VacationSelector
Wat Pho, Bangkok
BangkokWat Pho
Painted colonial houses in the Pelourinho, Salvador
SalvadorPainted colonial houses in the Pelourinho

Photos: Bangkok by Lu Zhao, Pexels License; Salvador by Paul R. Burley, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Bangkok 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 Bangkok for

  • wellness
  • shopping
  • food and drink

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

Choose Salvador for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts

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. Bangkok 12, Salvador 84: Salvador leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Bangkok 95, Salvador 66: Bangkok leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Bangkok 80, Salvador 74: Bangkok leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Bangkok 85, Salvador 70: Bangkok leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bangkok 25, Salvador 52: Salvador leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Bangkok 72, Salvador 56: Bangkok leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Bangkok 50, Salvador 42: Bangkok leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Bangkok 50, Salvador 42: Bangkok leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Bangkok 80, Salvador 42: Bangkok leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Bangkok 85, Salvador 70: Bangkok leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bangkok 52, Salvador 63: Salvador leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bangkok 75, Salvador 32: Bangkok leads by 43 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bangkok and Salvador.

Your match

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

Bangkok
Best match
63match

Wins on wellness and shopping with your weighting.

Salvador
58match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bangkok in July

34 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
184 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BangkokSalvador

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bangkok: 1991-2020 normals, Bangkok (5.7 km from centre). Salvador: 1991-2020 normals, Salvador (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBangkokSalvador
Official languageThaiPortuguese
CurrencyBaht (THB)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-3
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation2 m8 m
Main airportSuvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)26 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsDeputado Luiz Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (SSA)20 km from centre31 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureBangkokSalvador
City population5,676,6482,417,678
People per km²3,6193,489
Museums within 10 km5949
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bangkok 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.