The Best Places to See Cherry Blossoms in Japan

Cherry floweret festivals are one of Japan’s most minion cultural traditions. Every year, during the Spring festival season, visitors come from all over the world to see the trappy cherry blossoms. Within days of the flowers opening, Instagram overflows with stunning pictures and videos of the many cherry trees in Japan.

Best time to see cherry blossoms in Japan

Because cherry blooms are dependent on the weather, the word-for-word time the cherry blossoms sally varies from year to year. Every Spring, travelers wait for the sakura (cherry) trees to splash into bloom, and descend on the country to see this unforgettable sight.

Most festivals take place between March and May, and they’re a wonderful place to take in increasingly than just cherry blossoms. Most festivals feature live music, food, craft stalls and tea ceremonies underneath the blossoms.

To get a rough estimate of when the cherry blossoms start, take a squint at the last five year’s festival dates, and find an stereotype of that to estimate the time of the cherry trees blossoms.

Best Places to See Cherry Blossoms in Japan

Cherry blossoms are a symbol of renewal and hope, and the coming of spring. Once you have your visa for Japan in hand, follow our tips for the weightier cities to see cherry blossoms.

While you can see pretty blossoms at many parks and plane withal boulevards, several cities and small towns are expressly well known for their cherry blossoms. For the most part, these cities have festivals that coincide when the cherry trees come into bloom.

Wanting to join in the festivities? Here are our picks for the top places to see cherry blossoms in Japan, withal with the top cherry blossom festivals and viewing spots in Sakura season.

Yoshino, Kansai

Yoshino is known as the Cherry Floweret Capital of Japan. Small town Yoshino gets quite rented during cherry floweret season. Because it draws thousands of visitors, and there are a limited number of places to stay, walk-up is often booked out well in advance.

Luckily, it’s possible to visit the Yoshino blossoms on a day trip from Nara or plane Osaka.

The weightier time to visit Yoshino is usually from mid-April until early May each year. Check a cherry floweret forecast for increasingly word-for-word dates.

Hirosaki Castle, Tohoku

If you want to stave the crowds, Hirosaki is a unconfined choice. While it’s hugely popular, the park moreover covers a large zone of over 50 hectares, which keeps it from feeling crowded.

The castle here, Hirosaki Castle, is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Japan however all that’s left of the castle these days is the 200-year-old keep.

The park itself is crisscrossed with moats from the historic castle with cherry trees flanking the moats, slantingly lovely, arching bridges. Walkways are often lined with a variety of flowers, including tulips and irises making the walk plane increasingly memorable.

There are over 2,500 cherry trees in Hirosaki, making for a fully immersive cherry floweret experience.

Fuji Five Lakes, Chubu

The Arakurayama Sengen-kōen park is in Fuji-Yoshida, a municipality at the wiring of Mt Fuji, with scrutinizingly 700 sakura trees.

As you can imagine the photos in Fuji Five Lakes are gorgeous, with Mt Fuji in the background, and the Chureitō Pagoda in the front of the frame. It’s likely a photo that you’ve seen often and incorporates 3 things that Japan is known for in one picture.

The weightier time to see cherry blossoms in Fuji Five Lakes is often from late March to early May.

Kyoto

Kyoto is a municipality with a long history that dates when to the 700s. Once the Imperial municipality of Japan, the tracery and unstipulated vibe of this culture-rich municipality reflect its origins.

Kyoto has many wonderful places to see cherry blossoms, making it nonflexible to pick just one.

Maruyama-kōen (Maruyama Park) may just be the weightier place to see cherry blossoms in Kyoto.

You will find the wonderful Gion Shidare-zakura (in English, the “Weeping Cherry of Gion) in the middle of the park. The tree is over 10 meters tall (32 feet), and lit up at night. The nearby Shirakawa waterway is lined with cherry trees and lit up at night as well.

While the Weeping Cherry of Gion is stunning, there are scrutinizingly 700 other cherry trees in full viridity in the park and it makes a unconfined place to see in person.

Tokyo

Tokyo is home to thousands of cherry trees that yank in thousands of tourists. Blooms usually last a couple of weeks.

Tokyo’s Yoyogi-kōen (Yoyogi Park in English) is a vibrant, fun place to take in the cherry blossoms. It’s a huge, sprawling zone in the heart of downtown Tokyo. During cherry floweret season, it’s packed with people picnicking under the blossoms.

If photos and video are your priority, visit the stunningly picturesque Shinjuku-gyoen.

Nakameguro is Tokyo’s weightier neighborhood for seeing cherry blossoms, with numerous streets lined with cherry trees.

Osaka

Osaka is one of Japan’s most trappy cities, and that’s saying a lot in a country known for its charm.

It’s an spanking-new nomination to visit if you can’t visit Japan until later in the cherry floweret season, as cherry trees viridity later here than in other parts of Japan.

For the most part, the weightier time to view cherry blossoms in Osaka is the third week of March. The blossoms hit full viridity (known as mankai in Japanese) virtually April 1st.

Osaka Castle and its surrounding garden is a wonderful place to see cherry blossoms. The castle itself is a striking piece of medieval Japanese tracery that photographs well versus the light pink or white cherry blossoms. the zone is known for.

Himeji Castle, Kansai

Himeji Castle is only four hours west of Tokyo by train, making it easy to wangle for most visitors.

The castle only reopened to visitors in 2015, but it has quickly wilt popular with tourists and locals alike.

There are self-ruling areas at Senhimebotanen Garden (Sannomaru grounds) and paid areas at Nishnomaru grounds.

Matsumae Park, Hokkaido

Hokkaido is Japan’s most northern island, and home to Japan’s northernmost castle in Matsumae Park. There are over 10,000 trees here, with 250 varieties of blossoms. Because of the many varieties, which viridity at variegated times, Matsumae Park has a long viewing season until late April.