VacationSelector
Painted colonial houses in the Pelourinho, Salvador
SalvadorPainted colonial houses in the Pelourinho
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Salvador by Paul R. Burley, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Salvador or Santa Marta?

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

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Marta’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, Santa Marta 70: Salvador leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Salvador 66, Santa Marta 44: Salvador leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Salvador 74, Santa Marta 34: Salvador leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Salvador 70, Santa Marta 50: Salvador leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Salvador 52, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Salvador 56, Santa Marta 38: Salvador leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Salvador 42, Santa Marta 40: Salvador leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Salvador 42, Santa Marta 38: Salvador leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Salvador 42, Santa Marta 27: Salvador leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Salvador 70, Santa Marta 80: Santa Marta leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Salvador 63, Santa Marta 17: Salvador leads by 46 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Salvador 32, Santa Marta 30: Salvador leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Salvador and Santa Marta.

Your match

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

Salvador
Best match
58match

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

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

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

Santa Marta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
59 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
SalvadorSanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Salvador: 1991-2020 normals, Salvador (4.5 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSalvadorSanta Marta
Official languagePortugueseSpanish
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCN60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193123
Elevation8 m8 m
Main airportDeputado Luiz Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (SSA)20 km from centre31 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureSalvadorSanta Marta
City population2,417,678505,915
People per km²3,4891,723
Museums within 10 km493
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Salvador or Santa Marta 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.