VacationSelector
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
Painted colonial houses in the Pelourinho, Salvador
SalvadorPainted colonial houses in the Pelourinho

Photos: Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Salvador by Paul R. Burley, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Muscat 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 Muscat for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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

Choose Salvador for

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • 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. Muscat 72, Salvador 84: Salvador leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Muscat 44, Salvador 66: Salvador leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Muscat 55, Salvador 74: Salvador leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Muscat 14, Salvador 70: Salvador leads by 56 points.
Nature & outdoors. Muscat 70, Salvador 52: Muscat leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Muscat 62, Salvador 56: Muscat leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Muscat 52, Salvador 42: Muscat leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Muscat 20, Salvador 42: Salvador leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Muscat and Salvador are level on 42.
Affordability. Muscat 45, Salvador 70: Salvador leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Muscat 40, Salvador 63: Salvador leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Muscat 55, Salvador 32: Muscat leads by 23 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Muscat and Salvador.

Your match

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

Muscat
48match

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

Salvador
Best match
58match

Wins on nightlife and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Muscat in July

33 °Cdaytime high
30 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
31 °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

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
MuscatSalvador

Where the figures come from

Muscat's sunshine is measured 32 km from the centre, at Seeb, International Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Muscat: 1991-2020 normals, Qaboos Port (3.4 km from centre). Salvador: 1991-2020 normals, Salvador (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMuscatSalvador
Official languageArabicPortuguese
CurrencyRial Omani (OMR)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsCG240 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-3
Emergency number968Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation69 m8 m
Main airportMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 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

MeasureMuscatSalvador
City population1,421,4092,417,678
People per km²4063,489
Museums within 10 km1049
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

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