VacationSelector
Punta del Este
Painted colonial houses in the Pelourinho, Salvador
SalvadorPainted colonial houses in the Pelourinho

Photos: Salvador by Paul R. Burley, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Punta del Este 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 Punta del Este for

  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Punta del Este’s own page.

Choose Salvador for

  • culture and sights
  • 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. Punta del Este 72, Salvador 84: Salvador leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Punta del Este 45, Salvador 66: Salvador leads by 21 points.
Culture & sights. Punta del Este 22, Salvador 74: Salvador leads by 52 points.
Nightlife. Punta del Este 60, Salvador 70: Salvador leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Punta del Este 55, Salvador 52: Punta del Este leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Punta del Este 45, Salvador 56: Salvador leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Punta del Este 55, Salvador 42: Punta del Este leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Punta del Este 35, Salvador 42: Salvador leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Punta del Este and Salvador are level on 42.
Affordability. Punta del Este 20, Salvador 70: Salvador leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Punta del Este 22, Salvador 63: Salvador leads by 41 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Punta del Este and Salvador are level on 32.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Punta del Este
42match

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

Salvador
Best match
58match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Punta del Este in July

15 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
101 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 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
Punta del EsteSalvador

Where the figures come from

Punta del Este's temperatures are measured 79 km from the centre, at Rocha.

Punta del Este has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Punta del Este: 1991-2020 normals, Rocha (78.5 km from centre). Salvador: 1991-2020 normals, Salvador (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePunta del EsteSalvador
Official language-Portuguese
CurrencyPeso Uruguayo (UYU)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsCFIL230 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC-3
Emergency number911Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation11 m8 m
Main airportCapitan Corbeta CA Curbelo International Airport (PDP)18 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsDeputado Luiz Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (SSA)20 km from centre31 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasurePunta del EsteSalvador
City population9,2772,417,678
People per km²4553,489
Museums within 10 km549
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 Punta del Este 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.