VacationSelector
Painted colonial houses in the Pelourinho, Salvador
SalvadorPainted colonial houses in the Pelourinho
The Christuskirche among palms, Windhoek
WindhoekThe Christuskirche among palms

Photos: Salvador by Paul R. Burley, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Windhoek by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Salvador or Windhoek?

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 Windhoek for

Windhoek does not lead in any category we score.

What lies behind each score is written up on Windhoek’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, Windhoek 4: Salvador leads by 80 points.
Food & drink. Salvador 66, Windhoek 36: Salvador leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Salvador 74, Windhoek 30: Salvador leads by 44 points.
Nightlife. Salvador 70, Windhoek 25: Salvador leads by 45 points.
Nature & outdoors. Salvador and Windhoek are level on 52.
Day trips. Salvador 56, Windhoek 14: Salvador leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Salvador 42, Windhoek 30: Salvador leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Salvador 42, Windhoek 22: Salvador leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Salvador 42, Windhoek 30: Salvador leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Salvador 70, Windhoek 62: Salvador leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Salvador 63, Windhoek 18: Salvador leads by 45 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Salvador 32, Windhoek 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 Windhoek.

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.

Windhoek
29match

Has no clear advantage with the weighting you have chosen.

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

Windhoek in July

22 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
SalvadorWindhoek

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Salvador: 1991-2020 normals, Salvador (4.5 km from centre). Windhoek: 1991-2020 normals, Windhoek (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSalvadorWindhoek
Official languagePortugueseEnglish
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)Namibia Dollar (NAD)
SocketsCN60 HzM220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-3UTC+2
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193112
Elevation8 m1,650 m
Main airportDeputado Luiz Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (SSA)20 km from centre31 non-stop destinationsHosea Kutako International Airport (WDH)41 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSalvadorWindhoek
City population2,417,678486,169
People per km²3,48995
Museums within 10 km495
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Windhoek 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.