🇲🇾 Penang - Georgetown (6th stop on world tour)

We took the bus from Ipoh to Butterworth on 06.01.23 and then took the ferry to Georgetown. Our second visit there. The port city of Georgetown is the capital of Penang Island, located on the Strait of Malacca. The old town has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2008. Rightly so! In February 2020, we visited Georgetown for the first time and we were pleasantly surprised. We were there during Chinese New Year and the Kek Lok Si Temple, for example, was illuminated in the evening, which was an absolute highlight to experience! The city fascinated us. It is very touristy, but that didn't bother us. Unfortunately, this time not everything went smoothly. But more on that later.

We walked from the ferry to our hostel, which took about 15 minutes. The Sim Citystay hostel was located on a busy street with a great location. Our room was the size of a storage room and had no windows. 😅 However, it was relatively clean and there was a drinking water dispenser. From the rooftop terrace, we had a breathtaking view of the city and the jetties (attractions). There were plenty of food courts (especially the Jetty Food Court, which we can recommend) and restaurants nearby, as well as a supermarket, various cafes, and, of course, the famous old town. We strolled through the decorated streets more than once, admiring the buildings and street art. It never gets boring! Of course, we also had coffee at "Black Kettle" (recommended). Nowadays, you can find several unique and trendy cafes in the old town.

There is heavy traffic everywhere in the city! You always have to keep an eye out for cars and scooters. We like to use Grab (taxi) to get from point A to point B. It is cheap and convenient. But you also need patience because navigating through the crowded city can take some time.

We planned a day trip and took bus line 101 to Penang National Park in the morning. We were on the bus for over an hour, and the driver even dropped us off 1 kilometer before the park entrance. When we tried to enter the park at 1 PM, we were told to come back at 2 PM because it was lunch hour. However, we could have paid to take a boat into the park. 🤷🏼‍♀️ No, we didn't want to do that, so we waited until 2 PM, only to find out that the park now requires an entrance fee starting from November 2022 (which was not mentioned anywhere)! And what always annoys us the most is the fact that locals pay less than tourists (10RM compared to 50RM)!! So, it would have been over 20€ for the both of us. We didn't think it was worth it and decided to leave! It was just frustrating that we had taken the long journey for nothing.

We also couldn't book a ferry from Penang to Langkawi (which was our next destination). Somehow, things didn't go well for us this time, and we were not enjoying our time in Georgetown. Therefore, we were not upset about leaving the city on January 11.

Our solution: We took the ferry back to Butterworth, got on the bus to Kuala Perlis, and then took another ferry to Langkawi. GOOD TO KNOW: By the way, the crossing is free if you take the ferry from Penang to Butterworth.