Cherry blossoms have become one of the holy grails of annual travel to Japan. For around 10 days the blooms of cherry trees fill industrial grey cities like Tokyo with bursts of pink. You could literally dash all over Japan in search of the best instagramable shots but after a while, perhaps just visiting a couple of spots is good enough.

I am lucky in being able to visit Tokyo for work and regretfully, I previously ignored the cherry blossoms during these trips. So in the past few years I’ve made the effort to stroll through the parks in the early mornings or evenings if I happened to visit during the season.

So after also having taken a holiday to visit Kyoto and Kanazawa during cherry blossom season a couple of years ago, my recommendation is that it is actually more enjoyable to have the cherry blossoms as an incidental part of a trip rather than to be the goal of the trip. Fighting the crowds at the “must see” sites is not pleasant. So fewer is definitely better. And if you’re short on time, there are really good parks in Tokyo to see the blossoms.

Best time to visit may be after the peak bloom period

Airfares should have dipped in cost and hotel rooms should be easier to find after the peak bloom period. Japan-guide.com issues a cherry blossom forecast every year stating the estimated dates of the first, peak and end blooms for each part of Japan. The first blooms usually come out at end-March and I’ve noticed a tendency for folks to time their visit with the first week of the season and this is probably because they want to stretch out the entire trip to cover the full season. This year the economy class airfare on Singapore Airlines to Tokyo from Singapore was around 36% higher in the first week of the bloom period. So unless there was a good discount package booked well in advance, the airfares should be lower after the peak bloom.

So an alternative itinerary may be to get to Tokyo just after the peak and follow the cherry blossoms north if you must to Fukushima and then end in Kyoto, which is beautiful even without all the blooms. If there’s a cold snap, the season could be prolonged, which is even better for visits. In other words, it’s best to be flexible with your trip dates if you can.

Shinjuku Gyoen – my favourite spot for blossom viewing

With a wider range of cherry trees, Tokyo’s Shinjuku Garden or Gyoen is really enjoyable to walk around. Although there were already quite a few people out to enjoy the sunny day, there are enough quiet corners to take in the views of the blossoms. This park is easily accessible by train and being right in Shinjuku means that it’s a handy place to start to the morning or to have a walk before lunch.

More on the trees – a really good article…

If you want the history behind Japan’s cherry trees, the website Literary Hub has a great article – How Japan Almost Lost a National Symbol to Extinction by Naoko Abe.

More photos

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