George Town, Penang

We were very excited to visit George Town in Penang. It has been on our list for years but we had never quite made it. Thankfully this time our travel route took us right past Penang so we most definitely had to stop for a while to see it.

George Town was awarded UNESCO World Heritage status in 2008 and is an utter delight to wander around. It is a complete mix of cultures with stunning temples, shop houses, jetties, mosques and colonial buildings at every turn. Amazing street art adorns many of the buildings’ walls and the streets are lined with street food carts serving up all manner of culinary delights. Even the kids found it an exciting place to explore (fuelled by the traditional penang ice balls)!

Things to do in George Town, Penang

There are tonnes of things to do and see in George Town and the rest of Penang. It’s hard to fit it all into to a few days and can definitely keep you busy for much, much, longer.

Here is a list of some of our favourite activites:

• Wandering round George Town’s historical centre feeling like we’ve travelled back in time.
• Visiting all the amazing temples, mosques and colonial buildings.
• Doing the street art trail. You can pick up a street art trail map from your guesthouse. The kids pretended it was a treasure hunt and excitedly ran around trying to find all the different street art and iron structures.
• Sampling as many different street food dishes as possible.
• Enjoying the unique Penang ‘ice balls’ in all manner of crazy flavours – not just for the kids!
• Eating at one of the hawker street markets listening to local singers and bands play.
• Exploring the Chinese Clan Jetties and markets.
• Experiencing the festival of hungry ghosts with colourful performances, dragon dances and lots of fireworks.

One of the absolute highlights was a trip to the Kek Lok Si temple. More to follow on this very soon.

Getting to George Town, Penang

from Kuala Lumpur

Penang is an island just off the North West coast of Malaysia and is around 4 hours north of Kuala Lumpur by bus or train. Butterworth station, on the mainland, is the closest train station to Penang. Ferries run between Butterworth and George Town, on Penang, every 20-30 minutes. The ferry terminal is a short, well signposted, walk from the train station and the ferry crossing only takes 20 minutes. It is a car ferry with a seating section for foot passengers in the middle of the cars. There are toilets and a little snack shop on board. Some buses from Kuala Lumpur will take you directly through to Penang and some will stop at Butterworth. Either way it is super easy to get over to Penang from Butterworth on the ferry.

You can also fly to Penang airport which is around 30 minutes by taxi from George Town or 1 hour by bus. A taxi will likely set you back around 60 ringgit. The bus is much cheaper at around 4 ringgit per person. Air Asia have lots of cheap flights between Kuala Lumpur and Penang as well as other places in Malaysia and Thailand.

from Thailand

We came down to George Town, Penang from Thailand on the Thai sleeper train. The train stopped at the border town of Padang Besar, where we walked through the Thai and Malaysian immigration procedures, before boarding the next Malaysian KTM train to Butterworth. It takes 1 hour 55 minutes from the Padang Besar border to Butterworth station from where you can catch the ferry to George Town, Penang as explained above.

from Langkawi

There are many flights that go between Penang and Langkawi which you can pick up fairly cheaply. Otherwise there is a ferry that also runs the route and takes a couple of hours. It’s worth checking if this ferry runs in the rainy season as we heard the crossing can be a little rough. We did not travel this route so don’t have first-hand experience of this.

Where to stay in George Town, Penang

We wanted to be in the heart of George Town to experience everything it has to offer. We were also travelling on a budget. After searching extensively we found the Lang Hoose Guesthouse and absolutely loved it! It was one of my favourite places of the whole trip. It is right in the historical centre just 10 minutes’ walk from the ferry/jetty, the bus station and the busier street food areas. There is a great hawker food court nearby and 7-eleven/mini marts too.

The family room is a split level apartment. The downstairs has a bathroom (bath and shower) and little living area with a sofa. The bedroom is upstairs with a door to a shared balcony. The stairs between the levels are steep but my 4 year old handled them fine. The guesthouse has a couple of common areas with books, games and the use of the kitchenette. They also put on a simple free breakfast and provide free water. We really enjoyed our stay at Lang Hoose Guesthouse. It is a quirky, interesting, authentic guesthouse with lovely helpful owners.

Click here to book the Lang Hoose Guesthouse.

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