Cozy Penang – Things you need to know when travel to Penang

Penang island

Penang island or also known as Pulau Pinang in Malay is the second smallest Malaysia state. Penang is a favorite destination for many domestic and foreign tourists due to its cozy Old George Town, the endless white soft sandy beaches and its variety of delicious food. I spent 5 days in Penang wandering around the old town by bike, exploring this lovely island and to me, it was a great experience. Let’s travel to Penang with me!!!!!!!!!!

How to travel to Penang from KL

There are many forms of transportation to reach Penang from Kuala Lumpur: plan, train, bus, car even a taxi.

• By plane: Traveling by domestic flight from KLIA is the fastest way to reach Penang which takes only 1 hour. And then you can take a bus from the airport to George Town which also takes approximately 1 hour. All your way to the old town, you can stop by the Snake temple that is about 5km from the airport.

• Take a bus / train: The cheapest way to get to Penang is to take a bus or train to Butterworth port (4-5 hours), then take a ferry to Penang port (free ferry ticket). Penang port is right at George Town, so you can easily catch a bus in front of the port to your hotel.

• Travel package/ private transfer: It may be the most comfortable way to travel and also the most expensive one. You can easily book travel package including transfer transport in Klook.

Accommodations

There are 4 main tourist areas in Penang: Georgetown, Batu Ferringhi, Tanjung Bungah and Bayan Lepas. It is easy to get a affordable hotel/ dorm there, or a gorgeous villa as you expect. However, the hotels in George town and Batu Ferringhi are more expensive than the other places.

I stayed in a small cozy guesthouse in the center of George Town, Weluz Travel Guesthouse. The owner and staff are very friendly and helpful. My hostel is closed to the bus stop, bus station, Art street and it takes just around 15 minutes to get to the others sight seeings in George Town. The best thing I love about this guesthouse is that they offer bicycle free for guests. So, I did spend quite a lot of time to wander around the Town by bicycle.

Getting around George town

As there are various means of transport that you can easily travel around Penang. Bus is the most common transport in Penang, I suppose. Meanwhile, you can use taxi, hop- on hop off bus, Free bus CAT to travel around Penang; bike or trishaw to go around George Town.

• Travel by trishaw: trishaw is quite popular in tourist destinations in Malaysia such as Penang or Melaka. The trishaw driver will stop you to whatever sites you want to see and you won’t miss any art streets or interesting places as traveling by trishaw.
• Walking: especially at night, walking in the old town is the best. Plenty of food streets, bars and night markets are all walking distance in the old town.
• Cycling: I spend a lot of time cycling and walking around the town. I just use the bus to go to places outside the old town like Penang Hill, Kek Lok Si temple or National Park.
• Take the free bus: Rapid Penang CAT is a free shuttle bus which travels around the George town with 19 stops at the strategic points of interest. The bus runs from 6:00 am until 12:00 am midnight. With CAT, visitors can explore the town in comfort without even paying a cent and without missing any nice spots of the old town. You can check out the CAT route here

Best time to travel to Penang

The best time to visit Penang is November to February because it is dry season, the weather is pleasant, warm and humid. The average temperature in Penang is around 28-30 degree Celsius. However, it is also the peak season, so it would be very crowded and busy. Besides, for many visitors, their main focus is Chinese New Year festival, in late February, when they can enjoy a colorful streets with lively red lanterns and so many festival events.

from April to Early November is rainy season in Penang, it gets heavy rain sometimes. If you are not a big fan of rain, you should avoid to travel in October because it is the most wet month. However, every season has its own beauty, choose the suitable time to travel.

Penang attractions

1. Art streets:

Location: around Georgetown (Jalan Penang, Muntri Street, Weld Quay, Lebuh Leith, Armenian Street, Ah Queen Street and more).

Exploring George Town by bicycle or on foot is recommended because you can slowly travel through old buildings and be able to easily enjoy these hidden art pictures; or if you are lucky, you sometimes catch amazing street performs of tourists by accident.

As what I have read, the Art Street was drawn and completed by a young Lithuanian artist, Ernest Zacharevic. He became popular after the project of a series of mural entitled “Mirrors George Town” in the Festival of 2012.

The paintings represent characters and scenes of people and their life in the old town. However, over the years, a lot of them already faded; then if you don’t want to miss this, hurry up, come and visit because soon they will disappear or be replaced by the new art pictures.

2. Jetty chew (Clan Jetties)

Jetty Chew is the biggest and mostly renowned jetty in six clan jetties in existence in Penang nowadays (the Lim, Chew, Tan, Yeoh, Koay, Lee Jetty). There are 75 floating houses on the Jetty converted into souvenirs shops, food restaurants and guesthouses.

Jetty Chew is like a floating village at the seaside which is a great spot for tourists especially photographers. I highly recommend to visit this attraction in the early morning or evening as you can take a lot of nice photo of sunrise or sunset during these periods.

You can catch CAT free bus to the Weld Quay Ferry & Bus Terminal and walk to Chew Jetty, a distance of about 250 meters. My first day, I chose bicycle to travel around Georgetown, I stopped my bike in front of Jetty Chew and walked inside. Very flexible and convenient when travelling by bike.

3. Penang Hill:

How to get to Penang Hill: Rapid Penang 204 bus (ticket fare: RM2) is the only bus that takes you all the way from Georgetown to Penang hill. The 204 bus passes Kek Lok Si temple before reaching the Penang Hill train station, so you can combine a visiting tour of Penang Hill and Kek Lok Si temple in 1 day. The most convenient way up to Penang Hill is by means of Penang Hill Railway which offers non-stop ride to the top in five to seven minutes.

Opening hours of train ride: from 6:30am- 23:00 pm when last train leaves the top of the hill. The tickets office closes at 22:30 pm.

Ticket price: For Malaysians, the fare for a return ticket is RM10/ adult and RM4/ child. If you are expats being working in Malaysia for more than 6 months will be considered with this fare as well. For foreigners, the return fare would be RM30/adult and RM15/child (updated in 2017). You aren’t recommended to travel to the hill at weekends to avoid the crowded and crazy long queues. However, you can pay double for the “fast lane” if you want to travel faster.

You can visit the official website of Penang hill to update new information andtickets price here.

On the top of the hill, you can pay around RM10-RM30 for a buggy ride to bring you to all the spots and give a briefing of the surroundings as well. Try to bargain the price if the driver has got more customers in 1 ride.

Both the train ride and the view at the top are amazing. There is much to do on the top: sipping a cup of coffee, shopping, taking photos, walking around, enjoying the view, visiting Hindu temple, visiting the Love lock street.

4. National Park:

How to get to the National Park: By 101 bus you can easily get to the Park with only RM4.

This is a nice place for photographers to capture the wildlife, particularly monkeys and lizards. The trekking paths are easy and a bit of hiking up and down the hill. There are some resting areas where you can sit down and enjoy the fabulous nature with cool atmosphere. I love it so much, I took most of my time taking photos, relaxing and enjoying the nature. You can also opt for water taxi to the beach or other spots of the National Park if you travel with family or you want to save time for other spots.

Penang National Park is definitely an option for those who want to run away from the busy city for a while to enjoy the fresh air. So even if you only have a few days in Penang, make sure that the National Park is on your itinerary.

5. Kek Lok Si temple

Opening hours: 9am-5:30pm

The entrance fee: RM2 (2017)

How to get to Kek Lok Si: the Penang Rapid 204 bus (RM2). Besides, you can also catch 201,203,206,306,U502 bus around Penang to reach the temple.

There are many stalls selling souvenirs, local products on boths sides of the street in front of the temple.

Kek Lok Si was completed in 1930, it is one of Southeast Asia’s largest Chinese Buddhist temples with millions of magnificent Buddha statues and hundreds of beautiful carvings and sculptures.

The seven-storey main pagoda is the fabulous combination of the ancient Chinese temple’s architecture with Thai design in the temple’s tiers and the Burmese crown . You can climb to the top of the pagoda and enjoy the great view of Penang city. At the time of my visit in 2017, they were building the railroad from the entrance to the highest level of the temple and I believe it is completed now.

6. Kuan Yin Temple:

Opening Hours: Early morning to late evening.

Location: Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling

Kuan Yin Temple is a old, small, traditional Chinese temple which is known as Temple of the goddess of Mercy. It is one of the most important temples in Penang where local people usually visit to pray and make vow.

7. Penang Snake temple:

Opening Hours: 06:00 – 19:00

Location: Bayan Lepas 

Price for visiting Temple: Free. RM20 for taking photos with the snakes.

The Penang Snake Temple was constructed in the 1805, it is about 5km from the airport. There are buses available from the airport to the temple (bus number 302, 401 or 401E) and from the temple to George Town. The temple is home of a variety of pit vipers and a numerous types of snakes.

8. Kapitan Keling Mosque

Opening Hours: 09:30 – 17:30

Entrance fee: free for all visitors.

Kapitan Keling Mosque or Majid Kapitan Keling, the oldest church in George Town, was established with a large site endowed by a the East Indian company in 1801. “Keling” in Melayu term mentions people of Indian origin, and the mosque has been an important place of worship and an important community center for Indian Muslim. 

Over the years, the mosque has been renovated and expanded many times into the largest mosque in George town nowadays. Visitors are welcome within the grounds of the mosque and the long walkway around the prayer hall. And don’t forget to wear proper when entering the mosque. 

9. St. George’s Church 

Opening time for visitors: Monday to Thursday (10:00 am to 4:00 pm)

Entrance Fee : Free

St. George Church in Penang, the oldest Anglican church in south Asia, was completed in 1818.  The Church was awarded as the National Heritage Status in 2007 and from then the building has been renovated and re-colored and nowadays reopen for public service and visiting. 

10. The Queen Victoria Memorial Clock Tower

The Queen Victoria Memorial Clock Tower or Jubilee Clock Tower was built to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. The tower is 60 feet tall, situated beside the Penang Port Commission. As you notice there is a metal nut structure beside the tower which symbolizes for betel nut, called as “buah pinang” by local Malaysian. The tower is not really an attraction but more than a stop-by spot in Penang. 

I am thrilled to have you visiting my blog. Wish you have a wonderful trip which is filled with all sweet memories💝! Read more about my favorite trekking trails in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Travel here and other destinations. Follow me here Mai Van Blog.