VacationSelector
The old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds, Sapporo
SapporoThe old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds
The Arctic Cathedral, Tromso
TromsoThe Arctic Cathedral

Photos: Sapporo by Feri88, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Tromso by Moyan Brenn, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Sapporo or Tromso?

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

  • day trips
  • prices
  • food and drink

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

Choose Tromso for

  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Tromso’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, Tromso 8: Sapporo leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Sapporo 80, Tromso 36: Sapporo leads by 44 points.
Culture & sights. Sapporo 40, Tromso 27: Sapporo leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Sapporo 62, Tromso 38: Sapporo leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Sapporo 86, Tromso 92: Tromso leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Sapporo 64, Tromso 14: Sapporo leads by 50 points.
Good for families. Sapporo 72, Tromso 45: Sapporo leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Sapporo 80, Tromso 60: Sapporo leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Sapporo 58, Tromso 15: Sapporo leads by 43 points.
Affordability. Sapporo 60, Tromso 11: Sapporo leads by 49 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sapporo 44, Tromso 32: Sapporo leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sapporo 80, Tromso 38: Sapporo leads by 42 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Sapporo and Tromso.

Your match

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

Sapporo
Best match
63match

Wins on day trips and prices with your weighting.

Tromso
35match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Tromso in July

16 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
24 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
SapporoTromso

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Sapporo: 1991-2020 normals, Sapporo (2.2 km from centre). Tromso: 1991-2020 normals, Tromso (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSapporoTromso
Official languageJapaneseNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi
CurrencyYen (JPY)Norwegian Krone (NOK)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119Police 112, ambulance 113, fire 110
Elevation5 m20 m
Main airportNew Chitose Airport (CTS)42 km from centre42 non-stop destinationsTromsø Airport (TOS)4 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSapporoTromso
City population1,959,31379,943
People per km²1,74732
Museums within 10 km338
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 Tromso 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.