VacationSelector
The Assembly Hall on Temple Square, Salt Lake City
Salt Lake CityThe Assembly Hall on Temple Square
The old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds, Sapporo
SapporoThe old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds

Photos: Salt Lake City by hakkun, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Sapporo by Feri88, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Salt Lake City 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 Salt Lake City for

  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Salt Lake City’s own page.

Choose Sapporo for

  • wellness
  • food and drink
  • 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. Salt Lake City 12, Sapporo 28: Sapporo leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Salt Lake City 40, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 40 points.
Culture & sights. Salt Lake City 42, Sapporo 40: Salt Lake City leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Salt Lake City 30, Sapporo 62: Sapporo leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Salt Lake City 90, Sapporo 86: Salt Lake City leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Salt Lake City 34, Sapporo 64: Sapporo leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Salt Lake City and Sapporo are level on 72.
Getting around. Salt Lake City 42, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Salt Lake City 36, Sapporo 58: Sapporo leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Salt Lake City 40, Sapporo 60: Sapporo leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Salt Lake City 55, Sapporo 44: Salt Lake City leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Salt Lake City 38, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 42 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Salt Lake City and Sapporo.

Your match

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

Salt Lake City
44match

Wins on live music and the arts and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Sapporo
Best match
63match

Wins on wellness 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.

Salt Lake City in July

34 °Cdaytime high
19 °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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
Salt Lake CitySapporo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Salt Lake City: 1991-2020 normals, Salt Lake City International Airport (7.9 km from centre). Sapporo: 1991-2020 normals, Sapporo (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSalt Lake CitySapporo
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-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number911Police 110, fire 119
Elevation1,288 m5 m
Main airportSalt Lake City International Airport (SLC)9 km from centre108 non-stop destinationsNew Chitose Airport (CTS)42 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureSalt Lake CitySapporo
City population199,7231,959,313
People per km²6901,747
Museums within 10 km1233
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 Salt Lake City 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.