Budget in Penang
Part of the Penang travel guide — see every topic in All Penang Guides.
Penang is exceptionally good value, and the thing it is best at — eating — is also the cheapest. A hawker plate is 7–15 ringgit, a heritage shophouse hostel bed is 40–90, and a bus across the island is under four. A backpacker lives well on 90–140 ringgit a day; a comfortable trip with a boutique hotel, taxis and a couple of good restaurants runs 300–500. Alcohol is the only genuinely expensive item, because Malaysian excise duty is high.
Accommodation and food
A hostel dorm in a heritage shophouse is 40–90 ringgit; a boutique shophouse room 150–400; a north-coast beach resort 200–800. Food: a hawker plate 7–15, a nasi kandar plate 10–20, banana-leaf rice 10–15, a kopitiam breakfast under 10, a mid-range restaurant main 30–60, and a tasting menu at a top kitchen 300–700. Eating exclusively at hawker centres and kopitiams — which is what most people here do and where the best food is — costs 30–50 ringgit for a full day.
Transport
The CAT shuttle around the George Town heritage core is free. Rapid Penang buses are 1.40–4 ringgit to anywhere on the island. A Grab within town is 6–12 and to Batu Ferringhi 30–50. The airport is 30–50 by Grab or a few ringgit on bus 401E. The ferry to Butterworth is a couple of ringgit. Bicycles rent for 10–20 a day. Getting around Penang is close to a rounding error in a travel budget, which is unusual.
Attractions
Most of the best things are free: walking the heritage core, the murals, the iron sculptures, the clan jetties, the Street of Harmony temples, Kek Lok Si's main complex, Penang National Park. The paid ones are modest: house museums 20–30 ringgit, Khoo Kongsi around 15, the Penang Hill funicular around 30 for foreign visitors with a fast-lane option costing more, and the private trick-art museums 20–50 each — those last are the least good value on the island.
Where the money goes
Alcohol: a beer is 12–30 ringgit in a bar and 10–15 in a shop, a cocktail 35–65. Malaysian excise duty is the reason, not markup. Beyond that, the significant costs are a nicer hotel and the occasional restaurant meal. The single best value in Penang is to eat at hawker stalls and kopitiams for almost every meal, walk everywhere in the core, and spend the saving on one serious restaurant dinner and a night in a heritage shophouse.
Budget at a glance
| Backpacker day | RM 90–140 |
|---|---|
| Comfortable day | RM 300–500 |
| Hawker plate | RM 7–15 |
| Hostel bed | RM 40–90 in a heritage shophouse |
| Buses | RM 1.40–4; the CAT core shuttle is free |
| The expensive thing | Alcohol — beer RM 12–30 in a bar |