Luxury hotels in Penang

Penang guide

Penang: George Town's street art and street food

A UNESCO town of shophouses, clan houses and murals, and some of Asia's best hawker food.

George Town, the capital of Penang and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is famous for its hawker food: char kway teow, laksa and nasi kandar at street stalls and food courts. It is the most cited reason to visit, along with the town's street art, from murals to wrought-iron caricatures.

The Khoo Kongsi clan house, the Cheong Fatt Tze Blue Mansion and the Clan Jetties show the island's Chinese, Malay and Indian heritage. Take the funicular up Penang Hill and visit the Kek Lok Si temple, and travel from December to March for the driest weather.

Penang Hill and Kek Lok Si

Penang Hill, reached by a funicular railway opened in 1923, rises more than 800 metres above George Town and is one of the island's most cited sights, cooler than the coast and with views across to the mainland. The Habitat, a rainforest trail with a canopy walk, is at the top.

At the foot of the hill, Kek Lok Si, the largest Buddhist temple complex in Malaysia, combines Chinese, Thai and Burmese styles; its seven-storey pagoda and bronze Guanyin statue are lit up during Chinese New Year.

The clan houses and jetties of George Town

The Khoo Kongsi, the most lavish of the clan houses built by Hokkien families in the nineteenth century, is one of George Town's most cited sights, with carved roofs and gilded halls. The Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, painted indigo blue, offers guided tours and is also a hotel.

On the waterfront, the Clan Jetties are villages of wooden houses on stilts, each built by a different Chinese clan; Chew Jetty is the most visited. Peranakan Mansion shows the rich culture of the Straits Chinese.