VacationSelector
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat
MuscatThe Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
The old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds, Sapporo
SapporoThe old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds

Photos: Muscat by Alli Khalil, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Sapporo by Feri88, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Muscat 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 Muscat for

  • beaches
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Sapporo for

  • getting around
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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. Muscat 72, Sapporo 28: Muscat leads by 44 points.
Food & drink. Muscat 44, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Muscat 55, Sapporo 40: Muscat leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Muscat 14, Sapporo 62: Sapporo leads by 48 points.
Nature & outdoors. Muscat 70, Sapporo 86: Sapporo leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Muscat 62, Sapporo 64: Sapporo leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Muscat 52, Sapporo 72: Sapporo leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Muscat 20, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 60 points.
Shopping & style. Muscat 42, Sapporo 58: Sapporo leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Muscat 45, Sapporo 60: Sapporo leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Muscat 40, Sapporo 44: Sapporo leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Muscat 55, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Muscat and Sapporo.

Your match

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

Muscat
48match

Wins on beaches and culture and sights with your weighting.

Sapporo
Best match
63match

Wins on getting around and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Muscat in July

33 °Cdaytime high
30 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
31 °Csea
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

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
MuscatSapporo

Where the figures come from

Muscat's sunshine is measured 32 km from the centre, at Seeb, International Airport.

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

Before you go

MeasureMuscatSapporo
Official languageArabicJapanese
CurrencyRial Omani (OMR)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCG240 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+9
Emergency number968Police 110, fire 119
Elevation69 m5 m
Main airportMuscat International Airport (MCT)31 km from centre83 non-stop destinationsNew Chitose Airport (CTS)42 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureMuscatSapporo
City population1,421,4091,959,313
People per km²4061,747
Museums within 10 km1033
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Muscat 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.