Penang is a small island in Malaysia where we decided to go with two friends, Emilie and Marie for a long weekend of four days. Honestly, four days is a good time as the island is quite small and there is not much to do, except few tourist attractions I will run you through here.

Arrival and Accommodation

The flight to Penang is 4 hours from Hong Kong and you don’t need any visa when you are French. After an early wake-up, we arrived at the airport and we took a taxi from there to go to the capital city:  George Town. Don’t waste your time trying to catch a bus because it is cheaper as the ones going to the center take around one hour and a half to two hours. We have rented an apartment on Airbnb and the studio was really big and cool. The real add value was the swimming pool in the residence which was amazing.

After few strokes, we went down to the center to have a late lunch. Marie had made an amazing program with a lot of very good recommendations. We first ate in a very hipster food center Swallow @ The Saw Emporium with many restaurants: Japanese, Korean, Chinese… The funny thing about Malaysia I didn’t know is that it is constituted by many populations and thus, is very multicultural. We ordered many dishes from various nationalities and it was succulent.

George Town Cultural Heritage

After that, we strolled around the city, visited docks called ‘Chew Jetty’ or ‘Clan Jetty’  which are protected by UNESCO as World Heritage. You can walk between wood houses directly built on the ocean and have Durian ice cream if you are courageous. You will have a beautiful view of the sea. Then we hunted street art paintings for which Penang is famous. The walk was tough under very high temperature and so we decided to have a really nice massage at this Legacy Spa I definitely recommend and enjoy some board games at one hippy bar in the evening not far from Love Street.

Kek Lo Si Temple and Penang Hill

Also, a useful trick you must use when you are in Penang is Grab. We used regular taxis but they were expensive and didn’t always want to put the meters on.  We began the second day with a swim and a nice brunch at China House. This restaurant is quite amazing with a very comfy atmosphere where you can draw on tables and with a large selection of cakes. The line was too long at Penang Hill and we had mix advice about climbing there so we skip it. But we’ve been to Kek Lok Si Temple which was really nice even if it was super hot. This temple is a mix of several influences: Thai, Myanmarese, Chinese. But as it was already too hot we decided to cool off a bit in our swimming pool and then we went out again to have dinner in the district of Little India in a super good restaurant called Woodlands Vegetarian Restaurant and then had a cocktail at Three Sixty Rooftop Bar. Even if the atmosphere and bar were cool, cocktails were quite average.

Chilling with fun and style: the Trick Art Museum and the Botanical Garden

Unfortunately, the last day was little bit rainy so after our breakfast at Kraffmen (try their banana smoothie if you like that), we did the Penang 3D Trick Art Museum where we had a lot of fun playing with decors and murals. We still decided to go visiting the botanical garden http://www.penang.ws/penang-attractions/penang-botanic-gardens.htm  after this: it is a very large green area which protects a lot of flower and plant species. After a break at the restaurant Tree Monkey (you have the feeling you are in Bali over there…read my post about our trip on this wonderful island by clicking on the link) and a refreshing mango sticky rice with a nice view on the ocean, we met a very cute monkey who really have a funny face! We didn’t feel like going to Penang National Park given the weather unfortunately so the end of the afternoon was dedicated to walk on Batu Feringghi beach and observe traditional fishermen (and we had sooooo much fun running after them and watching each catch). Finally, in the evening we had dinner in Batu Feringghi night market where we took Indian, Sri Lankan and Malaysian dishes (#yummy).

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If you take the time to go to Penang island, I think the best is to stay only for two of three days and then enjoy the other islands which are quite near. Hope you enjoy this new trip review!