The complete guide to cherry blossom season in Japan.

Sakura, the cherry blossom season in Japan, has for many become the defining image of the country. For a few weeks each year, its national flower blooms with extraordinary flourish and abundance across the country. Witnessing it is one of the world’s great nature-driven travel experiences. But with massive crowds, high prices and early bookings, planning is essential.

What is cherry blossom season in Japan and how is it celebrated?

The annual Japanese cherry blossom season is much more than the nationwide blooming of nougat-pink ‘sakura’. It’s a time of celebration – a culturally important symbol of life’s transience, of hope and renewal celebrated by Japanese and international visitors alike. It’s also the busiest time to travel in Japan.

As the million-plus sakura trees transform the spring landscape, people gather to immerse themselves in nature and culture in the tradition of hanami. It manifests in many ways, from family gatherings to park walks to street festivals. It’s even inspired a blossom-flavoured sakura KitKat!

What is hanami?

A word you’ll hear everywhere during cherry blossom season, hanami is the Japanese art of flower viewing. This is more than plain old leaf-peeping though.

Known as Sakura Matsuri, festivals are held in parks, gardens, streets and important cultural venues – anywhere the blossoms are on show. Expect live music, food stalls and huge crowds. At night, paper lanterns illuminate the trees in a tradition called yozakura – “a magical sight to behold.”

Families and friends also gather in great numbers to celebrate privately under sakura canopies. Feasting is of course mandatory – seasonal sweets and fruit wines are popular. Many will join an organised park walk or cultural event to walk off the meal and bathe even more in the dusty pink blooms.

When is cherry blossom season in Japan?

The cherry blossom season breaks over the country like a wave. It starts in the subtropical Ryukyu islands around late January and slowly moves north until the final blooms hit Hokkaido in May. The main sakura festival season runs late March until early May.

When is the cherry blossom season in Japan in 2026?

The 2026 season is predicted to run from February to May. For peak blooms on Honshu (home to home to Tokyo and Kyoto), aim for early April.

Most Japanese avidly follow Sakura Zensen where the media monitors the cherry blossom front as it moves across Japan. This helps forecast the best time to visit to see the blooms in their full majesty. Use 2025 timings as a basic guide and follow the Japan Meteorological Corporation for running updates.

How to book your cherry blossom trip to Japan.

The cherry blossom bloom is peak tourist season, so expect higher prices and competition for the best hotels. Book through KAYAK and you’ll find great prices for both flights and stays, wherever you’re travelling.

When to book your cherry blossom trip to Japan

The huge popularity of sakura means you need to book early – six to 12 months in advance. With only a one or two week bloom in each area, most of the best ryokan and hotels are booked up by the end of the winter.

My tip is to pick two or three destinations and give yourself plenty of time in each. If possible, plan to travel mid week, as the weekends are busiest and travel times can double.

The best places to see the cherry blossoms in Japan.

There are plenty of mind-blowing places where you can see cherry blossoms in Japan. Here are my favourites, south to north.

Okinawa & Kyushu

The far south is the first area of Japan to enjoy the bloom. Here you’ll see the unique Ryukyu Kanhizakura, a bell-shaped, darker pink but equally stunning blossom.

There is no shortage of locations to see the bloom in full flight. On Okinawa, Mount Yaedake offers sweeping views over Motobu below. Even more spectacular are the 13th century ruins of Nakijin Castle, where a lantern-lit tunnel of cherry trees is about as atmospheric as it gets.

Hop over to the island of Kyushu and the castle at Kumamoto City where more than 1,000 sakura bloom. Recoup in the serene hot baths of Kurakawa Onsen.

Nara

Nara is the dream location for a family trip to see the cherry blossom. The combination of soft pink flowers blanketing parks while deer roam freely among them makes for a fairytale experience.

Nara Park offers easiest access, with blooms usually most abundant around Todaiji Temple. To the south, Mount Yoshino is perhaps Japan’s most famous cherry blossom location. Blanketed with thousands of cherry blossom trees, the long walk up is peppered with parks, temples, shrines and hanami celebrations. If you have youngsters, the Yoshino Ropeway bypasses the steepest climb.

Kyoto

Despite the crowds, the ancient capital is still my favourite place to see the blossom’s transformative effect. Already beautiful, in sakura season Kyoto is like a dream.

Join the picnickers for hanami in Maruyama park, packed from dawn till dusk. Follow the Philosopher’s Path of blossoms along the canal from Ginkaku-ji to Nanzenji Temple for atmosphere overload. In Gion, watch for geisha flitting beneath cotton-candy canopies.

Best of all is the kabuki dance performance of Miyako Odori at Minamiza Theatre. Atmospheric and beautiful, its finale plays out amid the blossoms of Daikakuji Temple and is a window into Japanese culture and history.

Tokyo

Nowhere do modernity and history rub shoulders so affably as Tokyo. Both facets embrace sakura season in style with huge festivals, intimate celebrations and moments of deep cultural reflection. You can’t visit them all – instead pick one or two and immerse yourself in them fully.

Ueno Park celebrates the bloom of its thousand-plus cherry blossom trees with traditional performances and delicious food stalls. The blooms along Meguro River lit up by paper lanterns are impossibly romantic.

Or take a day trip south to the Odaware Festival in Hakone, where the blooms roll across the landscape all the way to the foothills of Mt Fuji. Best enjoyed from a steaming onsen.

Hokkaido

Japan’s northern ski region, Hokkaido, is the last place to catch the sakura spring. Though the bloom is in full swing, try to avoid the first week of May – Golden Week – when national holidays ramp the crowds up to ridiculous levels.

Hakodate is home to the Goryokaku Park festival, where its extraordinary star-shaped fort is engulfed in a wave of pink, best viewed from Goryokaku Tower.

On Hokkaido’s southern tip, Matsumae Park houses 10,000-plus cherry trees of more than 250 varieties that bloom for close to a month. Stunning set against the backdrop of Japan’s northernmost castle.

Alternatives to cherry blossom season in Japan.

Springtime isn’t Japan’s only spectacular flowering season. Before the sakura season begins, the plum blossoms burst into life in early March as a warm up to the main event. There’s nowhere better to see them than Yushima Tenjin Shrine in Tokyo.

For me, the autumn colours of October and November are even more stunning than the sakora bloom. Maple leaves turn a dramatic momiji red and Ginkgo leaves a deep gold, creating an incredibly vibrant and verdant colourscape. And the crowds are non-existent compared to spring.