Where Penang shops, snacks and lunches: the markets worth your morning.
Food markets, farmers markets and covered halls: where Penang shops, snacks and lunches.
Chowrasta Market has traded on Penang Road since the 1890s, Penang's oldest wet market, ringed by jeruk stalls selling pickled nutmeg and mango.
Go for: Jeruk pickled fruits, Nutmeg, Morning hawkers
Tip: Come before 10:00 for the wet-market floor; the pickled-fruit shops along the Jalan Penang frontage stay open later.
Pulau Tikus Market runs a dawn wet market that hands over to an evening hawker centre, the two-shift engine of Penang's most food-proud suburb.
Go for: Morning hawkers, Fresh produce, Curry mee
Tip: Do the 07:00 shift: market hawkers sell out by mid-morning, then return at dusk for the second sitting.
Campbell Street Market fills a Victorian hall from about 1900, likely George Town's oldest market building, with stalls spilling down Carnarvon Street.
Go for: Fresh produce, Curry mee, Heritage architecture
Tip: The curry mee stall outside the hall is the local pick; pair the market with the Campbell Street shophouse walk.
Air Itam Market crowds the lanes under Kek Lok Si temple, the Penang wet market whose surrounding laksa and duck-rice stalls justify the trip.
Go for: Assam laksa, Duck rice, Wet market produce
Tip: Eat the famous laksa by the market steps, then queue for the duck rice from 15:30; both are Air Itam rituals.
Batu Ferringhi Night Market strings stalls along the beach road nightly from 19:00, Penang's pasar malam of grills, satay and souvenir haggling.
Go for: Night market snacks, Souvenirs, Beach-strip dinner
Tip: Haggling is expected on goods but not on food; eat at the satay and grilled-seafood stalls at the strip's west end.
Medan Renong lines the Esplanade seafront by Fort Cornwallis with evening hawker stalls, Penang's Malay-food court with a Michelin-listed tom yum.
Go for: Malay hawker food, Green tom yum, Seafront dining
Tip: Ghee Lian's green tom yum at Lot 39 is the star turn; take a sea-wall table and order pasembur alongside.