What to do in Penang with kids? Penang is an island on the west coast of Malaysia. It is a very nice and uncluttered island and therefore ideal if you are traveling with kids. There is much to do and experience for young and old. The travel distances on this island are not great and so you can see a lot in, say, a fat week. We unexpectedly stayed longer than planned and were able to do and see a lot of this beautiful island! In this blog, we tell you why Penang is so much fun with kids, what you can do and why you should definitely not skip this island when visiting Malaysia.
Best travel time Penang with kids
Malaysia is around 30 degrees year-round. Penang is located on the west coast of Malaysia. In the west, the wet season runs from September through December. A downpour in Malaysia usually lasts no longer than two hours, but then you will also have a heavy downpour behind you. We were there in March and always had good weather. The summer vacation months as we know them in the Netherlands, July and August, are also good months to visit Penang with kids.
Transportation in Penang
We arrived at Penang by ferry. Then you arrive in Georgetown. If your hotel is in the city, you can just do most things there on foot. Or you can take the authentic rickshaw. Outside Georgetown, it is easiest to book a cab. You can do this very conveniently and inexpensively through the app: Grab.
We also rented a scooter for 2 days on Penang and our experience is that it is sometimes much faster. The traffic is sometimes jammed for a very long time due to the crowds in and around Georgetown, and with a scooter you ride past the traffic jam and thus get to your destination much faster. In addition, getting around on the scooter is also a lot of fun!
We spent 1 day 4 hours on a scooter, passing by the nicest places and riding right through the jungle of Penang. Really great! Our boys were very tired that day from a busy day before and enjoyed this ride. Highly recommended! You can also do a lot just walking, during our days in Batu Ferringhi we did a lot of walking because almost everything is within walking distance.
Of course, you can also rent a car to explore the island. You can rent a car through the organization Sunny Cars. With this organization, all rental car insurance and often the deductible are included in the rental price. How convenient! To rent a car in Penang through Sunny Cars, take a look here.
Children’s activities Penang
#1 Georgetown
Georgetown is a place not to be missed when visiting Penang with kids. In Georgetown, you have the street art route. This one is very easy and fun to run! Along the way you will come across all kinds of beautiful paintings. At each hotel there is a map which is the best route to walk to see them all. In addition, the locations are also listed on Google Maps.
Our experience was that this is best done early in the morning. It gets very hot during the day and our boys don’t like to hike then. There is a nice atmosphere in the city, and there are nice stores with souvenirs everywhere.
In the evening when it has cooled down a bit go take a look at the water, Clan Jetties. These are Chinese fishing villages that have been preserved and people still live there! They could not buy land so they built their houses with poles over the sea. Our kids were totally impressed after hearing this story about this piece of Penang history.
#2 Youth Park
When we rented 2 scooters for 2 days, we went to the Youth Park on Penang. This is a really cool park to visit in Penang with kids. We were in the park at 8 a.m. and at that time there were mostly elderly people playing sports. The nice thing about the park is that it is spacious. You will find a large playground, outdoor gym equipment, a large area of forest/jungle where you can make trails, a skating rink and a public outdoor pool!
This was the surprise for us and since we were there very early we had this pool all to ourselves. The park is very beautiful, it is nice and green and there are monkeys walking everywhere. After we played for a while at the playground, we walked on to the huge skate track which is very nicely set against the edge of the jungle. We didn’t have a skateboard or scooter with us, of course, but we did have 2 Hotwheels that could ride down the track very nicely.
As it was slowly getting warmer, we cooled off in 1 of the 2 pools. The park is sheltered so there is plenty of shade. In addition, there are public toilets and it is clean. It is that we had rented the scooters and wanted to see even more otherwise we would definitely have stayed here much longer!
Really a fantastic park, and totally free. We didn’t see any restaurants there, so if you stay a little longer, do bring your own picnic.
#3 Teman Negara Pulau Penang
You have a large national park on Penang that is fun to visit with kids. We did this one day. Again, we got up early to start our hike through the jungle nice and early. You can walk different routes through the park and at the entrance to the park it will automatically become clear what routes there are.
We chose to take a boat to Monkey beach for the first part and walk to the lighthouse from here. This took 45 minutes round trip. From the lighthouse you have no view because it is densely vegetated, but the hike was very beautiful and fun with stairs right through the jungle. Along the way you will encounter monkeys, butterflies and beautiful birds.
You also have a hike that goes to Turtle beach, which takes 1.5 hours. Taking the boat was, oddly enough, cheaper than walking. You can then also be picked up again by boat, so the distances are fine with kids. Once we returned to the island, we had a drink with the locals on Monkey beach.
There are monkeys walking and we also saw a sea otter catching a fish and then coming up the beach. So there is plenty to do here. You tell the captain in advance what time you want to be back or send an app if you want to be picked up. On the way back, the boys both got to get behind the wheel of the speedboat for a while and you can guess what they liked most about this day 😉 We paid €19.00 for the boat and entrance to the park.
#4 Entopia Butterfly Farm
You can also go to a “butterfly garden” on Penang with kids. The Entopia Butterfly Farm has grown tremendously over the years, become very beautiful and super fun to visit with kids! We did this too, and besides butterflies, they have all kinds of other animals there. It is quite pricey by Malaysian standards, but it is well worth it.
We booked through Agoda, so we already had the tickets in advance which meant we didn’t have to wait in line and also got a 10% discount. Once inside, you will find hundreds of butterflies and it is very informative because there is a lot of information and explanations given by the people working there.
In addition to butterflies, there are insects, spiders, lizards and snakes that you can all admire. At a designated time, they also give “Bug Exploration” where you get a lot of information about different animals that are part of the show and at the end you also get to hold or touch them briefly such as a cockroach, for example. Very convenient so you can put your kid in if you have 1 in your room 😉. For more information, check out Entopia Butterfly Farm‘s website.
#5 Penang Hill
If you are in Penang, don’t forget to do the little train to Penang Hill. With kids, this is a lot of fun! The little train goes up nice and smoothly and there is plenty to see along the way. Along the way, you’ll have great views of Georgetown. It is a modern air-conditioned train and in 10 minutes you go from Bukit Bendera Station (Lower Penang Hill Station) to Upper Penang Hill Station.
The train goes to the summit daily from 6:30 am to 11 pm. In the evening I’m sure it’s great fun too, with all the lights you’ll see then! Once at the top, you have beautiful views, and you can enjoy hiking. The most touristy spot, but also a fantastic view can be found from the Sky Deck near Upper Hill Station. You won’t leave here without having taken a picture!
There is also a playground, so your kids can play off the energy for a while! You also have here: laying “The Habitat,” where we ourselves have not been. This is a fun educational outing with kids and you can have fun for several hours. For example, there is a Tree Top Walk. You will also find lots of flora and fauna and a giant swing that allows you to see the fantastic view. If you want to buy a ticket for this in advance, you can do so here.
Because Penang Hill is more than 700 meters above sea level, it is often nice and cool. A wonderful children’s activity in Penang to escape the hot Georgetown for a while and recover from the heat.
#6 Escape Park Penang
Bloggers Joep, Sanne and Sophie also visited Escape Park Penang in Penang and have added this activity to this blog….
You can also go to Escape Park Penang in Penang with kids. Escape Park Penang is a combination of a climbing park and a water park. For example, the park has the longest waterslide in the world, where you spend as much as 3.5 minutes sliding down an inflatable tire. You have to get to this slide by chairlift. Besides this slide, you have three other slides in the water park as well as several diving boards.
The water park area also has a wave pool and a very large inflatable course for kids. We ourselves always alternated between the water park and the climbing park. In the climbing park you have several climbing courses that you can climb with kids. There are also several ziplines and you can take the whole family down a slope in a tire.
The park also has the longest zipcoaster in the world. In this, you enter some kind of steel structure and then slide all the way down a very long course. We ended up spending all day there and our daughter Sophie had a super good time. We would have liked to stay in this park quite a bit longer.
For tickets to Escape Park Penang, check here. We wrote the extensive blog Escape Park Penang with kids about this activity.
Family-friendly restaurant Penang
You can also eat very well in Penang with small kids. Many restaurants are tremendously family-friendly which makes it fun to eat out with your kids so everyone is relaxed and eating well. In Batu Ferringhi you also have an MC Donalds for lovers. You could also order food through Grab so you don’t have to leave the door at all.
Family-friendly hotel Penang
Joep, Sanne and Sophie slept on Penang at the Hardrock Hotel Penang and they thought it was really super cool! The hotel is also super close to Escape park in Penang and in about ten minutes you can get to Escape Park Penang by car from the hotel. They noticed that there were many Dutch families staying at this hotel (they were there during the summer vacations) and they understand that all too well, as there is a lot to do for kids such as several pools with different slides. They had a very nice room at the Hardrock Hotel Penang.
Breakfast in the morning was also very extensive and very tasty at the Hardrock Hotel Penang. They had only booked two nights at this hotel, but would have liked to stay at the hotel a little longer afterwards. For kids, this really is a top hotel! For more information on the Hardrock Hotel in Penang, take a look here.
Another nice hotel where you can stay on Penang with kids is the Golden Sands resort. The Golden Sands Resort is a very nice hotel with several slides and lots to do for kids. We spent a day here because relatives of ours were staying here. For more information about the Golden Sands Resort, take a look here.
For a list of all family-friendly hotels in Penang, take a look here.
About the author: I am Prynta and together with my husband and two kids I love to explore the world with the four of us. We have been on many exotic trips and are far from done traveling! You can follow us on our Instagram channel _TravelTribe_.
