VacationSelector
The Grand Lisboa above the Macau skyline, Macau
MacauThe Grand Lisboa above the Macau skyline
Painted colonial houses in the Pelourinho, Salvador
SalvadorPainted colonial houses in the Pelourinho

Photos: Macau by tian Jin, Pexels License; Salvador by Paul R. Burley, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Macau 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 Macau for

  • getting around
  • shopping
  • food and drink

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

Choose Salvador for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

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. Macau 24, Salvador 84: Salvador leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Macau 77, Salvador 66: Macau leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Macau 62, Salvador 74: Salvador leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Macau 40, Salvador 70: Salvador leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Macau 5, Salvador 52: Salvador leads by 47 points.
Day trips. Macau 52, Salvador 56: Salvador leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Macau 48, Salvador 42: Macau leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Macau 60, Salvador 42: Macau leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Macau 58, Salvador 42: Macau leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Macau 44, Salvador 70: Salvador leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Macau 36, Salvador 63: Salvador leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Macau 40, Salvador 32: Macau leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Macau and Salvador.

Your match

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

Macau
46match

Wins on getting around and shopping with your weighting.

Salvador
Best match
58match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Macau in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
281 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
MacauSalvador

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Macau: 1991-2020 normals, Taipa (3.9 km from centre). Salvador: 1991-2020 normals, Salvador (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMacauSalvador
Official languagePortuguese, Cantonese, Standard ChinesePortuguese
CurrencyPataca (MOP)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsFGM220 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-3
Emergency number999Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation22 m8 m
Main airportMacau International Airport (MFM)7 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsDeputado Luiz Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (SSA)20 km from centre31 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureMacauSalvador
City population682,1002,417,678
People per km²5,9163,489
Museums within 10 km2849
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C8 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Macau 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.