VacationSelector
A jetty on the lagoon, Faro
FaroA jetty on the lagoon
Painted colonial houses in the Pelourinho, Salvador
SalvadorPainted colonial houses in the Pelourinho

Photos: Faro by Efrem Efre, Pexels License; Salvador by Paul R. Burley, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Faro 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 Faro for

  • families
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Salvador for

  • culture and sights
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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. Faro 74, Salvador 84: Salvador leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Faro 48, Salvador 66: Salvador leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Faro 35, Salvador 74: Salvador leads by 39 points.
Nightlife. Faro 32, Salvador 70: Salvador leads by 38 points.
Nature & outdoors. Faro 62, Salvador 52: Faro leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Faro 64, Salvador 56: Faro leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Faro 60, Salvador 42: Faro leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Faro 60, Salvador 42: Faro leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Faro 35, Salvador 42: Salvador leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Faro 60, Salvador 70: Salvador leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Faro 30, Salvador 63: Salvador leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Faro 33, Salvador 32: Faro leads by 1 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Faro and Salvador.

Your match

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

Faro
49match

Wins on families and getting around with your weighting.

Salvador
Best match
58match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Faro in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
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
FaroSalvador

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Faro: 1991-2020 normals, Faro / Aeroporto (2.8 km from centre). Salvador: 1991-2020 normals, Salvador (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFaroSalvador
Official languagePortuguesePortuguese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number112Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation10 m8 m
Main airportFaro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 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

MeasureFaroSalvador
City population64,5602,417,678
People per km²3193,489
Museums within 10 km249
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Faro 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.