Home to bustling George Town, which shares a UNESCO World Heritage listing with another historic Straits city, Melaka, Penang Island is one of Malaysia’s most popular destinations—and with good reason. Travelers from history nerds to foodies, families, and social media mavens will find ample things to do on Penang Island. George Town offers colorful shophouses, clan houses, jetties, markets, temples, mansions, street art, and more. But you don’t have to travel far to find beaches, gardens, orchards, spice plantations, hilltop adventures, and a moving war museum.
Perched off the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, Penang has a typically tropical climate, which is to say it’s hot and steamy all year round. You’ll find the weather driest between mid-December and mid-March, although accommodation prices rise and crowds build around the Christmas, New Year, and Chinese New Year periods. Be it Chinese New Year or Thaipusam, Penangites love their festivals. Hungry Ghost Festival, in August or September, is a particularly colorful time to visit.
Spanning around 115 square miles (300 square kilometers), or more than four times the size of Manhattan Island, Penang Island offers transportation options from pedal-powered trishaws to a funicular railway. Sadly, while reliable and easy to research, buses outside George Town are also slow and infrequent. Many travelers opt to take tours, hire private drivers, book rideshares on Malaysia’s homegrown Grab app, or drive. As in most former British colonies, Malaysians drive on the left.
George Town is home to one of Southeast Asia’s grande dame hotels: the Eastern & Oriental Hotel (universally known as the E&O). Founded in 1885 by the Sarkies brothers, a group of Armenian hoteliers who also gave the world the original Raffles in Singapore, it’s been opulently refurbished and expanded of late. Even if you don’t reserve a room, the English-style afternoon tea served on silver in the grand Palm Court makes a relatively affordable indulgence.
