Penang Bridge & Ferry: Arriving by Car

Planning to arrive in Penang by car? Penang Bridge and ferry are two of the options available for people arriving by car to Penang.

Using the Penang Bridge

To take the bridge, exit the North-South Expressway at Exit 161, which carries the sign saying "George Town". The toll rate for using the Penang Bridge is RM7.00 for cars and RM1.50 for motorcycles. If you purchase a Touch-n-Go card or SmartTAG from the Penang Bridge office, you enjoy a 20% discount when you use the bridge. The journey by car across the bridge is 13.5 km (8.4 miles). If there is no traffic jam, you should be able to cross the bridge within 10-15 minutes. However, the traffic is usually very heavy at most time of the day, and is prone with massive jams, usually due to accidents but some times due to traffic overload.

Using the Ferry

The alternative to the Penang Bridge is the ferry between Butterworth and George Town. It is actually more expensive, slower, and some times, just as congested, to use the ferry. At Butterworth, follow the sign saying "Feri". It takes about 20 minutes to cross the channel, excluding waiting time, and costs RM7.70 for cars and RM2.00 for motorcycles. As the Touch-n-Go Card is not usable, ferry users do not enjoy discounts. On the other hand, you save on petrol.

You board the ferry at the Sultan Abdul Halim Terminal in Butterworth and disembark at the Raja Tun Uda Terminal in George Town. The benefit of using the ferry is that it takes you right into the heart of the city whereas with the Penang Bridge, you are several miles away. That said, unless you are going into George Town, you might prefer to use the Penang Bridge.

This might sound like a small thrill, but another benefit of taking the ferry is that you can leave your car to enjoy the breeze, perhaps take a photo or two of the approaching island. The view of George Town is quite nice, especially during sunset.

Private Guided Tours of Penang

If you are seeking private guided tours of Penang, message Penang Tour Guides at penangtourguides@gmail.com and enquire with them.

 Buy, rent or sell properties in Penang

Do you have a property for sale or to rent out? Are you looking to buy or rent a property? Get in touch with me. WhatsApp me (Timothy Tye) at 012 429 9844, and I will assign one of my property agents to serve you. I will choose the agent for you, according to your property needs. So when you message me, provide me some details of what you need, whether to sell, to buy, to rent or to rent out, and what type of property, is it condo, apartment, house, shop, office or land.

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About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.