VacationSelector
The Massachusetts State House, Boston
BostonThe Massachusetts State House
Painted colonial houses in the Pelourinho, Salvador
SalvadorPainted colonial houses in the Pelourinho

Photos: Boston by Ajay Suresh, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Salvador by Paul R. Burley, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Boston 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 Boston for

  • families
  • getting around
  • day trips

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

Choose Salvador for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • nightlife

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. Boston 35, Salvador 84: Salvador leads by 49 points.
Food & drink. Boston 64, Salvador 66: Salvador leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Boston 72, Salvador 74: Salvador leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Boston 47, Salvador 70: Salvador leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Boston 60, Salvador 52: Boston leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Boston 72, Salvador 56: Boston leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Boston 72, Salvador 42: Boston leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Boston 70, Salvador 42: Boston leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Boston 55, Salvador 42: Boston leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Boston 18, Salvador 70: Salvador leads by 52 points.
Live music & performing arts. Boston 72, Salvador 63: Boston leads by 9 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Boston 30, Salvador 32: Salvador leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Boston and Salvador.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Boston
56match

Wins on families and getting around 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.

Boston in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
18 °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
BostonSalvador

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Boston: 1991-2020 normals, Boston Logan International (3.5 km from centre). Salvador: 1991-2020 normals, Salvador (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBostonSalvador
Official language-Portuguese
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number911Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation43 m8 m
Main airportBoston Logan International Airport (BOS)4 km from centre144 non-stop destinationsDeputado Luiz Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (SSA)20 km from centre31 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureBostonSalvador
City population675,6472,417,678
People per km²2,9103,489
Museums within 10 km5149
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Boston 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. 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.