VacationSelector
The Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía, Cusco
CuscoThe Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía
Painted colonial houses in the Pelourinho, Salvador
SalvadorPainted colonial houses in the Pelourinho

Photos: Cusco by Pedro Szekely, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Salvador by Paul R. Burley, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cusco 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 Cusco for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • shopping

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

Choose Salvador for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • families

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. Cusco 3, Salvador 84: Salvador leads by 81 points.
Food & drink. Cusco 56, Salvador 66: Salvador leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Cusco 81, Salvador 74: Cusco leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Cusco 42, Salvador 70: Salvador leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cusco 86, Salvador 52: Cusco leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Cusco 78, Salvador 56: Cusco leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Cusco 10, Salvador 42: Salvador leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Cusco 48, Salvador 42: Cusco leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Cusco 52, Salvador 42: Cusco leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Cusco 73, Salvador 70: Cusco leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cusco 30, Salvador 63: Salvador leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cusco 33, Salvador 32: Cusco leads by 1 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cusco and Salvador.

Your match

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

Cusco
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips with your weighting.

Salvador
Best match
58match

Wins on beaches and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cusco in July

20 °Cdaytime high
1 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
11 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
CuscoSalvador

Where the figures come from

Cusco's station stands 151 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cusco: 1991-2020 normals, Cuzco (3.7 km from centre). Salvador: 1991-2020 normals, Salvador (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCuscoSalvador
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaPortuguese
CurrencySol (PEN)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-3
Emergency number111 or 911Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation3,399 m8 m
Main airportAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsDeputado Luiz Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (SSA)20 km from centre31 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureCuscoSalvador
City population428,4502,417,678
People per km²-3,489
Museums within 10 km1149
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 Cusco 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.