VacationSelector
The Botanical Building, Balboa Park, San Diego
San DiegoThe Botanical Building, Balboa Park
The old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds, Sapporo
SapporoThe old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds

Photos: San Diego by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Sapporo by Feri88, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

San Diego 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 San Diego for

  • beaches
  • families
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Sapporo for

  • getting around
  • wellness
  • prices

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. San Diego 72, Sapporo 28: San Diego leads by 44 points.
Food & drink. San Diego 62, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. San Diego 50, Sapporo 40: San Diego leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. San Diego 48, Sapporo 62: Sapporo leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Diego 77, Sapporo 86: Sapporo leads by 9 points.
Day trips. San Diego 60, Sapporo 64: Sapporo leads by 4 points.
Good for families. San Diego 96, Sapporo 72: San Diego leads by 24 points.
Getting around. San Diego 38, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. San Diego 44, Sapporo 58: Sapporo leads by 14 points.
Affordability. San Diego 26, Sapporo 60: Sapporo leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Diego 56, Sapporo 44: San Diego leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Diego 45, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 35 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Diego and Sapporo.

Your match

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

San Diego
56match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Sapporo
Best match
63match

Wins on getting around and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

San Diego in July

24 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 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
San DiegoSapporo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. San Diego: 1991-2020 normals, San Diego International Airport (2.8 km from centre). Sapporo: 1991-2020 normals, Sapporo (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan DiegoSapporo
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
Elevation129 m5 m
Main airportSan Diego International Airport (SAN)3 km from centre87 non-stop destinationsNew Chitose Airport (CTS)42 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan DiegoSapporo
City population1,386,9321,959,313
People per km²1,4381,747
Museums within 10 km2633
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow San Diego 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). 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.