Penang Round Island – the full loop around the island in a single day

The classic of classics, a route that sooner or later every cyclist visiting Penang rides. An early-morning start in the colonial lanes of George Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site – get ready for the smell of local coffee from the kopitiams, the first rickshaws getting ready for work and slow, morning traffic. From there the route heads south, towards the industrial district of Bayan Lepas and the airport. Depending on the variant you choose and whether you add the climb up the pass, the whole loop is 60 to as much as 100 km – in practice a relaxed day in the saddle takes 5–7 hours, counting stops for water and shade, because the tropical humidity can tire you more than the kilometres themselves. We'll work out the route together - we can go around the airport, or take a shorter route. A detour to Gertak Sengul is possible, a quiet fishing village set literally at the end of the road leading to the pineapple plantations.

Further on the route climbs a scenic pass (an easy ascent) and then descends to rural Balik Pulau and the west coast. The reward for the effort is the quiet of the villages, the smell of dried shrimp drying in the sun and endless opportunities to wander the gravel roads among the rice fields. You'll find a detailed description of this stretch in the "Balik Pulau Explorer" write-up.

After lunch at one of the local roadside street-food stalls and the right amount of coffee at our favourite cafés, we carry on riding to the second pass on this route, popularly called "800" in reference to the height you have to climb - about 800 feet, or 244 m above sea level. Both the climb and the descent winding along the dam are one of the highlights of this route. We roll straight down to the sandy, northern coast and from there we'll be riding only along the beaches! We ride in turn through the fishing village of Teluk Bahang, then the island's largest resort, Batu Ferringhi, and the residential villa district of Tanjung Bungah.

The end of the day is urban terrain again - the town of Tanjung Tokong and a spectacular ride across the artificial island of Andaman Island straight onto the historic road out of George Town - Gurney Drive. Today it's an area known for its high-rise towers and luxury shopping malls.

It's a remarkable route that in a single day shows all the faces of Penang at once: urban, rural and mountain, without having to choose.

The route is a loop, you can start and finish it anywhere along the way. The description assumes a start from George Town, but we can just as easily arrange a start and finish, for example, in Batu Ferringhi or wherever your hotel is located. We deliver and collect the bikes free of charge from the place you indicate. You can take this route on your own (we share the exact GPX route) or with our ride buddy, an experienced local cyclist who will ride along with you.