VacationSelector
The Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest
BudapestThe Fisherman's Bastion
The old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds, Sapporo
SapporoThe old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds

Photos: Budapest by Perituss, CC0; Sapporo by Feri88, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Budapest or Sapporo?

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 Budapest for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • wellness

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

Choose Sapporo for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Sapporo’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. Budapest 25, Sapporo 28: Sapporo leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Budapest 63, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Budapest 80, Sapporo 40: Budapest leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Budapest 78, Sapporo 62: Budapest leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Budapest 58, Sapporo 86: Sapporo leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Budapest 68, Sapporo 64: Budapest leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Budapest 62, Sapporo 72: Sapporo leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Budapest 78, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Budapest 55, Sapporo 58: Sapporo leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Budapest 62, Sapporo 60: Budapest leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Budapest 76, Sapporo 44: Budapest leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Budapest 98, Sapporo 80: Budapest leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Budapest and Sapporo.

Your match

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

Budapest
Best match
67match

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

Sapporo
63match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Budapest in July

27 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
75 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Sapporo in July

25 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
BudapestSapporo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Budapest: 1991-2020 normals, Budapest Met Center (2.1 km from centre). Sapporo: 1991-2020 normals, Sapporo (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBudapestSapporo
Official languageHungarianJapanese
CurrencyForint (HUF)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112Police 110, fire 119
Elevation117 m5 m
Main airportBudapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport (BUD)18 km from centre157 non-stop destinationsNew Chitose Airport (CTS)42 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureBudapestSapporo
City population1,675,7771,959,313
People per km²3,1911,747
Museums within 10 km8133
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Budapest or Sapporo 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.