Buzios or Salvador?

Both towns sit on peninsulas with a calm bay side and an open Atlantic side, and in both the beach is the centre of the day. The difference is in the water and the setting. Buzios has more than twenty separate coves, linked by water taxis and clear enough for snorkelling at Ferradura or Tartaruga. On some days, though, cold upwelling makes the sea surprisingly cool.

Salvador's sea is warm all year, and its beaches are city beaches. Porto da Barra is where the neighbourhood swims and watches the sunset. The cleaner, wilder sand lies further north towards Stella Maris, or an hour away at Praia do Forte, and the water near the centre can turn murky after rain.

Buzios has the smarter table, with grilled fish, shrimp and Mediterranean-leaning plates at waterfront restaurants on the Orla Bardot, eaten as the sun goes down over the bay. The cooking is made for visitors, though. Once you have had the seafood, there is no market or regional kitchen to explore, so it suits evenings out more than discovery. Salvador is the opposite: less polish and far more to taste.

Salvador's Bahian cooking has West African roots and is built on dendê oil, coconut milk and dried shrimp. You find it in the street as much as at a table, in fritters from the baianas' stalls, per-kilo lunch counters and the São Joaquim market, with a clay-pot moqueca baiana for a proper sit-down meal. Travellers who plan their days around eating will be happier here. If you want a stylish dinner with a view, Buzios is easier, because Salvador has little high-end or international dining.

This is where the two differ most. Buzios has the whitewashed lanes of its old fishing village, the chapel of Sant'Ana and the Bardot statue on the waterfront, and an hour covers it all.

Salvador was Brazil's first capital, and its UNESCO-listed Pelourinho has dozens of baroque churches, led by the gilded interior of São Francisco. From there the Lacerda Elevator drops to the Mercado Modelo, and the Bonfim church stands on its own hill. The Afro-Brazilian heritage running through all of it gives several days of sightseeing a character no beach resort can offer.

Buzios has one street for going out. On Rua das Pedras, late dinners lead on to lounge bars and small clubs full of a well-dressed crowd in summer, and the rest of the year is much quieter. Salvador's evenings are looser and more local, with plastic tables across Rio Vermelho's pavements, a younger beachfront crowd in Barra and the Pelourinho squares busy on Tuesday and weekend nights.

Both peak at Carnival, but Salvador's street parties behind the music trucks are on another scale entirely. Neither is much of a clubbing destination.

Buzios is the better choice for time outdoors, and almost all of it is on the water. You can snorkel with turtles in the bay coves, take schooner trips round the headlands, kitesurf in the steady wind at Rasa and Manguinhos, and dive at Arraial do Cabo, under an hour away.

Salvador's nature is more varied but less close at hand. It offers boat trips on the Bay of All Saints, the white dunes and dark lagoon of Abaeté, surf at Stella Maris and humpback whales offshore from about July to October. Neither has mountains for hiking nearby.

Salvador has far more to fill a day away. Cachoeira is a colonial river town in the Recôncavo, Praia do Forte has its castle ruins, and the ferry runs to Itaparica's old town. The car-free village of Morro de São Paulo is a catamaran ride away.

From Buzios the choice is mostly Cabo Frio, with its seventeenth-century fort, and the boat trips at Arraial do Cabo. Rio is about three hours away and better treated as a separate stay.

Neither has a zoo, aquarium or theme park worth planning around, so in both a family vacation is a beach vacation, and Buzios has the edge for small children. Its bay coves at Ferradura, Joao Fernandes and Tartaruga give several calm, shallow options, and pousadas with pools are easy to find, although hills and taxis separate the beaches.

Salvador has one comparable cove in Porto da Barra, and older children enjoy the Pelourinho's capoeira and the turtle centre at Praia do Forte. Steep cobbles, strong sun and the need to watch your belongings make it harder work with children.

Neither is easy without taxis, but Salvador is a little more manageable. Buzios has a small walkable centre around Rua das Pedras and the Orla Bardot. Beyond that lies a hilly peninsula with infrequent buses and roads without pavements, so people reach the beaches by water taxi or hired buggy.

Salvador is far larger, yet cheap ride-hailing, the metro to the airport and bus station, and the Lacerda Elevator between the upper and lower town cover most needs. It also has its own airport, whereas Buzios means a three-hour road transfer from Rio.

The two offer different kinds of shopping. Buzios sells style: Brazilian swimwear and beachwear labels, linen and jewellery along Rua das Pedras, with shops open late after dinner, plus an evening craft fair.

Salvador sells Bahian craft, such as carved wood, lace, berimbaus and Bonfim ribbons, at the Mercado Modelo and in the Pelourinho. It also has the São Joaquim market to wander and malls for everyday needs, which gives it more range overall.

Salvador is noticeably cheaper. Street food, beach-shack lunches, ride-hailing and simple guesthouses in Barra or the Pelourinho keep costs low, and many churches and museums cost little or nothing to enter.

Buzios charges resort rates for pousadas and waterfront dining, much like a mid-range trip to Southern Europe, and taxis and boat trips add up. Carnival pushes room rates up sharply in both places, and Buzios is far easier on the budget from April to November.

Salvador wins easily here. It is the home of samba-reggae and axé, and open bloco rehearsals in the Pelourinho and Liberdade, the Balé Folclórico da Bahia and impromptu capoeira rodas make live rhythm part of most evenings. The Teatro Castro Alves adds orchestral concerts and touring shows.

In Buzios, live performance means bossa nova and samba at waterfront restaurants on summer nights. It is pleasant with dinner, but there is no programme to plan an evening around.

Buzios is the better place to unwind. Its hillside pousadas and resorts often have small spas and pools looking out to sea, and a day of cove, long lunch and sunset is restful, particularly outside the December to March season, as long as you sleep away from Rua das Pedras.

Salvador has no spa culture beyond its hotels, and the centre is hot and noisy. Its calm lies in the unhurried Bahian manner, a quiet guesthouse in Santo Antônio or a resort up the coast.