VacationSelector
Ferries off the Kordon promenade, Izmir
IzmirFerries off the Kordon promenade
The old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds, Sapporo
SapporoThe old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds

Photos: Izmir by Toygar Par, Pexels License; Sapporo by Feri88, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Izmir 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 Izmir for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Sapporo for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • 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. Izmir 62, Sapporo 28: Izmir leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Izmir 72, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Izmir 55, Sapporo 40: Izmir leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Izmir 60, Sapporo 62: Sapporo leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Izmir 66, Sapporo 86: Sapporo leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Izmir 86, Sapporo 64: Izmir leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Izmir 55, Sapporo 72: Sapporo leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Izmir 63, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Izmir 55, Sapporo 58: Sapporo leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Izmir 66, Sapporo 60: Izmir leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Izmir 48, Sapporo 44: Izmir leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Izmir 57, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 23 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Izmir and Sapporo.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Izmir
62match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Sapporo
63match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Izmir in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
13 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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
IzmirSapporo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Izmir: 1991-2020 normals, Izmir (3.4 km from centre). Sapporo: 1991-2020 normals, Sapporo (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIzmirSapporo
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
Elevation2 m5 m
Main airportAdnan Menderes International Airport (ADB)13 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsNew Chitose Airport (CTS)42 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureIzmirSapporo
City population4,493,2421,959,313
People per km²4,7601,747
Museums within 10 km2933
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months1 month

Where else could you go?

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