VacationSelector
The old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds, Sapporo
SapporoThe old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city

Photos: Sapporo by Feri88, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Sapporo or Scottsdale?

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 Sapporo for

  • getting around
  • food and drink
  • prices

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

Choose Scottsdale for

  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Scottsdale’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. Sapporo 28, Scottsdale 8: Sapporo leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Sapporo 80, Scottsdale 46: Sapporo leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. Sapporo 40, Scottsdale 38: Sapporo leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Sapporo 62, Scottsdale 52: Sapporo leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Sapporo 86, Scottsdale 68: Sapporo leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Sapporo 64, Scottsdale 50: Sapporo leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Sapporo 72, Scottsdale 60: Sapporo leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Sapporo 80, Scottsdale 20: Sapporo leads by 60 points.
Shopping & style. Sapporo 58, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Sapporo 60, Scottsdale 32: Sapporo leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sapporo 44, Scottsdale 40: Sapporo leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sapporo 80, Scottsdale 72: Sapporo leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Sapporo and Scottsdale.

Your match

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

Sapporo
Best match
63match

Wins on getting around and food and drink with your weighting.

Scottsdale
46match

Wins on shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
SapporoScottsdale

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Sapporo: 1991-2020 normals, Sapporo (2.2 km from centre). Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSapporoScottsdale
Official languageJapanese-
CurrencyYen (JPY)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC-7
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119911
Elevation5 m380 m
Main airportNew Chitose Airport (CTS)42 km from centre42 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureSapporoScottsdale
City population1,959,313241,361
People per km²1,747-
Museums within 10 km3310
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Sapporo or Scottsdale 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.