VacationSelector
Painted colonial houses in the Pelourinho, Salvador
SalvadorPainted colonial houses in the Pelourinho
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge

Photos: Salvador by Paul R. Burley, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License.

Salvador or San Francisco?

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
  • prices
  • nightlife

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

Choose San Francisco for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on San Francisco’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, San Francisco 25: Salvador leads by 59 points.
Food & drink. Salvador 66, San Francisco 82: San Francisco leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Salvador 74, San Francisco 68: Salvador leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Salvador 70, San Francisco 58: Salvador leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Salvador 52, San Francisco 80: San Francisco leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Salvador 56, San Francisco 72: San Francisco leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Salvador 42, San Francisco 66: San Francisco leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Salvador 42, San Francisco 70: San Francisco leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Salvador 42, San Francisco 58: San Francisco leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Salvador 70, San Francisco 14: Salvador leads by 56 points.
Live music & performing arts. Salvador 63, San Francisco 76: San Francisco leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Salvador 32, San Francisco 42: San Francisco leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Salvador and San Francisco.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Salvador
58match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

San Francisco
59match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

San Francisco in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
SalvadorSan Francisco

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Salvador: 1991-2020 normals, Salvador (4.5 km from centre). San Francisco: 1981-2010 normals, Alameda Naval Air Station (9.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSalvadorSan Francisco
Official languagePortuguese-
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCN60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193911
Elevation8 m16 m
Main airportDeputado Luiz Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (SSA)20 km from centre31 non-stop destinationsSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSalvadorSan Francisco
City population2,417,678873,965
People per km²3,4891,455
Museums within 10 km4951
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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