Georgetown's UNESCO-listed historic centre is the main event — a compact grid of shophouses, clan jetties, temples, mosques and churches that can be crossed on foot in twenty minutes. Walking is the only way to take it in properly. The standard circuit covers Little India, the British administrative quarter around Fort Cornwallis, the Khoo Kongsi clan house, the Kapitan Keling Mosque and the Goddess of Mercy Temple — all within a short walk.
The street art started with Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic's murals in 2012 and now extends across the entire heritage zone, alongside steel-rod wall sculptures by Sculpture at Work that point out everyday histories. The Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion (the Blue Mansion) and the Pinang Peranakan Mansion give a window into the lives of wealthy 19th-century Straits Chinese.
Out of the centre, Penang Hill reached by funicular gives sweeping views and cooler air, and the enormous Kek Lok Si Temple in Air Itam is one of the largest Buddhist temples in Southeast Asia. The Clan Jetties — wooden stilt villages over the harbour — are still inhabited and still extraordinary.