VacationSelector
The Opera House on the fjord, Oslo
OsloThe Opera House on the fjord
The old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds, Sapporo
SapporoThe old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds

Photos: Oslo by Beata May, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Sapporo by Feri88, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Oslo 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 Oslo for

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

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

Choose Sapporo for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • 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. Oslo 36, Sapporo 28: Oslo leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Oslo 55, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Oslo 66, Sapporo 40: Oslo leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Oslo 48, Sapporo 62: Sapporo leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Oslo 82, Sapporo 86: Sapporo leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Oslo 52, Sapporo 64: Sapporo leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Oslo 63, Sapporo 72: Sapporo leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Oslo 85, Sapporo 80: Oslo leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Oslo 50, Sapporo 58: Sapporo leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Oslo 14, Sapporo 60: Sapporo leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Oslo 62, Sapporo 44: Oslo leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Oslo 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: Oslo and Sapporo.

Your match

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

Oslo
56match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Sapporo
Best match
63match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Oslo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
86 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
18 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
OsloSapporo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Oslo: 1991-2020 normals, Oslo-Blindern (4.3 km from centre). Sapporo: 1991-2020 normals, Sapporo (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOsloSapporo
Official languageNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, SámiJapanese
CurrencyNorwegian Krone (NOK)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+9
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 113, fire 110Police 110, fire 119
Elevation23 m5 m
Main airportOslo-Gardermoen International Airport (OSL)37 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsNew Chitose Airport (CTS)42 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureOsloSapporo
City population717,7101,959,313
People per km²-1,747
Museums within 10 km6033
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Oslo 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.