VacationSelector
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum
The old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds, Sapporo
SapporoThe old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds

Photos: Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Sapporo by Feri88, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Rome 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 Rome for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Rome’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. Rome 50, Sapporo 28: Rome leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Rome 82, Sapporo 80: Rome leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Rome 99, Sapporo 40: Rome leads by 59 points.
Nightlife. Rome 58, Sapporo 62: Sapporo leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rome 58, Sapporo 86: Sapporo leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Rome 92, Sapporo 64: Rome leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Rome 50, Sapporo 72: Sapporo leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Rome 60, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Rome 72, Sapporo 58: Rome leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Rome 38, Sapporo 60: Sapporo leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rome 68, Sapporo 44: Rome leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rome 40, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 40 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rome 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

Rome
64match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °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
RomeSapporo

Where the figures come from

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre). Sapporo: 1991-2020 normals, Sapporo (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRomeSapporo
Official languageItalianJapanese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112Police 110, fire 119
Elevation21 m5 m
Main airportRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinationsNew Chitose Airport (CTS)42 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureRomeSapporo
City population2,748,1091,959,313
People per km²2,1351,747
Museums within 10 km17833
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km71
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 Rome 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). 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. 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.