VacationSelector
The old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds, Sapporo
SapporoThe old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Sapporo by Feri88, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Sapporo or Seattle?

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

  • wellness
  • prices
  • getting around

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

Choose Seattle for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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, Seattle 30: Seattle leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Sapporo 80, Seattle 66: Sapporo leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Sapporo 40, Seattle 50: Seattle leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Sapporo 62, Seattle 55: Sapporo leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Sapporo 86, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Sapporo 64, Seattle 55: Sapporo leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Sapporo 72, Seattle 64: Sapporo leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Sapporo 80, Seattle 60: Sapporo leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Sapporo 58, Seattle 52: Sapporo leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Sapporo 60, Seattle 22: Sapporo leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sapporo 44, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sapporo 80, Seattle 40: Sapporo leads by 40 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Sapporo and Seattle.

Your match

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

Sapporo
Best match
63match

Wins on wellness and prices with your weighting.

Seattle
54match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights 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

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
SapporoSeattle

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Sapporo: 1991-2020 normals, Sapporo (2.2 km from centre). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSapporoSeattle
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-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119911
Elevation5 m40 m
Main airportNew Chitose Airport (CTS)42 km from centre42 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSapporoSeattle
City population1,959,313737,015
People per km²1,7471,996
Museums within 10 km3327
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 monthNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Sapporo or Seattle 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.