VacationSelector
Painted colonial houses in the Pelourinho, Salvador
SalvadorPainted colonial houses in the Pelourinho
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Salvador by Paul R. Burley, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Salvador or Samarkand?

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 Salvador for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Samarkand’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. Salvador 84, Samarkand 4: Salvador leads by 80 points.
Food & drink. Salvador 66, Samarkand 54: Salvador leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Salvador 74, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Salvador 70, Samarkand 14: Salvador leads by 56 points.
Nature & outdoors. Salvador 52, Samarkand 40: Salvador leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Salvador 56, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Salvador 42, Samarkand 30: Salvador leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Salvador 42, Samarkand 58: Samarkand leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Salvador and Samarkand are level on 42.
Affordability. Salvador 70, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Salvador 63, Samarkand 24: Salvador leads by 39 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Salvador and Samarkand are level on 32.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Salvador and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Salvador
Best match
58match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Samarkand in July

34 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
SalvadorSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Salvador: 1991-2020 normals, Salvador (4.5 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSalvadorSamarkand
Official languagePortugueseUzbek
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCN60 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC+5
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193112
Elevation8 m702 m
Main airportDeputado Luiz Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (SSA)20 km from centre31 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureSalvadorSamarkand
City population2,417,678546,303
People per km²3,4895,058
Museums within 10 km4911
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

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