential travel to parts. Global Affairs Canada: Exercise normal security precautions (with regional advisories). US State Department: Level 1: Exercise Normal Precautions. Everything for Malaysia: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.
Being there
On arrival
- Paying — Cards work in most shops, restaurants and hotels, but DuitNow QR codes are even more common; visitors from 21 countries, India, China, Japan and Australia among them, can pay them with the Touch 'n Go eWallet, signing up with their own phone number and a card from home. Take cash to rural areas.
- UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
- Tipping — Not customary; many air-conditioned restaurants add a 10% service charge, shown as ++ on prices.
Getting around Penang
- Apps — Rides: Bolt, Grab. Maps: Google Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: WhatsApp.
One of the best ways to sight see is to walk around George Town; but wear light clothes, start early in the morning, and put on plenty of sun-block during the daytime. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Penang, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Help
- Emergency — police and ambulance 999 · fire 994. From a mobile, 112 also reaches an ambulance.
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.
Your embassy — : how to reach your embassy or consulate abroad. A guess from your city, : a city is not a passport.
Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 3 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.
Sources (19)
- gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/malaysia/getting-help
- travel.gc.ca/destinations/malaysia
- grab.com/my/transport
- bolt.eu/en/cities/kuala-lumpur
- mcmc.gov.my/skmmgovmy/media/General/IUS-2022.pdf
- reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2026/malaysia
- tngdigital.com.my
- tngdigital.com.my/international-tourists
- kliaekspres.com/offers/our-offers/get-25-off-your-klia-ekspres-airport-transfer-with-visa-card
- developers.google.com/maps/coverage
- apple.com/ios/feature-availability
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klang_Valley_Integrated_Transit_System
- en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Malaysia
- en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Kuala_Lumpur
- pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2286608
- nipl.com/uploads/Press_Release_NPCI_International_signs_agreement_with_Payments_Network_Malaysia_81a168b227.pdf
- paynet.my/about-us/media-centre/press-release/payments-network-malaysia-and-india-npci-international-sign-agreement-to-enable-cross-border-qr-payments.html
- nipl.com/uploads/NIPL_Razorpay_Curlec_partner_to_introduce_UPI_in_Malaysia_1dd408c92b.pdf
- nipl.com/uploads/Towards_Greater_Digital_Public_Good_NIPL_Q1_Newsletter_168a7608b4.pdf
Penang in pictures
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Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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HundenvonPenang, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What Penang is like
Penang (Malay: Pulau Pinang; Mandarin: 槟城), renowned as the Pearl of the Orient, is a state on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth seeing
- Penang island, in particular, is full of things to see, including the great views of George Town and environs and across to Seberang Perai from Penang Hill, the tremendous Kek Lok Si pagoda in Ayer Itam… More on Wikivoyage
- Worth doing
- The secluded beaches of Pantai Kerachut, Muka Head, and Teluk Kampi are located on the northern coast. There is an old lighthouse at Muka Head beach. More on Wikivoyage
- Getting in
- Penang International Airport (PEN IATA), formerly Bayan Lepas International Airport, is the third largest airport in Malaysia and situated in Bayan Lepas, about 16 km (9.9 mi) south of George Town. More on Wikivoyage
- Staying safe
- Penang is relatively a very safe place for travellers. However, as in most other places, Penang has its share of crime, so common precautions must be taken against snatch-thieves and scammers. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Penang, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.
Around Penang
Also in Malaysia
- Cameron Highlands best Mar, Jun, Jul
- Ipoh best Jan, Feb, Jul
- Kuala Lumpur best Feb, May, Jun
- Kuching best Jul
- Langkawi best Jan, Feb, Jul
- Malacca best Jan, Feb, Jul
- Perhentian Islands best Mar, Apr, Jul
Nearby
- Ko Lanta Thailand · 281 km
- Phi Phi Islands Thailand · 310 km
- Lake Toba Indonesia · 347 km
- Phuket Thailand · 356 km
Kind of place
Penang is in Malaysia, Southeast Asia. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.
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