Explore Penang

Khoo Kongsi is the clan temple of the Leong San Tong Khoo clan, Hokkien settlers from Fujian, on Cannon Square in the oldest part of George Town. The present temple, completed in 1906, has a heavily carved and gilded hall and roof, and stands with an opera stage, the clan association building and rows of clan houses around a granite-paved square.

The Kapitan Keling Mosque in George Town was founded in 1801 by the Indian Muslim community under its leader Cauder Mohudeen, on land granted by the British. The first timber mosque was rebuilt in brick in the 1810s and later enlarged in a Mughal-Moorish style, with domes, turrets and horseshoe arches. It stands on Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling in the World Heritage Site.

Armenian Street is a narrow street of shophouses in the old centre of George Town, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. First called Malay Lane, it was renamed in 1808 after the Armenian traders who lived here. It holds Chinese clan houses, the house where Sun Yat-sen held his 1910 Penang conference, and the 'Children on a Bicycle' mural by Ernest Zacharevic.

Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, known for its indigo-blue walls as the Blue Mansion, was built on Leith Street in George Town at the end of the 19th century as the home and business seat of the merchant Cheong Fatt Tze. Chinese in plan with European details, it has 38 rooms around five courtyards. Now a heritage hotel, it shows its public rooms on guided and audio tours.

The Goddess of Mercy Temple, also called Kuan Im Teng or Kong Hock Keong, stands on Pitt Street in George Town and was built in 1800, making it the oldest Chinese temple in Penang. First dedicated to the sea goddess Mazu, it has been devoted to Guanyin since 1824 and is a focus of Chinese festivals, with incense burners in the forecourt before its ornate roof.

St. George's Church on Farquhar Street in George Town is an Anglican church completed in 1818 and consecrated in 1819, the oldest purpose-built Anglican church in Southeast Asia. Its white Georgian design with a Doric portico and spire was modelled on St. George's Cathedral in Madras; a domed memorial pavilion stands on the lawn, and it became a pro-cathedral in 2023.

The Clan Jetties are seven villages of wooden houses built on stilts over the water along Weld Quay in George Town, each owned by a Chinese clan: Ong, Lim, Chew, Tan, Lee, Yeoh and a mixed-clan jetty. They grew from landing jetties used by Hokkien immigrants from the 1880s to the 1960s, are still lived in and lie within the World Heritage Site.

Pinang Peranakan Mansion is a museum of Penang's Peranakan (Straits Chinese) heritage in a green-painted mansion on Church Street in George Town. Built in the 1890s as the home and office of the tycoon Chung Keng Quee, Kapitan Cina of Perak, it displays thousands of Peranakan objects, from carved furniture and porcelain to jewellery, in rooms set out as a wealthy household.

Fort Cornwallis is a bastion fort on the northeastern cape of Penang Island in George Town, at the spot where Francis Light landed in 1786. The British East India Company replaced his wooden stockade with brick walls from 1804, built by Indian convicts. Inside the walls are old cannons, among them the Seri Rambai cast in 1603, a gunpowder magazine and an 1882 lighthouse.

The Dhammikarama Burmese Temple on Lorong Burma in George Town is a Theravada monastery founded by the Burmese community in 1803, and the only Burmese temple in Penang. Its oldest part is a stupa consecrated in 1805; stone elephants guard the ordination hall, and the gardens hold statues of chinthe lions, the garuda and other mythical creatures.

Wat Chayamangkalaram is a Theravada Buddhist temple on Lorong Burma in George Town, founded in 1845 on land granted to the Siamese community and the oldest Siamese temple in Penang. Its hall holds a reclining Buddha about 33 metres long, completed in 1958, and the grounds are lined with painted yaksha guardians, nagas and other mythical figures.

The Penang Botanic Gardens lie on Jalan Air Terjun at the foot of Penang Hill, on George Town's western edge. Laid out by the British in 1884 on a former granite quarry under its first curator Charles Curtis, the 29-hectare gardens are also called the Waterfall Gardens after a nearby cascade and form part of the Penang Hill Biosphere Reserve.

Kek Lok Si is a Buddhist temple complex on a hillside at Air Itam on Penang Island, built between 1890 and 1930 on the initiative of the abbot Beow Lean. Its halls climb the slope to the seven-storey Pagoda of Ten Thousand Buddhas, and a 36.57-metre bronze statue of the goddess Guanyin stands under a pavilion above. Visitors are welcome with modest dress.

Penang Hill is a group of forested peaks in the centre of Penang Island, about 9 km west of central George Town, rising to 833 metres at Western Hill. A retreat from the heat in colonial times, its developed summit, Flagstaff Hill, is reached by the Penang Hill Railway funicular and has viewpoints over George Town, colonial bungalows, temples and forest trails.

Penang Bird Park is a bird park on Jalan Todak in Seberang Jaya, on the mainland side of Penang state across the strait from George Town. Opened on 26 November 1988 as Malaysia's first aviary park, it keeps more than 300 species of birds, among them sea eagles, flamingos and hornbills, in aviaries and gardens.

Tropical Spice Garden is a landscaped hillside garden on the north coast of Penang Island, near Teluk Bahang. Its five acres hold more than 500 kinds of spice plants and other tropical flora along shaded trails and terraces, and it runs guided walks, a café and a cooking school.

ESCAPE is an outdoor adventure park in Teluk Bahang on the north coast of Penang Island, opened in 2012 on a former construction site at the edge of the forest. Its rides and games are mostly powered by the visitors themselves: rope courses, climbing towers, swings and slides, with a separate water play area.

Entopia is an insect and nature centre in Teluk Bahang on the north coast of Penang Island, founded in 1986 as the Penang Butterfly Farm and reopened in new buildings in 2016. Under its glass domes, butterflies fly freely through a planted outdoor garden, while an indoor discovery centre shows insects, reptiles and other small animals.