VacationSelector
The red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji, Fukuoka
FukuokaThe red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji
The old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds, Sapporo
SapporoThe old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds

Photos: Fukuoka by Nick-D, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Sapporo by Feri88, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Fukuoka 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 Fukuoka for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Sapporo for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • nightlife

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. Fukuoka 50, Sapporo 28: Fukuoka leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Fukuoka 82, Sapporo 80: Fukuoka leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Fukuoka 50, Sapporo 40: Fukuoka leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Fukuoka 60, Sapporo 62: Sapporo leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fukuoka 62, Sapporo 86: Sapporo leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Fukuoka 84, Sapporo 64: Fukuoka leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Fukuoka 78, Sapporo 72: Fukuoka leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Fukuoka 82, Sapporo 80: Fukuoka leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Fukuoka 65, Sapporo 58: Fukuoka leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Fukuoka 58, Sapporo 60: Sapporo leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fukuoka 45, Sapporo 44: Fukuoka leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fukuoka 60, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 20 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fukuoka and Sapporo.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Fukuoka
65match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Sapporo
63match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Fukuoka in July

31 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
301 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
14 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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
FukuokaSapporo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Fukuoka: 1991-2020 normals, Fukuoka (1.9 km from centre). Sapporo: 1991-2020 normals, Sapporo (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFukuokaSapporo
Official languageJapaneseJapanese
CurrencyYen (JPY)Yen (JPY)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+9
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119Police 110, fire 119
Elevation8 m5 m
Main airportFukuoka Airport (FUK)5 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsNew Chitose Airport (CTS)42 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureFukuokaSapporo
City population1,603,0431,959,313
People per km²4,7151,747
Museums within 10 km2333
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Fukuoka 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. 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.