An independent Penang guide — est. 2017
The Free Penang Planner — 87,000 travellers can't be wrong.
A 96-page editorially-vetted PDF covering 18 neighbourhoods, 600+ verified spots, and the hawker stalls our team still argues about over Friday char kuey teow. Built for the trip you actually want to take.
Inside the 2025 edition — opening spreads, hand-marked hawker maps, and the annotated notes our writers carry to every stall.
What you'll find inside
Six chapters. Every one of them walked, tasted, and re-checked.
This isn't a Top-10 listicle exported to PDF. It's the working notebook our writers actually use when family visits — now organised so you can skip the planning slog and start eating by day two.
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01
Day-by-day itineraries
Three tested routes for 3-, 5- and 7-day trips across George Town, Balik Pulau and the islands — including the Monday-only and Thursday-only stalls most guides quietly miss.
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02
The verified hawker index
320 stalls personally eaten at by our team in the last 12 months, sorted by dish and district. Refreshed within 48 hours of any permanent closure or ownership change.
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03
Neighbourhood maps for all 18 districts
From Core Heritage Zone to Teluk Bahang, Pulau Aman to Balik Pulau's durian orchards — hand-drawn walking maps with our team's favourite stops marked.
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04
The bilingual food glossary
1,200+ Hokkien, Cantonese, Malay and Tamil hawker terms with pronunciation — so you can order what the auntie actually recommends, not just what's on the printed sign.
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05
Where to stay under RM300
Boutique hotels, heritage stays and honest guesthouses vetted by us — from a RM90 family-run room in Lebuh Chulia to a RM280 restored shophouse suite.
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06
What to skip — and what's seasonal
A frank chapter on overrated spots, monsoon-week trade-offs, and the seasonal calendar (durian months, seaweed closures, festival week crowds) so you plan around reality.
The 2024 edition by the numbers
One planner, seven full-time writers, and a hawker uncle on retainer. Here's what the last twelve months looked like.
What readers told us after their trip
Letters from people who actually used it.
"We skipped three paid food tours after the planner's hawker index pointed us straight to the auntie running the Lorong Selamat char kuey teow stall. Best meal of the year, RM6 a plate, no tour group in sight. The bilingual glossary also saved me from ordering something I definitely could not finish."
"We're Melbourne couple-trippers who usually over-research to the point of exhaustion. The 5-day Balik Pulau itinerary plus the under-RM300 stay list meant we planned the whole thing on a Sunday afternoon. The neighbourhood maps for districts outside George Town — we never would have found them otherwise."
"Born in Penang, lived abroad 22 years, came home to bring my kids. I downloaded the planner skeptically — I've lived here half my life. The seasonal chapter told me which durian stall in Balik Pulau is actually worth the drive this August. The writer had eaten there the week before. That kind of currency you can't fake."
Edition 07 · 2025 · refreshed this week
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