VacationSelector
The pyramids of Giza, Cairo
CairoThe pyramids of Giza
Painted colonial houses in the Pelourinho, Salvador
SalvadorPainted colonial houses in the Pelourinho

Photos: Cairo by Ricardo Liberato, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Salvador by Paul R. Burley, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cairo 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 Cairo for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

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

Choose Salvador for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Cairo 10, Salvador 84: Salvador leads by 74 points.
Food & drink. Cairo 60, Salvador 66: Salvador leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Cairo 96, Salvador 74: Cairo leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Cairo 48, Salvador 70: Salvador leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cairo 30, Salvador 52: Salvador leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Cairo 66, Salvador 56: Cairo leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Cairo 32, Salvador 42: Salvador leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Cairo 35, Salvador 42: Salvador leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Cairo 58, Salvador 42: Cairo leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Cairo 95, Salvador 70: Cairo leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cairo 50, Salvador 63: Salvador leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cairo 15, Salvador 32: Salvador leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cairo and Salvador.

Your match

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

Cairo
50match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Salvador
Best match
58match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cairo in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 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
CairoSalvador

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cairo: 1991-2020 normals, Helwan (21.9 km from centre). Salvador: 1991-2020 normals, Salvador (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCairoSalvador
Official languageArabicPortuguese
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-3
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation23 m8 m
Main airportCairo International Airport (CAI)17 km from centre127 non-stop destinationsDeputado Luiz Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (SSA)20 km from centre31 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureCairoSalvador
City population9,801,5362,417,678
People per km²18,5643,489
Museums within 10 km4849
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cairo 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.