VacationSelector
The old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds, Sapporo
SapporoThe old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds
The Opera House from the water, Sydney
SydneyThe Opera House from the water

Photos: Sapporo by Feri88, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Sydney by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Sapporo or Sydney?

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

  • prices
  • wellness
  • day trips

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

Choose Sydney for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Sydney’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, Sydney 95: Sydney leads by 67 points.
Food & drink. Sapporo 80, Sydney 77: Sapporo leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Sapporo 40, Sydney 60: Sydney leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Sapporo 62, Sydney 60: Sapporo leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Sapporo 86, Sydney 85: Sapporo leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Sapporo 64, Sydney 50: Sapporo leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Sapporo 72, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Sapporo 80, Sydney 75: Sapporo leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Sapporo 58, Sydney 68: Sydney leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Sapporo 60, Sydney 22: Sapporo leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sapporo 44, Sydney 73: Sydney leads by 29 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sapporo 80, Sydney 55: Sapporo leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Sapporo and Sydney.

Your match

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

Sapporo
63match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Sydney
Best match
66match

Wins on beaches and live music and the arts 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

Sydney in July

18 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
SapporoSydney

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Sapporo: 1991-2020 normals, Sapporo (2.2 km from centre). Sydney: 1991-2020 normals, Sydney Airport (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSapporoSydney
Official languageJapaneseEnglish
CurrencyYen (JPY)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+10, UTC+11 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119000
Elevation5 m6 m
Main airportNew Chitose Airport (CTS)42 km from centre42 non-stop destinationsSydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)9 km from centre99 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSapporoSydney
City population1,959,3135,450,496
People per km²1,747449
Museums within 10 km3338
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month6 months

Where else could you go?

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