In recent years, the Malaysian island of Penang has become familiar to Vietnamese tourists. In the last time, I had the opportunity to go backpacking in Penang in 2 short days. Below I would like to share some of my experiences.
1. Introducing Penang
Penang is the name of a state of Malaysia, the local language is called Pulau Pinang . The state consists of the part of the island of Penang located in the Strait of Malacca and the mainland part of Seberang Perai located on peninsular Malaysia. Penang is the second smallest state and one of the most important in Malaysia, both in terms of economy and tourism. Second only to Kuala Lumpur. Please visit the Wiki to learn more about the history, geography, and culture of Penang.
2. How to get to Penang?
2.1. Fly directly from Vietnam to
The simplest way to go to Penang today is to fly directly from Vietnam. Currently, I see there are quite a few flights from Saigon, Hanoi to Penang directly. You can learn to buy tickets a few months in advance for cheap. To find cheap tickets, you can go to Traveloka and TripAdvisor, there are many, round-trip tickets are about 1.5 million. Or you can go directly to AirAsia’s website to find it. This guy often has very good promotions that if you are lucky, you can buy tickets at extremely cheap prices.
In addition, you can book an airport shuttle service to easily move into the city.
2.2. Take a bus from Singapore via Johor Bahru
Another way is to take a bus from Singapore to Malaysia. In the past, our group went this way, because I flew to Sing first, then went to Malaysia.
To take the bus from Singapore, you take the train to Woodland MRT station (red line, NS9 station) , there is a big bus stop underground with lots of cars and crowded. Then take the bus number 950 to go to the exit gate from Singapore – Woodland Checkpoint (If you are not sure about the bus, you should ask them again!). The bus will drop off passengers in front of the border gate for people to walk into the immigration area. After completing exit procedures, continue to board the bus (other bus, one of the 4 buses number 160, 170, 170X and 950) passing the bridge connecting Singapore – Malay to the Malaysian border gate, Johor Bahru. Checkpoints. Here they drop themselves down to enter Malaysia immigration procedures.
After being stamped entry into Malaysia at the big hall, you follow the left direction and continue down to the ground. Note that don’t follow the crowded line, turn left at the big door, they go to JB Sentral, and this place as far as I know, the bus to Larkin Sentral is more expensive than inside. Instead, there is a direct path to the small stairs to the ground. Here you take the bus to Larkin Sentral Terminal in Johor Bahru. At this time, you have to pay Malaysia, about 1.8RM / person .
If in Singapore you don’t go to Woodland MRT station, you can also take the tram up another block to Kranji MRT station (red line, NS7 station) . There is also a bus stop going to the border gate, take bus numbers 170, 170X.
2.3. Take the bus from Johor Bahru to Penang
At Larkin Sentral Terminal, I continued to buy an intercity bus ticket to Penang. The fare is about 70RM – 80RM depending on the bus company, going there is the same as the bus stations next to me. You can check prices and buy online at this Easybook page . There are many buses running the Johor Bahru route to Penang, each bus station is a ticket window. It’s quite easy to buy, it’s a bit crowded and messy, so please be careful when buying, remember to always take care of your luggage. The bus from Johor to Penang takes about 9-10 hours.
On the provincial bus from Johor Bahru to Penang.
The bus arrives in Penang at Sungai Nibong Express Bus Terminal at around 12am, 1am. I took a taxi at the bus station to the hotel to check in.
3. About moving
Moving in Penang, our group mainly took Grab to go to places as far away as Penang Hill. Due to going in a group, sharing is also quite cheap. To go near, we go by bicycle borrowed from the hotel for free. Here I see there is a LinkBike service that rents bicycles or something. They leave a few bikes behind and rent them out online, just take them out and go. Done and put it back in place.
A LinkBike station that I saw on the road. I heard that if you want to use this service, you have to install its app and then register.
Because our group booked a hotel in the George Town neighborhood, there are many unique paintings on the wall. And the hotel has a free bicycle rental, so that also helps with this part. Our group went around this area to visit some street art.
4. About hotels, motels
The hotel I stay at is Chulia Heritage Hotel , address: No. 380, Chulia Street, 10200 George Town, Penang, Malaysia. The price is about RM 170 for double room and RM 250 for room 3, excluding breakfast. The hotel offers free bicycle rental. However, the bicycle is very bad, the car is damaged, the tire is flat, the saddle is lost a lot. Maybe it’s because it’s been left for a long time outside in the rain and sunshine, no one to look after and maintain it. I stood for the whole day to get a few cars to run.
Budget hotel but looks luxurious
This hotel is located near the center of George Town, so traveling is quite convenient. It’s only about 1km from Komtar Terminal bus station, so it’s very easy to walk here when you return.
5. Detailed itinerary for backpacking Penang
During this trip to Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, Penang), I visited Penang for about 2 days, so I also took advantage to go as much as possible.
Day 1
Our group arrived in Penang late at about 12, 1 am, so checking in to the hotel was quite late. The next morning, I borrowed a bicycle from the hotel to have breakfast. But because of the early morning, there are very few restaurants selling food. It must be around 9am or 10am to be crowded. Fortunately, I found a shop at the corner of the intersection of Jalan Penang Road and Jalan Sri Bahari Street that sells pretty good food. The shop is called KAFE KHENG PIN with some blue tarpaulins and the logo “100 Plus”.
Breakfast with egg noodles is quite delicious, plus 1 glass of traditional Chinese cold water
After breakfast, everyone cycled around the old town of George Town to visit. These locations are quite close to each other, so just riding a bicycle is enough. Some places like Kapitang Keling Mosque, Upside Down Museum, Clocktower, Chocolate and Coffee Museum, Fort Cornwalls
Chocolate Museum, they display quite beautifully and professionally. Saying it’s a museum, it’s actually a chocolate shop, inside they design some drawings that simulate the chocolate making process, so it looks different. Combine sightseeing and shopping.
A chart of chocolate consumption by countries is drawn on the wall.
After visiting this place, we cycled through the nearby Camera Museum, but in the early morning it was empty and dark, standing outside and seeing nothing special, so we didn’t enter :)). Then circle around to the Kapitan Keling Mosque.
Kapitan Keling Mosque, looks pretty from the outside. Unfortunately, they were not open to visit that day.
After standing in front of this place to take photos, rest for a while, because in front of this mosque there is a large tree with a very cool shade. We continued to ride our bicycles to the beach and went to the roundabout with the Clock Tower
Resting on an embankment close to the sea, which part I forgot about
The Clocktower is right next to the big roundabout
Right next to it is the famous Fort Cornwallis . We also take advantage of visiting 1 round
From time to time, there is a photo that shows the face against the sun so it’s black
There is a beautiful circle in the middle of the fortress.
After going around this fortress, we cycled to some Street Art spots to take pictures. In this Georgetown area, there are many small alleys with many beautiful drawings on the walls. Those who have a lot of time should find and go all for fun.
Here are some pictures we took. There are many more drawings in other locations that I haven’t been to yet
After cycling around and taking pictures, it was almost noon. We rode back to the hotel to find a place to have lunch. Prepare for the afternoon to go to Penang Hill, which is quite far away. To go to Penang hill, I call Grab to go quickly and conveniently, about 20 minutes to arrive
Station gate at the bottom of the hill. Buy train tickets here and go up
The train was climbing the hill, because I was standing at the locomotive, so I could see its path quite clearly.
The view from above looking down
This Penang hill is very wide, if you have enough money, remember to take the time to go to all of these points. If you have a lot of money, you can rent a car they carry to go quickly, but walking uphill is quite tiring.
I took a picture of the map, it’s been quite a while so it must have changed a lot by now.
The bridge of love with countless locks hooked onto the bridge.
The signpost shows the direction of the city. Ho Chi Minh City is far from 2021km :))
Masjid Bukit Bendera Mosque on top of Penang Hill
Next to it is the Hindu temple Temple Penang Hill
View from the hill overlooking the entire Penang below
Because Penang Hill is very wide, after going for a tour, it is already afternoon. We went down and took Grab to Sungai Pinang Food Court for dinner. This place is on the corner of Jalan Sungai Pinang and Tun Dr. Lim Chong Eu Highway (too greedy to eat, forgot to take pictures). After dinner, the group continued to take Grab to Gurney Plaza shopping area located on Gurney Dr road near the sea to play.
A corner of Gurney Plaza building
After going shopping, it was already dark. Everyone back to the hotel to rest, end of day 1.
Day 2
Since day 1 went to almost all the places to go, on day 2 we just walked around the George Town area to see the streets. Conveniently stop at a breakfast restaurant on the street, a restaurant called Tai Tong Restaurant, located at the corner of Lebuh Cintra street and a small alley, a few dozen meters from the intersection of Lebuh Cintra and Lebuh Campbell streets. This area is quite crowded with Chinese people, so the food they sell is very good.
Breakfast is mainly dumplings, dumplings, wontons…and drinking hot tea
The street in the early morning is quiet and the sun is very beautiful
After walking around all morning, I looked for a place to have lunch, also wandered around in the George area on the way to the bus station. Because Terminal Komtar bus station is only about 1km from the hotel, the walk is also quite fast. They all looked for a cafe to sit and relax.
Around 3 o’clock, the group got on the bus back to Kuala Lumpur, the car took about 5-6 hours to arrive. End of day 2 in Kuala Lumpur.
6. Conclusion
Traveling to Penang is very easy. Ticket prices are also quite cheap, you just need to buy tickets, book a hotel room and fly. If you have a lot of time, you should stay here longer to explore, about 3-7 days. Because our group also went to Kuala Lumpur and Melaka, we stayed in Penang for a little while. However, also take advantage of exploring many places. You can also see my previous post about Melaka: Sharing backpacking experiences Melaka – the oldest city in Malaysia
Wish you have a happy Penang backpacking trip!