Beach Street is George Town's old commercial spine, lined with mercantile buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Banks, trading houses, guild buildings, and colonial-era offices still give the street a formal business character, but it is also one of the best places to read Penang's port history in the architecture.
Walk it slowly as part of a wider old-town route, linking Fort Cornwallis, the Clan Jetties, Little India, and the civic buildings around the waterfront.