Penang: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
In 1786 Francis Light landed on an almost empty island and claimed it for the East India Company — the first British settlement in Southeast Asia, thirty-three years before Singapore. Then he did the thing that made the place: he declared it a free port with no duties at all. Chinese, Tamil, Arab, Acehnese, Armenian and Burmese traders came because of that single decision, and the whole character of George Town is a tax policy. Two hours, flat, and very hot after ten.
A short history of Penang
In 1786 the British trader Francis Light obtained the island of Penang from the Sultan of Kedah and founded George Town on it, the first British settlement in the Malay Peninsula. He declared it a duty-free port, and within a short time traders and labourers arrived from China, India, Sumatra and Europe. In 1826 the island became part of the Straits Settlements together with Malacca and Singapore. The different communities built temples, mosques, churches and shophouses here side by side, and in 2008 George Town, together with Malacca, was declared a World Heritage Site.
The ten best sights in Penang
1George TownA UNESCO site since 2008, and the first British settlement in Southeast Asia
2Fort CornwallisBuilt where Francis Light landed in 1786; the cannon is a Dutch gift of 1606
3The EsplanadeThe old cricket padang on the seafront, and the two civic buildings face it
4City Hall1903, and it was the first building in Penang with electric light and fans
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5Town Hall
1880, the older of the two, and it was the colonial social club rather than an office
6Chew JettyA village on stilts over the sea, built by one Chinese clan from the 1880s
7Weld QuayThe old waterfront where the godowns were; the clan jetties run off it
8Khoo Kongsi15 ringgit for foreigners, 10 for Malaysians. The roof burned the night it was finished. Verified 10/2026
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9Cheah Kongsi
The oldest clan house in Penang, 1810s, and far quieter than Khoo Kongsi
10Yap KongsiA small clan house on the Street of Harmony, in Straits Eclectic style
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Penang →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Penang:
Free walking tours in Penang
The free port, and who it brought
In 1786 Francis Light landed on an almost empty island and claimed it for the East India Company — the first British settlement in Southeast Asia, thirty-three years before Singapore. Then he did the thing that made the place: he declared it a free port with no duties at all. Chinese, Tamil, Arab, Acehnese, Armenian and Burmese traders came because of that single decision, and the whole character of George Town is a tax policy. Two hours, flat, and very hot after ten.
- Fort Cornwallis · Built on the spot where Light stepped ashore, and the cannon on the seaward wall has its own history: Seri Rambai was cast in the Netherlands, given to the Sultan of Johor in 1606, taken by pirates, recovered, and ended up here. Women still leave flowers on its barrel in the belief that it helps with fertility, which is why it is pointed the way it is.
- The Esplanade · The open green between the fort and the sea was the cricket ground, and the two separate buildings facing it tell you how a colony worked: the Town Hall of 1880 was the social club for Europeans only, and the City Hall of 1903 beside it was the municipal administration. One was for leisure and one was for governing, and locals were allowed into neither.
- Chew Jetty · From the 1880s Chinese clans who worked the docks built villages on stilts over the water, one jetty per clan, because the sea was not land and so was not taxed or titled. There were many more; seven survive. Chew Jetty is the largest and about seventy-five families still live on it. The houses are wood, the walkway is wood, and the sea is directly under the floor.
- Khoo Kongsi · A clan house for one Hokkien family, and the story the Khoos tell is this: the first version was finished in 1898 and the roof burned down that same night. The family concluded that the building had been too grand and had offended heaven, and when they rebuilt it in 1906 they deliberately made it one tier less ornate. It is still the most elaborate clan house in Southeast Asia. Fifteen ringgit for foreigners, verified 10/2026.
- Street of Harmony · Within five hundred metres of each other on one street: the Kapitan Keling Mosque of 1801, built by Indian Muslim traders; the Kuan Yin Teng Chinese temple of 1728, which predates the British entirely; a Hindu temple; and St George’s Anglican church of 1818. That was not planning for tolerance — it is what happens when a free port hands land to whoever arrives and asks for some.
- St George’s Church · Consecrated in 1819 and the oldest Anglican church in Southeast Asia, and it was built by convict labour — Penang was a penal station as well as a port, and convicts transported from India built much of early George Town including this church and the roads. The Japanese used it as a supply depot and it was nearly derelict by 1945.
The shophouses and the money
George Town has around five thousand pre-war shophouses, and that number is the reason UNESCO listed it in 2008 — it is the largest surviving ensemble of them anywhere. The form is fixed: narrow front, deep plan, an open air-well in the middle for light and rain, a five-foot covered walkway outside. Three of the houses on this walk were built by men who arrived with nothing. Two hours, and all of it in shade.
- Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion · Cheong Fatt Tze arrived in Java as a teenager with nothing, carried water for a living, and died one of the richest men in Asia — the New York Times called him the Rockefeller of the East. The house has thirty-eight rooms, five courtyards, seven staircases and two hundred and twenty windows, and the indigo blue is a lime wash with natural indigo in it, which was ordinary at the time and is now the reason people photograph it. Twenty-five ringgit, verified 10/2026.
- Pinang Peranakan Mansion · The Peranakan — Baba-Nyonya — were Chinese families who had been in the Straits for generations and had become something else: Malay-influenced food and dress, English education, Chinese ancestor worship, and their own Hokkien-Malay creole. This house is shown as one of them furnished it, with over a thousand objects, and the mixture in a single room is the whole point.
- Sun Yat Sen Museum · An ordinary shophouse at 120 Armenian Street, and in 1910 Sun Yat Sen moved his Southeast Asian headquarters into it. The Penang Conference was held here in November 1910 and planned the Canton uprising; the funds were raised from Penang Chinese merchants. A revolution that changed China was organised in a terraced house in Malaysia.
- Armenian Street · Named after the Armenian traders who settled here in the early nineteenth century and built a church — and the community is completely gone, church included. The Sarkies brothers, Armenians from Isfahan, founded the Eastern and Oriental Hotel here and then Raffles in Singapore and the Strand in Rangoon. The street art that draws the crowds now is from 2012.
- The street art · In 2012 a Lithuanian artist, Ernest Zacharevic, was commissioned to paint a handful of murals for the George Town Festival, and he used real local children and real bicycles fixed to the wall. They became the single most photographed thing in Penang within a year. The city then commissioned dozens more, most of which are not his, and the originals are now faded and under glass.
- Hin Bus Depot · A bus terminal built in 1947 and abandoned for decades, and Zacharevic used it as his studio in 2012 for the exhibition that launched the murals. It became an arts space afterwards and now has a Sunday market and galleries in the bus bays. It is the clearest example in George Town of what the heritage listing actually did: it made disuse valuable.
The hill, the temple and the other island
Penang is not only George Town. The island is twenty-five kilometres long with a granite spine down the middle, and on it are a hill station the British built to escape the heat, the largest Buddhist temple complex in Malaysia, and a national park that is officially the smallest in the world. Half a day with the funicular and a bus, and the temperature at the top of the hill is about five degrees lower than at the bottom.
- Penang Hill · The British started building bungalows up here in the 1790s because the heat at sea level was killing them, and for a century the only way up was on foot or in a sedan chair carried by porters. The funicular opened in 1923 and the current cars, installed in 2010, do the one thousand nine hundred metres in about five minutes — the old ones took half an hour with a change halfway. Thirty ringgit return for foreigners, verified 10/2026.
- Kek Lok Si · Begun in 1890 and still being added to, and the Pagoda of Ten Thousand Buddhas is the thing to look at: it has a Chinese octagonal base, a Thai middle section and a Burmese crown, in one tower, because the abbot wanted the three Buddhist traditions of the region in a single building. Entry is free; the pagoda is two ringgit and the cable car up to the Guanyin statue is eight each way. Verified 10/2026.
- Botanic Gardens · Opened in 1884 on the site of a granite quarry, which is why there is a waterfall in it — the quarry cut into the stream. Its first superintendent, Charles Curtis, collected across the peninsula and the garden supplied plants to the whole region. The long-tailed macaques here are aggressive about food and feeding them is now an offence with a fine.
- Dhammikarama Burmese Temple · Founded in 1803 and the oldest Buddhist temple in Penang, built by Burmese settlers on land bought by a Burmese woman — and directly across the street is a Thai temple founded in 1845 with a thirty-three-metre reclining Buddha in it. Two national Buddhist traditions facing each other across a suburban road, each with its own art and liturgy, both in a Malay Muslim state.
- Penang National Park · Gazetted in 2003 and at twenty-three square kilometres it is the smallest national park in the world. Behind the beach at Pantai Kerachut is a meromictic lake — a body of water where fresh water sits on top of salt water without mixing, which happens in only a handful of places on earth and here only for part of the year, when the sandbar closes.
- Balik Pulau · The name means the back of the island, and that is exactly what it is: paddy fields, nutmeg and durian orchards, Malay villages, and almost no visitors. Penang’s durian is a serious agricultural product — specific named cultivars from specific hillsides, sold by the tree — and the season, around June and July, brings buyers from Singapore and China up these roads.
Getting to Penang and getting around
- Penang Airport · 14 kilometres south at Bayan Lepas; the airport bus takes about an hour
- Komtar bus hub · Rapid Penang fares are by distance: 1.40 ringgit for the first 7 km. Verified 10/2026
- Penang ferry · The crossing to Butterworth, running since 1894, and still the cheapest way over
- Penang Sentral · On the mainland at Butterworth; the train to Kuala Lumpur leaves from there
- Swettenham Pier · The cruise terminal, and it is a five-minute walk from Fort Cornwallis
Cheap eats in Penang
Penang is the food city of Malaysia and the reason is the same as everything else here: a free port brought four cuisines and they borrowed from each other. The island’s own dishes are hybrids — char kway teow from Chinese noodles with Malay chilli, assam laksa which is sour tamarind and not coconut, nasi kandar from Tamil Muslim traders, and cendol with palm sugar. Everything is sold from a stall by one person who makes one dish. Four to fifteen ringgit.
- Lebuh Kimberley · Evenings only; 5 to 12 ringgit
- Air Itam market · About 6 ringgit; a breakfast dish
- Nasi kandar · Open 24 hours; busiest at 2am
- Chowrasta Market · Upstairs for pickles and nutmeg; mornings
- Gurney Drive hawker centre · Good for variety; locals eat inland
- Kopitiam white coffee · Learn the order: kopi, kopi-o, kopi-c, kosong
- Cendol and ais kacang · 3 to 6 ringgit; afternoons
- Teluk Kumbar seafood · Weighed in front of you; half the tourist price
Holy places in Penang
There is no better place in Asia to see what religious plurality looks like as architecture, and the reason is administrative rather than spiritual: Francis Light handed out land to every community that arrived, and they each built. Within one street you get an Indian Muslim mosque, a Chinese temple older than the colony, a Hindu temple and an Anglican church. Half a day, and shoulders and knees covered at all of them.
- Kapitan Keling Mosque · Robes are provided at the gate; non-Muslims welcome outside prayer
- Kuan Yin Teng · The busiest temple in the city; free
- Acheen Street Mosque · The hajj quarter; the minaret is Egyptian in style
- Kek Lok Si · Free; the pagoda is 2 ringgit. Verified 10/2026
- Dhammikarama Burmese Temple · Free; the Thai temple is across the road
- St George’s Church · Open most days; the oldest in Southeast Asia
- Snake Temple · Near the airport; fewer snakes than there were
- Han Jiang Ancestral Temple · Quiet; a UNESCO award for the restoration
Museums in Penang
The museums in Penang are mostly houses, and that is the right way round — the subject here is who lived on this island and what they built, and the buildings are the primary source. Two mansions, two clan houses, one shophouse where a revolution was planned, and a hill fort the Japanese used as a prison. None of them takes more than ninety minutes.
- Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion · 25 ringgit; take the scheduled tour. Verified 10/2026
- Pinang Peranakan Mansion · Over a thousand objects; 90 minutes
- Khoo Kongsi · 15 ringgit foreigners, 10 Malaysians. Verified 10/2026
- Sun Yat Sen Museum · Small, cheap, and the guide matters
- Penang State Museum · The 1867 riots section is the reason to go
- Suffolk House · Four kilometres out; nearly empty
- Penang War Museum · Left as found; not tidied up
- Protestant Cemetery · Free; read the dates on the stones
Nature and day trips near Penang
The island is twenty-five kilometres long with a granite ridge down the middle that rises to over eight hundred metres, and that ridge is why the British could live here: the hill station at the top is five degrees cooler. Around the edges are a national park that is the smallest in the world, a meromictic lake, two bridges that were each the longest in Asia when built, and the back of the island, which is agricultural and empty.
- Penang Hill · 30 ringgit return for foreigners. Verified 10/2026
- Penang National Park · Walk in from Teluk Bahang; no road inside
- Pantai Kerachut · 90 minutes on foot or 20 by boat
- Muka Head lighthouse · A steep 20 minutes from Monkey Beach
- Botanic Gardens · Free; do not feed the macaques
- Tropical Spice Garden · Guided or self-guided; book the cooking class ahead
- Balik Pulau · Durian season is June and July
- Penang Bridge · The ferry has run since 1894 and still does
Things to do in Penang with kids
- Penang Hill funicular · Five minutes up a very steep tunnel; 15 ringgit for foreign children
- Entopia · A butterfly farm with an indoor habitat, so it works in rain
- Escape Theme Park · Outdoor ropes, slides and the longest water slide in the world
- Chew Jetty · A walkway on stilts with the sea under the planks; free
- Street art hunt · The murals have real bicycles and swings fixed to the wall
- Monkey Beach · Ten minutes by boat from Teluk Bahang; there are real macaques
- Camera Museum · Small, hands-on, and there is a working camera obscura room
- Queensbay Mall · Air conditioning, a cinema and a food court — the rainy-afternoon answer
Nightlife in Penang
Penang’s night is food first and drink second, and the geography is clear: Lebuh Chulia and Love Lane for cheap bars in shophouses, Upper Penang Road for clubs, Gurney Drive for the promenade, and the hawker streets for everyone else. Malaysia is a Muslim-majority country and alcohol is taxed heavily, so a beer costs what a full meal costs — which tells you how the evening is normally spent.
- Love Lane · The cheapest bars; open till about two
- Lebuh Chulia · Bars, guesthouses and bike rental
- Upper Penang Road · Loud after midnight; 200 metres of it
- Gurney Drive · Free; the hawker centre is at the end
- Hin Bus Depot · A bar in the bus bays; Sunday market
- Night hawker streets · About 20 ringgit a head with drinks
Frequently asked questions about Penang
What is there to see in Penang?
The top sights in Penang are George Town, Fort Cornwallis and The Esplanade. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Penang?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Penang without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Penang?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Penang, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The free port, and who it brought.
How do you get to Penang and get around?
The main ways are Penang Airport, Komtar bus hub and Penang ferry. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Penang, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Penang that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Penang for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.