VacationSelector
The Jet d'Eau and a lake boat, Geneva
GenevaThe Jet d'Eau and a lake boat
The old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds, Sapporo
SapporoThe old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds

Photos: Geneva by Diviosen, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Sapporo by Feri88, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Geneva 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 Geneva for

  • culture and sights
  • beaches
  • day trips

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

Choose Sapporo for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • wellness

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. Geneva 45, Sapporo 28: Geneva leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Geneva 55, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Geneva 58, Sapporo 40: Geneva leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Geneva 38, Sapporo 62: Sapporo leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Geneva 82, Sapporo 86: Sapporo leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Geneva 80, Sapporo 64: Geneva leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Geneva 57, Sapporo 72: Sapporo leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Geneva 86, Sapporo 80: Geneva leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Geneva 68, Sapporo 58: Geneva leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Geneva 5, Sapporo 60: Sapporo leads by 55 points.
Live music & performing arts. Geneva 60, Sapporo 44: Geneva leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Geneva 55, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 25 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Geneva
57match

Wins on culture and sights and beaches with your weighting.

Sapporo
Best match
63match

Wins on prices 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.

Geneva in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
77 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 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
GenevaSapporo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Geneva: 1991-2020 normals, Geneve-Cointrin (5.7 km from centre). Sapporo: 1991-2020 normals, Sapporo (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGenevaSapporo
Official languageFrench, German, Italian, RomanshJapanese
CurrencySwiss Franc (CHF)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCJ230 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
Elevation403 m5 m
Main airportGeneva International Airport (GVA)5 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsNew Chitose Airport (CTS)42 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureGenevaSapporo
City population211,1521,959,313
People per km²13,2801,747
Museums within 10 km3433
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Geneva or Sapporo somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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.