VacationSelector
The Sagrada Família, Barcelona
BarcelonaThe Sagrada Família
Painted colonial houses in the Pelourinho, Salvador
SalvadorPainted colonial houses in the Pelourinho

Photos: Barcelona by Canaan, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Salvador by Paul R. Burley, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Barcelona 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 Barcelona for

  • getting around
  • families
  • shopping

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

Choose Salvador for

  • prices
  • beaches

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. Barcelona 75, Salvador 84: Salvador leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Barcelona 82, Salvador 66: Barcelona leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Barcelona 86, Salvador 74: Barcelona leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Barcelona 82, Salvador 70: Barcelona leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Barcelona 72, Salvador 52: Barcelona leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Barcelona 80, Salvador 56: Barcelona leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Barcelona 76, Salvador 42: Barcelona leads by 34 points.
Getting around. Barcelona 80, Salvador 42: Barcelona leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Barcelona 75, Salvador 42: Barcelona leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Barcelona 44, Salvador 70: Salvador leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Barcelona 70, Salvador 63: Barcelona leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Barcelona 38, Salvador 32: Barcelona leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Barcelona and Salvador.

Your match

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

Barcelona
Best match
72match

Wins on getting around and families with your weighting.

Salvador
58match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Barcelona in July

28 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 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
BarcelonaSalvador

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Barcelona: 1991-2020 normals, Barcelona / Aeropuerto (14.4 km from centre). Salvador: 1991-2020 normals, Salvador (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBarcelonaSalvador
Official languageSpanishPortuguese
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
Elevation9 m8 m
Main airportJosep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN)13 km from centre235 non-stop destinationsDeputado Luiz Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (SSA)20 km from centre31 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureBarcelonaSalvador
City population1,731,6492,417,678
People per km²17,0943,489
Museums within 10 km9549
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Barcelona 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.