VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
Painted colonial houses in the Pelourinho, Salvador
SalvadorPainted colonial houses in the Pelourinho

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Salvador by Paul R. Burley, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Amsterdam or Salvador?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Amsterdam for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Amsterdam’s own page.

Choose Salvador for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Salvador’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Amsterdam 25, Salvador 84: Salvador leads by 59 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Salvador 66: Salvador leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Salvador 74: Amsterdam leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Salvador 70: Amsterdam leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Salvador 52: Salvador leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Salvador 56: Amsterdam leads by 31 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Salvador 42: Amsterdam leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Salvador 42: Amsterdam leads by 44 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Salvador 42: Amsterdam leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Salvador 70: Salvador leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Salvador 63: Amsterdam leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Salvador 32: Amsterdam leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Salvador.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Salvador
58match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Amsterdam in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
84 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Salvador in July

27 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
201 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamSalvador

Where the figures come from

Amsterdam has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Amsterdam's sunshine is measured 35 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). Salvador: 1991-2020 normals, Salvador (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamSalvador
Official languageDutchPortuguese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number112Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation-2 m8 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsDeputado Luiz Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (SSA)20 km from centre31 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamSalvador
City population921,4682,417,678
People per km²4,2083,489
Museums within 10 km10149
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km51
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amsterdam or Salvador somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.