Also available in: Deutsch
Along with Langkawi and the Perhentian Islands, Penang is one of Malaysia’s best-known and most visited islands. It’s easy and inexpensive to reach, and the Old Town of George Town is famous far beyond the country’s borders.
Penang – Diverse Culture With a Beautiful Old Town
On our last trip to Malaysia, we finally visited the island as well and spent a few days there. In this Penang travel report, we’ll share our first impressions and give you tips on how to get to Penang.
How to Get to Penang
There are many ways to get to Penang: bus, train, ferry, or plane. So you have plenty of options, and depending on how you’re traveling through Malaysia or what your budget is, you can choose what fits you best.
- Plane – this is probably the fastest way to get to Penang. Cheap flights are available, for example, from Kuala Lumpur, but also from other cities in Malaysia starting at around €15. You can also fly directly to Penang relatively cheaply from many international airports, for example, from Thailand, Indonesia, as well as China or Hong Kong. By the way, you’ll find the best overview of flights on Skyscanner.
- Bus – the bus is probably the option most long-term travelers use to get to Penang. It was also the option we used from Ipoh. But you can travel from many different cities in Malaysia at very low prices. Bus tickets are available either directly on-site at the bus terminals or easily and conveniently online at 12go.asia or easybook.com.
- Train – the train is also a popular option. However, it doesn’t stop directly in Penang but on the mainland in Butterworth. The train runs the Kuala Lumpur – Bangkok route and stops in Butterworth. From Kuala Lumpur, the trip takes about 6 hours and prices start at 59 ringgit. You can buy tickets directly at KL Sentral in Kuala Lumpur. To get to Penang, you’ll then need to take a ferry. It’s signposted from the train station in Butterworth, takes about 15 minutes, and currently costs 1.20 RM.
- Ferry – the last option would be the ferry. While there’s a short ferry from the mainland, as described above, there are also two somewhat longer routes. The first option is a ferry from the island of Langkawi to Penang. The trip takes just under 3 hours and costs about 70 RM. The second option is a ferry from Medan on Sumatra. The trip takes about 6 hours and costs 110 RM. You can buy tickets at the Tourist Center in George Town at the ferry terminal.
As you can see, you have plenty of options, and Penang is easy to reach. After arrival, however, you’ll often still need to take a taxi or the local bus to get to George Town or your hotel. Local buses cost about 2 RM, while a taxi ride can cost 30 RM and up.
Accommodation in Penang – Our Hotel Tip
For accommodation in Penang, we can recommend Campbell House. It has an excellent location, just a few meters from the bustling Lebuh Chulia street, making it a great starting point for exploring George Town on foot. The staff is very friendly and always ready to help. The rooms are very clean and elegantly furnished in colonial style. A highlight is the restaurant that offers breakfast on the rooftop terrace.
You can find a wide selection of budget-friendly hotels in George Town or other parts of Penang here.
First Impressions of Penang
After an almost 2-hour bus ride from Ipoh and another 20-minute taxi ride, we arrived at our hotel in George Town. Our first impression of the city was pretty surprising because it was huge, chaotic, and there was a lot of traffic.
The Kimberley Hotel was a very good base, so within a few minutes we were at the Komtar Bus Terminal to explore the city by bus, and on foot it didn’t take long to reach the popular Lebuh Cannon, either. For our first day, we set off on foot to see a bit of the Old Town.
Tip: If you don’t have much time in Penang but still want to see quite a bit, we can recommend a private city tour.
Of course, a tasty lunch couldn’t be missed! Penang is famous for its cuisine (which you can discover, for example, on a food tour), and on Lebuh Cannon we found our first small, cozy restaurant where we could try Laksa. It’s a kind of noodle soup with fish and vegetables, prepared with a coconut milk and chili base. Highly recommended!
After refueling, we continued along the street that’s also often referred to as Harmony Lane. That’s because you can find many buildings from different religions all together on one street here. Everyone lives peacefully side by side. It’s a great cultural mix in George Town.
Since we were already so excited about the street art in Ipoh, our first day in Penang was all about street art as well. So without much of a plan, we wandered through the streets of George Town to get a first impression and see what we wanted to explore over the next few days.
Many of the works were created by Ernest Zacharevic, a Lithuanian artist. As Penang became very popular with tourists because of this, more and more artworks were added over time. So in the Old Town, you can discover a new piece of street art around almost every corner. That makes a walk through George Town a must-do.
If you want to know where all the street art is located, you can take a look at Penang Tourism’s PDF brochure. But honestly, it’s a bit more exciting to find the pieces yourself. Some of them are very well hidden and/or in inconspicuous spots.
Conclusion
Penang is absolutely worth a trip! Our very first impressions were fantastic, and we immediately wanted to see more of the island and explore it. The cultural diversity is also very impressive, and Penang’s Malaysian cuisine is incredibly delicious.
We did imagine the island to be a bit quieter, meaning with less traffic, but aside from that, it didn’t disappoint us. As travel bloggers, we often arrive in new places with high expectations, which isn’t always an advantage, but we can only recommend Penang and George Town for a trip to Malaysia.
In future travel reports and articles, we’ll introduce you to many more exciting things you can do in and around George Town.
Penang: Tours and Tickets
Do you prefer to travel with a guide who knows the area very well? Then we recommend a guided tour with a local. This way you can get to know Penang in a completely different way. GetYourGuide offers a wide selection of exciting tours for Penang.
Have you ever been to Penang? How did you like it there? We look forward to hearing from you.
