VacationSelector
Hawthorne Bridge and downtown, Portland
PortlandHawthorne Bridge and downtown
The old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds, Sapporo
SapporoThe old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds

Photos: Portland by Cacophony, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Sapporo by Feri88, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Portland 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 Portland for

  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Sapporo for

  • wellness
  • prices
  • getting around

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. Portland 20, Sapporo 28: Sapporo leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Portland 68, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Portland 38, Sapporo 40: Sapporo leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Portland 52, Sapporo 62: Sapporo leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Portland 84, Sapporo 86: Sapporo leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Portland 58, Sapporo 64: Sapporo leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Portland 55, Sapporo 72: Sapporo leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Portland 62, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Portland 52, Sapporo 58: Sapporo leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Portland 38, Sapporo 60: Sapporo leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Portland 55, Sapporo 44: Portland leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Portland 42, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 38 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Portland and Sapporo.

Your match

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

Portland
52match

Wins on live music and the arts with your weighting.

Sapporo
Best match
63match

Wins on wellness 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.

Portland in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
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
PortlandSapporo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Portland: 1991-2020 normals, Portland International Airport (9.8 km from centre). Sapporo: 1991-2020 normals, Sapporo (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePortlandSapporo
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
Elevation152 m5 m
Main airportPortland International Airport (PDX)10 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsNew Chitose Airport (CTS)42 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasurePortlandSapporo
City population652,5031,959,313
People per km²1,7361,747
Museums within 10 km1733
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C-1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Portland 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.