5 days in Penang on £80/day: the mid-range itinerary I'd actually do again (2026)

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I've been to Penang more than 10 times (which is either dedication or excessive, depending on how you feel about hawker food). This is the itinerary I'd hand to a friend asking what to do with five days at mid-range, around £80/day on the ground, not counting flights.

If you're still deciding whether to go, the Penang Verdict post (coming soon) covers that and how Penang stacks up against the rest of Southeast Asia. This one assumes you're going.

Short version: 2.5 days in George Town, half a day at Penang Hill, a full day at Batu Ferringhi for the seafood, and an airport-area Day 5. Stay in George Town - anything outside the heritage core means Grab-ing to and from every meal, which kills the rhythm of the trip.

What's the ideal number of days for Penang?

Five.

Three works if you only want George Town. You'll cover the heritage core and eat well, then run out of things to do. Seven feels long unless you actively want a slow trip. Five is the sweet spot: two full days in George Town, a half-day at Penang Hill, a beach day at Batu Ferringhi, and an easy airport-area Day 5.

Four works at a push if you drop the beach.

When's the best time to visit Penang?

December to February is peak. Cooler (relatively), dry, the most reliable weather. It's also when prices spike and George Town fills up. Book early.

March to May is the underrated alternative. Hot, properly hot, around 32–34°C, but pre-monsoon, dry, and meaningfully cheaper. This is when I tend to go.

If you're a durian fan, time your trip for June or July. Peak harvest season. Penang is one of the best places in Southeast Asia for durian, and the difference between in-season and out-of-season fruit is night and day. Variety and freshness peak here. If you've tried durian in the West and decided it's not for you, the in-season Penang version is worth one more shot. It's a different fruit.

Skip October and November. Monsoon season. Not constant rain, but enough to make hawker carts unreliable and walking unpleasant.

Avoid Chinese New Year. Many family-run hawker stalls close for a full week, including some of the named ones below. If your trip falls on CNY, your Penang trip is half what it could be.

Day 1 — George Town pt 1: heritage core, art, and the night market

Arrival day. George Town is small enough to walk most of in an afternoon, so use Day 1 to map out the streets you'll come back to.

Morning and early afternoon: street art, boutiques, the heritage core. Start in the lanes around Armenian Street, Lebuh Acheh, and Cannon Street. The street art is more interesting than I expected the first time. Full installations rather than just murals, woven into a few corners that feel built around them. Mix in the cafés and boutiques as you go. There's no point rushing Day 1 if you've come straight off a flight.

(Early) Lunch — Penang Road Famous Laksa. Touristy, busy, earns it. Penang laksa is the asam (sour-fish) version, very different from curry laksa, and Penang Road's is the benchmark most visitors taste first. Around RM10 (£1.80).

Afternoon — Wai Kei Cafe (槐記蜜味燒臘). Roast meats: charsiew, duck, pork belly. The caramelised crust is the point. Worth a second meal if you have the appetite. RM15 (£2.70).

Late afternoon — 3rd Avenue 888 Food Court. Right next to where most mid-range hotels sit, so easy to drop into between things. The prawn mee and char kuay teow stalls are the picks. Ignore the rest.

Sunset — walk Chew Jetty. One of the working clan jetties: wooden boardwalks built out over the water, families still living on them. Come for the walk. Water turns gold, fishing boats heading back in, families coming home along the boardwalks. It's pretty in a way that doesn't feel staged. Free.

Night — Chulia Street: dinner and drinks. This is where George Town's nightlife actually lives. The night market sets up after dark, and the kerb-side wonton mee stall is my favourite single dish in the whole trip (~RM8 / £1.45). The strip itself is lined with bars and pubs catered to foreigners. Cheap beer, low-key crowd, easy place to spend a few hours.

Day 2 — George Town pt 2: hawker deep dive and Gurney

Day 2 is the food day. Gurney sits in the middle if you want a break from heritage-core walking, but the real point is the hawker run.

Morning — Kheng Pin Kafe. Char kuay teow and prawn mee, both at high standard. Kheng Pin gets busy from 9am, so go earlier. RM12 (£2.15) for both dishes.

Mid-morning — Wan Dao Tou Penang Laksa. Less famous than Penang Road's, on the Michelin Guide list, and (depending on who you ask) the better version. Pair it against yesterday's Penang Road bowl and you'll have an opinion by the end. Yes, I really do compare laksa bowls across visits. RM10 (£1.80).

Afternoon — Burma Road cluster. This is where Penang's "you have to know where to go" reputation earns out. Multiple hawker stalls within short walking distance, including the Michelin Guide–listed Duck Blood Curry Mee that nobody finds on the basic itinerary. There is also a chicken rice stall with juciest kampong chicken within the same seating area, and a Michelin Guide-listed prawn mee in the food court on its right. Each dish costs about RM10 (£1.80).

Late afternoon — Gurney shopping. If you want shopping, Gurney is where George Town residents go. It's a regular mall, useful for an air-con break and groceries. Not a destination. Quick save-money note for the trip: don't budget for shopping in Penang. The malls are regular malls. Skip them and put the time into another hawker stall.

Day 3 — George Town finish, then half-day at Penang Hill

Day 3 is two halves. Morning to mop up anything missed in George Town and tick off two more named hawker stalls. Afternoon for Penang Hill.

Morning — Classic Hokkien Mee, Jalan Perak. Another Michelin Guide stall, and one of the best single bowls of food on the island. Hokkien mee in Penang is a prawn-stock noodle soup, completely different from the KL fried-noodle version. RM10 (£1.80).

Late morning — Ah Leng Char Kuay Teow & Khoon Hiang Char Kuay Teow. They are literally across the road from each other and they make up the rest of the char kuay teow benchmarking exercise from Day 2's Kheng Pin. Eat all within 24 hours so you can call which side you're on. RM12 (£2.15).

Afternoon — Penang Hill. Grab to the funicular base (~£5 from George Town). The funicular up costs RM30 (£5.40) return; the fast track is RM80 (£14). On a weekend, pay the fast track. The standard line can run 90 minutes and you'll thank me. Step off at the top and you'll feel the temperature drop straight away, around 5°C cooler than George Town and noticeably less humid. The Habitat (canopy walk and nature trails, RM75 / £13.50) is the structured option, but you can also just walk the network of paths and viewpoints for free. Plan 3–4 hours total. Back down by early evening for a quieter dinner near the hotel.

Day 4 — Batu Ferringhi: beach day and the seafood splurge

Batu Ferringhi is on the north coast, ~30 minutes by Grab from George Town (~£8–10 each way). This isn't a stunning beach by Southeast Asia standards. The water's not the clearest the strip is touristy, and the sunbed-and-jet-ski hawkers are persistent. Nowhere near Phuket or Bali for actual beach quality. But it's a useful pace change after two days of George Town walking, and the seafood is the reason to come.

Day option — Shangri-La day pass. The Shangri-La Rasa Sayang and Shangri-La Golden Sands sit on this strip and accept day passes for the pool and beach club, around £25–35/pp depending on the resort. A good way to make the beach day feel like a beach day if Batu Ferringhi alone underwhelms.

Lunch or dinner — Tai Tong Seafood. This is the splurge that's worth paying for. Tai Tong is a sit-down restaurant where you pick from the tanks and pay by weight. The crab is the order, chilli, pepper or salted-egg. All versions hold up. Two people including beers will run RM150–200 (£27–36). It's a relative splurge by Penang standards. But by every other measure, seafood at this level for under £20 a head isn't a deal you'll find easily anywhere else. If your budget is tight, this is the meal to break it on.

Grab back to George Town in the evening.

Day 5 — Airport-area wind-down

Day 5 is the practical day. If your flight is afternoon or evening, check out of George Town in the morning, take a Grab to the Bayan Lepas airport area (~30 mins, ~£10), and use the time around Queensbay Mall and the southern coast.

Honest verdict on Queensbay Mall: it's a mall. Five floors, the usual international brands, useful for an air-con stop and luggage storage (~RM5 for the day). It is not why you came to Penang. But it sits 10 minutes from the airport, has a decent food court, and gives you somewhere to be on the last morning.

Snake Temple (10 mins from Queensbay). A small Taoist temple where pit vipers live freely on the altar incense. Quirky in a way that's worth the 30 minutes. Free entry. Quick add if you have an hour to fill.

Lunch — Kedai Kopi Bobo food court. Local, near the airport. Known for its iconic outdoor eating area within a residential square. I would recommend the curry mee and prawn mee here.

Or, if you've got time — Hai Boey Seafood (Teluk Kumbar). If you've timed Day 5 with a later flight and want one more proper meal, Hai Boey sits on the southwest tip of the island, beachfront, similar to Tai Tong with a better view. ~30 mins from the airport via Grab, doable on the way out.

Penang International is small and fast. Leave Bayan Lepas 90 minutes before your flight and you're fine.

Where should I stay in Penang for 5 days?

Stay in George Town - You want to be walking distance from the hawker areas, not spending Grab money every time you want to eat.

Mid-range — £30–50/night pp (my recommendation for this trip)

• Hotel Penaga is the standout at this tier. Built into 1940s shophouses in the cultural district, genuinely characterful without sacrificing comfort. My pick if you want somewhere that feels like Penang rather than a generic business hotel.

• Granite Luxury Hotel and Fifth Avenue Hotel are both solid George Town alternatives if Penaga's booked, more functional than characterful but well-located.

Luxury — £60–100/night pp

• E&O Hotel is the heritage choice. Beautiful building, but book the modern wing rather than the historic rooms (the historic ones trade atmosphere for comfort in a way that doesn't quite land). The kind of hotel that earns its reputation on setting alone.

• G Hotel Gurney is the contemporary alternative if E&O's classic character isn't what you're after. Super central, high-spec.

Budget — under £15/night pp

• Sleep Box or Carnavon Rooms are both functional George Town picks for travellers putting their budget into food rather than a room. At this end of the market, the neighbourhood does most of the work.

  
  

Optional Day 4 swap — if you want the beach day to be a beach overnight, Shangri-La Golden Sands at Batu Ferringhi is the obvious pick. Trade-off: you'll need to Grab back to George Town for proper meals.

Browse and book via Booking.com. I'd start with Hotel Penaga at mid-range, or E&O if you're treating yourself.

Is this Penang itinerary worth doing? — The Verdict

Five days in Penang at £80/day is genuinely good value, and this is the version I'd do again. The trip's centre of gravity is George Town, specifically the hawker food in George Town. Everything else is supporting cast.

Adjustments based on your preferences:

• Bigger food budget? Stretch to ~£100/day and add a second seafood meal at Hai Boey on Day 5. It's the only luxury on the island actually worth paying for.

• Tight on time? Drop the beach day. The main reason to visit is for the food after all.

• Want more cultural depth? Add Kek Lok Si Temple as a half-day on Day 3 instead of (or alongside) Penang Hill. The largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia, and one of the more impressive religious sites in Southeast Asia.

• Want more food, less of everything else? Spend the Penang Hill half-day on a third hawker round in George Town. The Penang food guide post (going up later this month) covers the additional stalls worth slotting in.

  
  

If you're choosing between Penang and another Southeast Asian food trip, the comparison case sits in the Penang Verdict post (coming soon). For the direct comparison with Vietnam, see the Vietnam Verdict post (coming soon).

Save this for your trip

If you're actually planning Penang, save this post. You'll want it back when you're booking — the day-by-day, named stalls, prices, the Hotel Penaga link.

For the next destination cluster going up (Prague mid-range from London, later this month), the email list gets it first.