VacationSelector
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket
Painted colonial houses in the Pelourinho, Salvador
SalvadorPainted colonial houses in the Pelourinho

Photos: Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0; Salvador by Paul R. Burley, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Phuket 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 Phuket for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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

Choose Salvador for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

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. Phuket 90, Salvador 84: Phuket leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Phuket and Salvador are level on 66.
Culture & sights. Phuket 35, Salvador 74: Salvador leads by 39 points.
Nightlife. Phuket 72, Salvador 70: Phuket leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phuket 80, Salvador 52: Phuket leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Phuket 45, Salvador 56: Salvador leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Phuket 65, Salvador 42: Phuket leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Phuket 22, Salvador 42: Salvador leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Phuket and Salvador are level on 42.
Affordability. Phuket 68, Salvador 70: Salvador leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phuket 20, Salvador 63: Salvador leads by 43 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phuket 82, Salvador 32: Phuket leads by 50 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phuket and Salvador.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Phuket
57match

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

Salvador
58match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Phuket in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
287 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
30 °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
PhuketSalvador

Where the figures come from

Phuket's temperatures are measured 27 km from the centre, at Phuket Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Phuket: 1991-2020 (rainfall 1961-1990) normals, Phuket Airport (26.9 km from centre). Salvador: 1991-2020 normals, Salvador (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhuketSalvador
Official languageThaiPortuguese
CurrencyBaht (THB)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-3
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation19 m8 m
Main airportPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 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

MeasurePhuketSalvador
City population77,6102,417,678
People per km²6,4683,489
Museums within 10 km249
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 Phuket or Salvador somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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). 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.