VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
The old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds, Sapporo
SapporoThe old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds

Photos: Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Sapporo by Feri88, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Istanbul 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 Istanbul for

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

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

Choose Sapporo for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • 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. Istanbul 45, Sapporo 28: Istanbul leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, Sapporo 80: Istanbul leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, Sapporo 40: Istanbul leads by 50 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, Sapporo 62: Istanbul leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, Sapporo 86: Sapporo leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Istanbul 55, Sapporo 64: Sapporo leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Istanbul 55, Sapporo 72: Sapporo leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, Sapporo 58: Istanbul leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Istanbul and Sapporo are level on 60.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, Sapporo 44: Istanbul leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Istanbul and Sapporo.

Your match

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

Istanbul
Best match
67match

Wins on culture and sights and shopping with your weighting.

Sapporo
63match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Istanbul in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
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
IstanbulSapporo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre). Sapporo: 1991-2020 normals, Sapporo (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulSapporo
Official languageTurkishJapanese
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+9
Emergency number112Police 110, fire 119
Elevation100 m5 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsNew Chitose Airport (CTS)42 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulSapporo
City population15,655,9241,959,313
People per km²2,9301,747
Museums within 10 km7333
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months1 month

Where else could you go?

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