Conveniently located within the UNESCO World Heritage Site of George Town and on its historic waterfront, SAVV HOTEL offers foot access to all-day street food dining, street art, quaint cafes and bars, spectacular architecture, and intangible heritage – all key ingredients that will make your stay memorable. Talk to any one of us for recommendations on street food and café-hopping or on sightseeing according to your interests.

To easily get an overview of the heritage area, hop onto the free Central Area Transit (CAT) bus from the Bus Terminal located a 3-min walk away. With 19 stops on the CAT route, this bus more or less goes along the boundaries of the heritage area. It starts and ends at the Bus Terminal, taking about half an hour to complete a loop and buses leave at intervals of 15 minutes.

Exploring the rest of Penang, such as Batu Ferringhi or Penang Hill, is just as easy with all other buses leaving from the Bus Terminal. The iconic ferry service connecting the island to the rest of Peninsular Malaysia is merely 200 meters away, making traveling by rail (north to Thailand and south to Kuala Lumpur) an attractive option as the train station is just across the channel. For air travel, you will within five minutes be on an expressway that leads to the airport 16 km away (an average of 30 minutes by car).

In 2009 the Penang State Government organised a competition for the best idea to physically brand the then-newly-inscribed George Town UNESCO World Heritage Site. The winning idea was a unique series of steel-rod caricatures which tell the history of the streets and stories of its communities in a local voice. In 2010, installation of the wire sculptures commenced and today, there are 52 of them scattered around the city (not including the one at our reception counter!).

The street art scene in George Town only caught global attention after Ernest Zacharevic’s commissioned project by George Town Festival in 2012. The project, ‘Mirrors George Town’, comprised 6 new murals which would celebrate the diversity and multiculturalism of the inner city. The most popular mural by far – judging by the long queues of fans waiting to be photographed with it – is Zacharevic’s ‘Kids On Bike’, located just 350 metres from SAVV HOTEL. Other murals such as ‘Children Playing Basketball’ and ‘Brother and Sister On A Swing’ by a local disabled artist, Louis Gan, are within 150 metres from the hotel.

Pick up a free copy of ‘Marking George Town’ map or download it to go on a walking discovery of George Town’s fascinating street art.

The Khoo Kongsi is a large Chinese clanhouse with elaborate and highly ornamented architecture, a mark of the dominant presence of the Chinese in Penang, Malaysia. The famous Khoo Kongsi is the grandest clan temple in the country. It is also one of the city's major historic attractions. The clan temple has retained its authentic historic setting, which includes an association building, a traditional theatre and the late 19th century rowhouses for clan members, all clustered around a granite-paved square. It is located in Cannon Square in the heart of the oldest part of the city of George Town, in the midst of narrow, winding lanes and quaint-looking pre-War houses exuding a palpable old world charm.

The Pinang Peranakan Mansion (Malay: Rumah Agam Peranakan Pulau Pinang) in George Town, Penang, Malaysia, is a museum dedicated to Penang's Peranakan heritage. The museum itself is housed within a distinctive green-hued mansion at Church Street, George Town, which once served as the residence and office of a 19th century Chinese tycoon, Chung Keng Quee.

The mansion contains thousands of Peranakan artifacts, antiques and collectibles, as well as showcasing Peranakan interior design and customs, such as the typical grand long dining table (Malay: tok panjang). Due to its unique architecture and interior design that reflect the lifestyles of the Peranakans in Penang, the mansion has been featured in television series and reality TV shows, such as The Little Nyonya, The Amazing Race and The Amazing Race Asia.

Dewan Sri Pinang was built in the early 1970's in the Brutalist architectural style spawned from the modernist architectural movement. Dewan Sri Pinang serves as a venue for live performances, and is still one of the most popular auditoriums in Penang. The Penang State Art Gallery is housed within the building with its entrance on the side of Jalan Tun Syed Sheh Barakbah.

Covering an area around Queen Street, Chulia Street and Market Street, Little India in the city of George Town in Malaysia, is an ethnic Indian enclave. The oldest Hindu temple in Penang, Sri Mahamariamman Temple is located here. This area bears many similarities to market streets in Chennai, Mumbai or Delhi. Its location at the centre of Penang Heritage Zone and nearby Penang's main finance centre, Beach Street make it one of the most famous and notable shopping spot in Penang among local and tourist. Little India is also famous for Malaysian Indian cuisine. It also serves as main commercial and cultural activities of Penang Indians. The place becomes more lively during festival times like Deepavali, Christmas and Thaipusam