Penang (George Town)

George Town, the old British port on Penang island, is a UNESCO World Heritage city of shophouses, Chinese clan houses and temples, mosques and Hindu temples side by side, with murals on its walls. Its hawker food (char kway teow, assam laksa, nasi kandar) is the country's most famous. Penang Hill's funicular and the Kek Lok Si temple are outside town. Little India round Lebuh Pasar and Lebuh Queen has vegetarian restaurants and the Sri Mahamariamman temple. Trains stop at Butterworth on the mainland, a short ferry across.

Highlights

• George Town street-art and mural walk
• Khoo Kongsi clan house
• Blue Mansion (Cheong Fatt Tze)
• Penang Hill funicular at sunset
• Kek Lok Si temple
• Hawker food at Gurney Drive and New Lane
• Little India and the Sri Mahamariamman temple
• Clan jetties on stilts
• Penang National Park and Monkey Beach
• Nasi kandar and banana-leaf thalis

Things to do

• George Town heritage & street-art walkMorning · 3h
• Khoo Kongsi & Blue Mansion tourMorning · 2h 30m
• Penang Hill funicular & The Habitat canopy walkAfternoon · 3h
• Kek Lok Si templeAfternoon · 2h
• Hawker trail: Gurney Drive or New LaneEvening · 2h 30m
• Little India & Kapitan Keling Mosque walkEvening · 1h 30m
• Penang National Park trek to Monkey BeachMorning · 4h
• Clan jetties of Weld Quay (Chew Jetty)Afternoon · 1h
• Pinang Peranakan MansionMorning · 1h 30m
• Fort Cornwallis & the EsplanadeAfternoon · 1h 30m
• Penang Botanic GardensMorning · 2h
• Wat Chayamangkalaram reclining Buddha & the Dhammikarama Burmese templeAfternoon · 1h 30m
• Batu Ferringhi beach & night marketEvening · 2h 30m

Tours & tickets

When to go

Best time: December – March

• Thaipusam at Batu Caves — The biggest Thaipusam outside India: hundreds of thousands walk overnight from KL's Sri Mahamariamman temple to Batu Caves, many carrying kavadi and with pierced skin, and climb the 272 steps to the Murugan shrine. Penang (Waterfall Hill temple, with a silver chariot procession) and Ipoh celebrate too. Extraordinary to see; go before dawn, expect huge crowds, road closures and packed trains, and leave shoes and bags at the hotel.
• Chinese New Year — Two public holidays and a week of lion dances, lanterns and open houses, finest in Penang (Kek Lok Si lit up) and Melaka's Jonker Street. Many Chinese-run shops, hawker stalls and kopitiams close for 3-5 days, and buses and flights out of KL sell out the weekend before as people go home.
• Ramadan and Hari Raya Aidilfitri — During Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn to dusk: Malay restaurants are quiet by day and the evening Ramadan bazaars, with food stalls at every mosque and market, are the best street food of the year. Don't eat or drink in the street in Kelantan and Terengganu. At its end, Hari Raya Aidilfitri brings the "balik kampung" exodus: buses, trains and flights sell out weeks ahead and KL empties for a week. Dates move about 11 days earlier each year; they are set by the new moon.
• Deepavali — A national holiday for Malaysia's Indian community: Brickfields in KL and Little India in Penang fill with lights, kolam and stalls of sweets and saris in the week before. Homes hold open houses on the day.
• Year-end school holidays — Malaysian and Singaporean families travel in December: Cameron Highlands' road jams at weekends, Langkawi and Penang resorts are at their dearest round Christmas and New Year, and Melaka is packed with Singaporean weekenders. Book rooms and buses early.

Part of a longer route

Penang (George Town) is a stop on a curated circuit through Malaysia.