VacationSelector
The old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds, Sapporo
SapporoThe old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Sapporo by Feri88, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Sapporo or Xi'an?

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
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Xi'an’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, Xi'an 4: Sapporo leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Sapporo 80, Xi'an 70: Sapporo leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Sapporo 40, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 41 points.
Nightlife. Sapporo 62, Xi'an 42: Sapporo leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Sapporo 86, Xi'an 62: Sapporo leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Sapporo 64, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Sapporo 72, Xi'an 48: Sapporo leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Sapporo 80, Xi'an 66: Sapporo leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Sapporo 58, Xi'an 50: Sapporo leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Sapporo 60, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sapporo 44, Xi'an 40: Sapporo leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sapporo 80, Xi'an 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 Xi'an.

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 beaches with your weighting.

Xi'an
55match

Wins on culture and sights and prices 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

Xi'an in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
96 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
SapporoXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Sapporo: 1991-2020 normals, Sapporo (2.2 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSapporoXi'an
Official languageJapanesePutonghua
CurrencyYen (JPY)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation5 m405 m
Main airportNew Chitose Airport (CTS)42 km from centre42 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureSapporoXi'an
City population1,959,31312,952,907
People per km²1,7471,283
Museums within 10 km339
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Xi'an 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.