Under the hill, and twenty-five floors above the city

Take the first train up

The funicular starts at 6.30am, and there is a cheaper sunrise round trip.

Penang Hill Corporation sells a discounted sunrise fare to anyone living, working or studying in Malaysia with valid identification, bought in person at the Lower Station counter between 6.15am and 8.00am. It is not offered on public holidays, school holidays or peak periods, and the Corporation publishes current fares on its own ticket page.

Go early whether or not the fare applies to you. The queue after nine on a weekend is the one thing guests tell me they wish they had known.

Then Kek Lok Si, while it is still cool

It is minutes away, and the morning version of it is the good one.

The temple complex climbs the hillside at Air Itam and looks like a different place in the first hours of the day than it does at noon.

If you are doing both, do the hill first and the temple after. They are close enough that you can, and you will have finished the climbing before the heat arrives.

Or stay above it all, at Jelutong

Ocean Home is on the twenty-fifth floor, and it sleeps twelve.

Jelutong is the middle of the island rather than the postcard of it, which is exactly why it works as a base: the heritage core, the food courts and the east coast are all a short drive, and you are not fighting anyone for a parking space at the end of it.

The building has an infinity pool, a sandy beach pool and a rock-climbing wall, so the afternoon everyone is too hot to move has somewhere to go.

And the road over to Balik Pulau

The drive across the island starts from this side.

Balik Pulau is the farming half of Penang: durian in season, nutmeg, padi fields, and a far slower afternoon than anywhere on the coast.

It is an easy half day by car from the apartment, and one of the few parts of the island most visitors never reach.

What time does the Penang Hill funicular start running?

From about 6.30am through to 11pm. There is a discounted sunrise round trip for people living, working or studying in Malaysia, bought at the Lower Station counter between 6.15am and 8.00am, and it is not available on public or school holidays.

Where can a family stay near Penang Hill?

Penang Hill Home sits at the foot of it: three bedrooms, two bathrooms, sleeping up to eight, with Kek Lok Si a few minutes away and the Balik Pulau road starting from the door.

Is it better to stay near Penang Hill or in the heritage core?

Under the hill if you are driving and want the hill, the temple and Balik Pulau. The heritage core if you plan to walk everywhere and eat your way along Chulia Street. Parking is much easier on this side.