Plan Your Penang Vacation

Plan Your Penang Vacation is created to share with free, independent visitors useful tips to visit and enjoy Penang. Whether you're going to Penang for a day, a weekend or a week, I have assembled some useful tips to help you plan your own holiday here.

If you are prepared to pay for it, a personal tour guide can be very useful in discovering Penang. In addition to imparting fascinating information, a good tour guide adds spark and humor, turning an otherwise dull journey into a truly enjoyable and memorable one. Details on arranging a tour guide is provided at the end of this page.


Teochew Ancestral Veneration Hall (30 January 2006)


You do not need a tour guide if you are prepared to do your own homework. Within this huge website is all the information you need. Feel free to print out any page of this website for your own personal use, and bring the information with you when you visit Penang.

Planning a One-Day Trip to Penang

If you are coming to Penang for just a day, you are severely limited. More so if you are depending on public transport. The Rapid Penang bus has extensive coverage of all the places within Penang Island as well as Seberang Perai. However the headway (waiting time) is still rather long - more buses are being added to the roads, so this should reduce the waiting time. Taxis are not plentiful on the roads, but can be found in front of most shopping malls and big hotels.

If you have the nerve for it, I recommend that you drive, whether your own transport or a rented car. This will help you make the most of the time in your hands. Fuel is relatively cheap in Malaysia, at RM1.80 per liter (as of May 2009). One drawback of self-drive is the road in Penang, especially within George Town which are mostly one-way streets.

Places to visit
For a one-day trip, check out my list of Penang Top 10 Attractions. You are unlikely to be able to visit all 10, unless you intend to rush from one place to another, so be selective.

George Town skyline (23 April 2009)


Places to eat
I recommend that you try some hawker food that Penang is famous for. The places to go include:

If you like seafood, read Penang Seafood for information on where to go for the best seafood in Penang.

Hock Teik Cheng Sin Temple (1 February 2009)

Planning a Weekend Trip to Penang

One weekend is the ideal duration to discover the best of Penang. You certainly have more time to explore the attractions in greater detail. In addition to the places I have mentioned for one-day trip, add to them the following places. Of course, you once again have to be selective.

• For Sightseeing
• Acheen St Mosque
• Botanic Gardens
• Cheah Kongsi
• Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion
• Hock Teik Cheng Sin
• Penang Hill
• Penang State Museum
• Penang War Museum
• Pinang Peranakan Mansion
• Tan Kongsi
• Teochew Ancestral Temple
• For Beaches
• Gertak Sanggul
• Pasir Panjang
• For Shopping
• Gurney Plaza

Batu Ferringhi beach (23 December 2003)

Free Self-Guided Walking Tours

In addition, you can also consider the following free walking tours. Print them out and bring them with you.



St Anne Square, Bukit Mertajam (25 November 2007)

Planning an Extended Visit to Penang

If you have more time at your disposal, you can surely discover Penang indepth, and this website will help you unlock its charm. For through the list of sights that I have documented, and pick out the places you wish to visit. Most of them has a location map to show you how to get there. In addition, you should spend some time exploring the Inner City of George Town, which is a Unesco World Heritage Site, and discover all the heritage sites there.

• Beaches in Penang
• Buddhist Temples in Penang
• Chinese Temples in Penang
• Churches in Penang
• Clan Temples in Penang
• Heritage Sites in Penang
• Hindu Temples in Penang
• Islands Around Penang (You may need to hire a boat to take you there)
• Monuments in Penang
• Mosques in Penang
• Nature Sites in Penang
• Shopping Malls in Penang
• Sights in Seberang Perai

Getting a Personal Tour Guide

It doesn't come cheap, but getting a personal tour guide is well worth the money if you are a serious visitor to Penang who want an intimate perspective of the destination. If you need a guide, I can arrange one for you. All the guides that I provide are license-holding tour guides with indepth knowledge of Penang. The fee is RM90 per hour, minimum two hours.

The same price applies regardless whether you are one person or a group, because they charge according to their time. The fee is also dependent on whether you are seeking a walking tour, whether you need the guide to drive you around, you are driving him around, etc. Payment is inclusive of fuel. All payment has to be made in advance before the trip. To inquire, write to me (you can get my email address from www.timothytye.com), and explain the type of tour you intend to take.