VacationSelector
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor
Painted colonial houses in the Pelourinho, Salvador
SalvadorPainted colonial houses in the Pelourinho

Photos: Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Salvador by Paul R. Burley, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Lima 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 Lima for

  • food and drink
  • shopping

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

Choose Salvador for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • 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. Lima 42, Salvador 84: Salvador leads by 42 points.
Food & drink. Lima 88, Salvador 66: Lima leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Lima 66, Salvador 74: Salvador leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Lima 62, Salvador 70: Salvador leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lima 45, Salvador 52: Salvador leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Lima 34, Salvador 56: Salvador leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Lima and Salvador are level on 42.
Getting around. Lima 35, Salvador 42: Salvador leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Lima 52, Salvador 42: Lima leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Lima and Salvador are level on 70.
Live music & performing arts. Lima 53, Salvador 63: Salvador leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lima 25, Salvador 32: Salvador leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lima and Salvador.

Your match

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

Lima
51match

Wins on food and drink and shopping with your weighting.

Salvador
Best match
58match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Lima in July

19 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
1 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
12 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
LimaSalvador

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre). Salvador: 1991-2020 normals, Salvador (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLimaSalvador
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
Elevation154 m8 m
Main airportJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 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

MeasureLimaSalvador
City population9,943,8002,417,678
People per km²3,7213,489
Museums within 10 km4749
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Lima 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). 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.