The Best Hotels in Penang, Malaysia | Condé Nast Traveler

"Celebrating its 140th anniversary in 2025, Eastern & Oriental Hotel traces its origins back to the Suez Canal’s opening and the advent of the steamship. The privileged few, bored of the familiar, were looking to the East to satisfy their wanderlust—and Eastern & Oriental Hotel was born. Once playing host to the literary likes of Noël Coward, Rudyard Kipling, and Hermann Hesse, the E&O (as it became known) is still the place to stay for a sense of a Penang long past. Behind its imposing white façade are two elegant, all-suite wings in which natural wood floors and elegant furnishings create a sense of place. And true to its location in the heart of George Town, great emphasis is placed on preserving elements of the hotel’s history, so expect to encounter Moorish minarets, decommissioned cannons salvaged from Fort Cornwallis, and a java tree that has stood on the E&O’s seafront lawn since before it was built in 1885." - Samia Qaiyum