Best hostels in George Town, Penang

Best Hostels In George Town, Penang – Budget Travel In Malaysia

Facebookpinterestyoutubeinstagram

Visit George Town in Penang, Malaysia and experience a city that is globally famous for its street food and street art. The whole of the old town is a UNESCO heritage site and it is a truly multicultural place where you will see mosques, temples and churches in the same streets.

Step outside the old town and the landscape changes to that of a modern city, with malls and skyscrapers replacing the crumbling Chinese shop-houses. Venture further and discover Penang Hill, a great place for hiking and home of the steepest tunnel track in the world. George Town has a lot to offer!

Klook.com

How Long To Spend In George Town

We arrived in George Town at almost the halfway point of our year long travel. Deciding that George Town would be a cool place to hang around for a while, we initially booked a hotel for one week. Other travellers had told us that we would love George Town. They were right. Halfway through the week, we booked to stay for another. George Town is one of those places that you can really settle into!

How To Get To George Town From Langkawi

Originally, we had decided against the direct ferry from Langkawi and looked into making our own way via a cheap public ferry from Langkawi to the mainland, then a bus to Butterworth, then another ferry to George Town. We then discovered we could fly direct to Penang from Langkawi for around 90 MYR (£16) and that included our check-in luggage. We chose to fly.

Powered by 12Go system

How To Get To George Town From Penang Airport

From Penang airport, we were going to take a bus for 4 MYR (less than a pound) but we decided to take a Grab taxi as it took less than half the time and was only 20 MYR (less than £4) for a 40 minute journey that took us straight to our hotel.

Where To Stay In George Town, Penang

CLICK HERE FOR ALL ACCOMMODATION IN GEORGE TOWN!

These are some of the best budget hostels in George Town, Penang, according to user reviews. These are affiliate links to the Agoda web site. I found Agoda to be much better than booking.com in Southeast Asia. I receive a small amount for any bookings made through these links at no extra cost to you.

Eton Hotel

After  a month staying in bamboo huts in the Thai islands and a rather grim stay in Langkawi, we decided we needed some comfort. This meant paying over our usual budget so we could have ‘luxuries’ such as a proper working shower, air-con and fresh towels when needed.

For all these comforts, we booked a stay at ‘Eton Hotel’ (map). This hotel is about 15 minutes walk from the old town but is near the bus station and malls and surrounded by plenty of local restaurants.

Though we had enjoyed staying in the bamboo huts of the Andaman islands, it was great to have the comforts of a decent hotel again. This is one of the great things about travelling. One week, you are staying in the most basic bamboo hut with limited facilities and geckos and even snakes in the bathroom; the next you are in a nice, modern hotel with the best hot shower and air-con! Still no fridge though!

Eton Hotel, George Town. Thankfully, the blinds pull down.

Eton Hotel, George Town. Thankfully, the blinds pull down.

We had a great time staying in the Eton Hotel. The air-con worked great, as did the WiFi. They couldn’t clean the room enough. Even when we requested no clean, they knocked on our door and then phoned us up to make sure! There is also a bar in the hotel that also sell snacks but we didn’t use it.

Our room didn’t have a window which meant we were waking up quite late as we had no natural light to give us an idea as to what time it was! For me, it was not a problem getting up later!

**********

We paid £137 for 7 nights.

Click here to book a stay at ‘Eton Hotel’.

Grand FC Hotel

For our second week, we moved to a hotel, ‘Grand FC Hotel’ (map) that was a little bit closer to the old town. This knocked off a good ten minutes walk to and from the old town. Located near the north end of the popular Chulia Street, this provided us with all of the comforts of the previous hotel, with the added bonus of a window. How we’d missed natural light.

Whilst the hotel did provide hot showers and comfortable beds with the choice of daily room service, there were areas in which it could be improved. The WiFi was not good. Though we were constantly connected, too often we still could not connect to the internet. As we were slowing down on travel and spending more time than usual in one city, this was a chance to catch up on our blogging and for this we needed good WiFi. After cleanliness, I’d put good WiFi as the number one priority, especially when you are staying in a place for a week or longer.

The other negative was the security. You get a pass which you need to use the lift (it won’t work without it). This meant that, if I came back later to the hotel, Joanna would have to come downstairs in the lift so I could get in. It’s a good idea but only if they give each adult in the room their own pass.

Overall, we had a good stay in the hotel, despite the WiFi frustration. It is in a good location and was a clean and comfortable room.

**********

We paid £134 for 7 nights.

Click here to stay at ‘Grand FC Hotel’.
Facebookpinterest

2 comments on “Best Hostels In George Town, Penang – Budget Travel In Malaysia

  1. Pingback: 18 Amazing Things To Do In George Town, Penang - Budget Travel In Malaysia

  2. Mitch

    A very comprehensive blog post on Penang. I like Penang, to the extent I’m using Penang as a base between travels. Interesting to read someone else’s experience.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *