VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds, Sapporo
SapporoThe old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Sapporo by Feri88, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles for

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

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

Choose Sapporo for

  • getting around
  • prices
  • 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. Los Angeles 60, Sapporo 28: Los Angeles leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles 84, Sapporo 80: Los Angeles leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, Sapporo 40: Los Angeles leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Sapporo 62: Los Angeles leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Sapporo 86: Sapporo leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, Sapporo 64: Sapporo leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Sapporo 72: Los Angeles leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 55 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, Sapporo 58: Los Angeles leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Sapporo 60: Sapporo leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Sapporo 44: Los Angeles leads by 39 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Los Angeles 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

Los Angeles
64match

Wins on live music and the arts and beaches with your weighting.

Sapporo
63match

Wins on getting around and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
Los AngelesSapporo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Sapporo: 1991-2020 normals, Sapporo (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesSapporo
Official language-Japanese
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Yen (JPY)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number911Police 110, fire 119
Elevation106 m5 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsNew Chitose Airport (CTS)42 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesSapporo
City population3,898,7471,959,313
People per km²2,9941,747
Museums within 10 km3933
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Los Angeles 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.