George Town
Sino-Portuguese shophouses, Chinese temples and street murals, UNESCO-listed.
Duration
3 hrs – 5 hrs
Best time
Early morning
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
George Town was founded in 1786 by the East India Company and became a free port where Chinese, Indians, Malays, Arabs and Europeans mixed. That mixture is written into the fabric: Chinese temples, mosques, Hindu temples and churches within a few streets of each other.
The Sino-Portuguese shophouses, narrow and deep, earned the town its UNESCO listing in 2008. The wall murals are more recent: the Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic painted a series in 2012 for a festival, and they set off a wave that has not stopped.
Getting there
In the north-east of Penang island. Forty minutes by taxi from the airport. The historic centre is covered on foot or by bike.
Rules on site
Heat and humidity are heavy all day: walk early in the morning or after four. The best-known murals have queues for the photograph, and some have faded away.