Penang

On the cape where Captain Francis Light is said to have come ashore in 1786, the British built a stockade that was later replaced with the low, star-shaped brick fort you see today. It never saw serious battle, and what remains is a set of ramparts, a gunpowder magazine, an old chapel and a row of bronze cannon, the most famous of which, Seri Rambai, has a long and well-travelled history. It makes a good starting point because it sits beside the Esplanade, the open green of the Padang and the white colonial buildings of City Hall and the Town Hall, giving you a sense of the British-era civic centre before you plunge into the shophouse streets.

TipGo early in the morning or late in the afternoon; the ramparts have little shade, and the sea breeze is pleasant at sunset along the Esplanade.

A few minutes' walk inland, this lavish green mansion was built in the late nineteenth century for Chung Keng Quee, a Hakka tin-mining magnate and secret-society leader. Today it is a museum of the Peranakan, or Straits Chinese, world: the descendants of Chinese traders who married into local society and developed their own blend of Chinese, Malay and European tastes. Rooms are crammed with carved and gilded wood, Scottish ironwork, English floor tiles, beaded slippers, embroidered kebaya blouses and heavy jewellery, all of which conveys the extraordinary wealth of George Town's merchant elite at its peak.

TipJoin a guided tour if one is running when you arrive; the stories behind the furniture are what bring the house to life.

Founded at the start of the nineteenth century by the Indian Muslim community and rebuilt in grander Mughal style with domes and a slender minaret, the Kapitan Keling Mosque stands on Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling, a road often called the Street of Harmony. Walk its length and you pass St George's Church, the oldest Anglican church in South-East Asia, the busy Chinese temple of Kuan Yin Teng, with incense smoke drifting out of its doors, and the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, with its tower of brightly painted Hindu deities. Behind it lies Little India, a few blocks of sari shops, spice merchants, flower-garland makers and banana-leaf restaurants, loud with Tamil film music.

TipThe mosque welcomes visitors outside prayer times. Cover your arms and legs, and robes are usually provided at the entrance. Avoid Friday around midday.

Hidden behind a row of shophouses and reached through a narrow passage, the clan house of the Khoo family is the most spectacular of George Town's many kongsi. The current temple dates from the early twentieth century, after an earlier, even more ambitious version burned down, and almost every surface is covered in carving, gilding, painted doors, stone columns and roof figures of dragons, gods and scenes from Chinese legend. Around the square stand the original clan terrace houses, and a small museum below the main hall explains how the Hokkien clans organised everything from schooling to burials, and occasionally street battles, in nineteenth-century Penang.

Armenian Street, Lebuh Armenian, is the heart of George Town's street-art trail. The craze began in 2012 when the Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic painted a series of playful murals for the George Town Festival, among them two children riding a real bicycle fixed to the wall, which still draws long queues for photographs. Since then, dozens of murals have spread across the old town, alongside a series of witty wrought-iron caricatures fixed to walls that tell stories about the streets where they hang. Some original works have faded or been painted over, but Armenian Street, Cannon Street and the lanes around them remain full of art, craft shops and cafés in restored shophouses.

TipArrive before 9am to photograph the best-known murals without a queue. A free street-art map is usually available from tourist information counters.

Along the waterfront of Weld Quay, Chinese clan communities built villages of wooden houses on stilts over the sea, each jetty traditionally home to families sharing a surname. Chew Jetty is the largest and the most visited, a long boardwalk lined with homes, small shrines and stalls selling snacks and souvenirs, ending in open views across the channel to the mainland. Despite the crowds, these are lived-in homes, and the quieter jetties nearby give a better sense of daily life.

TipVisit early in the morning or around sunset, and keep your voice down and your camera out of people's doorways.

Painted a deep indigo, this courtyard mansion on Leith Street was built in the late nineteenth century for Cheong Fatt Tze, a merchant and financier sometimes described as the Rockefeller of the East. It combines Chinese feng shui principles with Western touches such as Art Nouveau stained glass and cast-iron balustrades, and was rescued from decay in the 1990s by a restoration that won a UNESCO conservation award. Today the mansion is a boutique hotel, so the public sees it through guided tours, which cover the entrance hall, the central courtyard and a museum exhibition upstairs.

TipGuided tours run twice daily at 11am and 3.30pm, last about 45 minutes and are limited to 24 people. They often sell out, so book online well ahead.

Penang's food is famous across Asia, and the best way to understand why is to eat at its hawker stalls. In the evening, Chulia Street, the backpacker strip of the old town, fills with carts frying char kway teow, ladling wonton noodles and serving satay. A short ride west, New Lane (Lorong Baru) becomes an open-air food street at night, where plastic tables spread along the road and stalls sell everything from Hokkien prawn mee and duck-egg char kway teow to lok lok, skewers you cook yourself in a pot of boiling broth. Prices are low, and you can order from several stalls while sharing a table.

TipMany stalls open only in the evening and close one day a week; if one is shut, the neighbours will be just as good.

North of the old town, Gurney Drive is a seafront promenade backed by condominium towers and two large shopping malls. Its hawker centre is one of the island's best known, and in the evening it is packed with locals queuing for asam laksa, the sour, tamarind-and-fish noodle soup that is Penang's signature dish, as well as rojak, oyster omelettes, grilled seafood and cendol. The sea has been pushed back by a big land-reclamation project, so the views are less maritime than they once were, but the evening breeze and the people-watching remain.

On a hillside at Air Itam, this is one of the largest Buddhist temple complexes in South-East Asia, begun in the 1890s and still growing. Its centrepiece is the seven-storey Pagoda of Ten Thousand Buddhas, which blends a Chinese octagonal base, Thai-style middle tiers and a Burmese crown, reflecting the different Buddhist traditions of the region. Higher still, an inclined lift carries visitors up to a colossal bronze statue of Kuan Yin, the goddess of mercy, sheltered under an ornate pavilion. The views across the island are wide, and around Chinese New Year the whole complex is strung with thousands of lanterns and lit up at night.

TipSmall fees are charged for the pagoda and the inclined lift. Combine the visit with Penang Hill, whose lower station is only a short ride away.

In colonial days, Penang Hill was the place to escape the heat of the plains, and it is still several degrees cooler on top than in George Town. A funicular railway, first opened in 1923 and modernised since, climbs steeply from the lower station at Air Itam through rainforest to the summit, more than 700 metres above sea level. Up top are viewpoints over George Town and both Penang bridges, old colonial bungalows, a Hindu temple and a mosque side by side, a few cafés and the century-old Bellevue Hotel. Hikers can walk up instead on several well-used trails, a steep but popular climb.

TipFunicular trains run every half hour, from 6.30am to 11pm. A standard return ticket for foreign adults is RM40 in the normal lane or RM80 in the express lane, which skips the queue; online tickets must be bought at least 24 hours in advance. Weekends and holidays get very busy, so go early or on a weekday.

A short walk from the upper station, The Habitat is a rainforest nature park on the edge of the Penang Hill Biosphere Reserve, which UNESCO recognised in 2021. Trails follow paths laid out in colonial times through a forest that is home to dusky leaf monkeys, giant squirrels, hornbills and a vast range of plants and insects. Its highlights are Langur Way, a slender suspension bridge through the canopy, and the Curtis Crest Tree Top Walk, a circular platform that is the highest accessible viewpoint on the island, with views of the coast and the mainland.

TipThe park opens daily from 9am to 5.30pm. Evening walks, which include sunset at Curtis Crest and a guided look at the forest after dark, start from 5.30pm and need an add-on ticket.

Penang's main beach strip stretches along the north coast, about half an hour's drive from George Town, with big resort hotels, guesthouses, water-sports operators and seafood restaurants behind a long, wide stretch of sand. The water is not as clear as on Malaysia's east-coast islands, and jellyfish can be a problem at certain times of year, but the beach is pleasant for a lazy day, and sunsets over the Strait of Malacca are reliably good. In the evening, the roadside night market sells clothes, souvenirs and snacks.

TipCheck for jellyfish warnings before swimming, and swim near the hotels where lifeguards or beach staff are often on hand.

A little further west towards Teluk Bahang, this garden occupies a former rubber estate on a forested slope above the coast road. Paths wind past hundreds of plant species, from nutmeg, clove, cinnamon and pepper, the spices that first drew European traders to the region, to ginger lilies, bamboos, ferns and water gardens. A free audio guide is available in many languages, and the garden runs a well-regarded cooking school where you can learn to make Malaysian and Peranakan dishes.

TipOpening hours are 9am to 6pm from Friday to Sunday and 9am to 4.30pm from Monday to Thursday, with last admission an hour before closing. Free guided walks start at 9am and 11am.

At the north-western tip of the island, just past the fishing village of Teluk Bahang, is one of Malaysia's smallest national parks, a hilly patch of lowland rainforest dropping to sandy coves. From the entrance, one trail leads to Monkey Beach and the Muka Head lighthouse, perched about 227 metres above the sea, and another climbs over the hills to Kerachut Beach, about two hours away. Kerachut has a sea-turtle conservation station and an unusual meromictic lake, where a layer of fresh water sits on top of denser sea water without mixing. Boats from the jetty near the entrance can drop you at the beaches if you prefer to walk only one way.

TipThe main entrance at Teluk Bahang is open from 8am to 4.30pm daily, with a lunch break from 1pm to 2pm. Visitors register and pay a small permit fee, and Rapid Penang buses 101 and 102 run from Komtar and Weld Quay to the park gate.