VacationSelector
The old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds, Sapporo
SapporoThe old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Sapporo by Feri88, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Sapporo or Zurich?

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
  • food and drink
  • wellness

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

Choose Zurich for

  • live music and the arts
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Zurich’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, Zurich 45: Zurich leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Sapporo 80, Zurich 53: Sapporo leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Sapporo 40, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Sapporo and Zurich are level on 62.
Nature & outdoors. Sapporo 86, Zurich 80: Sapporo leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Sapporo 64, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Sapporo 72, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Sapporo 80, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Sapporo 58, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Sapporo 60, Zurich 3: Sapporo leads by 57 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sapporo 44, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sapporo 80, Zurich 58: Sapporo leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Sapporo and Zurich.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Sapporo
63match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Zurich
63match

Wins on live music and the arts and day trips 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

Zurich in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
SapporoZurich

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

Before you go

MeasureSapporoZurich
Official languageJapaneseFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyYen (JPY)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119112
Elevation5 m408 m
Main airportNew Chitose Airport (CTS)42 km from centre42 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureSapporoZurich
City population1,959,313440,935
People per km²1,7475,016
Museums within 10 km3363
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 Zurich 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.