VacationSelector
The twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas, Guadalajara
GuadalajaraThe twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas
The old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds, Sapporo
SapporoThe old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds

Photos: Guadalajara by Ponchomx, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Sapporo by Feri88, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Guadalajara 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 Guadalajara for

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

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

Choose Sapporo for

  • wellness
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Guadalajara 5, Sapporo 28: Sapporo leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Guadalajara 75, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Guadalajara 62, Sapporo 40: Guadalajara leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Guadalajara 68, Sapporo 62: Guadalajara leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Guadalajara 55, Sapporo 86: Sapporo leads by 31 points.
Day trips. Guadalajara 66, Sapporo 64: Guadalajara leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Guadalajara 55, Sapporo 72: Sapporo leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Guadalajara 40, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Guadalajara 60, Sapporo 58: Guadalajara leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Guadalajara 78, Sapporo 60: Guadalajara leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Guadalajara 60, Sapporo 44: Guadalajara leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Guadalajara 35, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 45 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Guadalajara and Sapporo.

Your match

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

Guadalajara
55match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Sapporo
Best match
63match

Wins on wellness and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Guadalajara in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
205 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
13 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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
GuadalajaraSapporo

Where the figures come from

Guadalajara has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Guadalajara: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Sapporo: 1991-2020 normals, Sapporo (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGuadalajaraSapporo
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaJapanese
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Yen (JPY)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+9
Emergency number911Police 110, fire 119
Elevation1,536 m5 m
Main airportGuadalajara International Airport (GDL)17 km from centre70 non-stop destinationsNew Chitose Airport (CTS)42 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureGuadalajaraSapporo
City population1,385,6211,959,313
People per km²9,5561,747
Museums within 10 km1733
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 Guadalajara or Sapporo somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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). 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.