The Best Cherry Blossom Spots In Tokyo – With Maps!
Whether you’re all about the beer drinking or just want to win a few photo contests, first you gotta find the big fluffy pink things. Here’s a list of my all-time favorite hanami party and petal-snapping spots, with maps so you don’t waste time trying to locate the pinkness!
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PLACES WITH BOTH EARLY AND LATE BLOOMING CHERRY TREES:
SHINJUKU GYOU-EN GARDEN
Admission: ¥200
Hours: 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Picnics/alcohol: Yes picnics/No alcohol (and they’re serious: there’s a bag check before you enter, and they’ll confiscate any booze they find.)
Here’s what the early blooming trees look like (see them in the last week of March):
SPOT #1: If you get there when the park opens at 9:00, you can often see the trees perfectly reflected in the pond before the breeze kicks up
SPOT #2: The wide grass promenades through the center of the park are lined with huge cherry trees
Here’s what the late blooming trees look like (see them in the first week of April):
SPOT #3: The best grove starts beyond this bridge that goes over the big pond
SPOT #4: This cluster of perfect pink princesses is found along the main swath of lawns
SPOT #5: There’s a large grove of late-bloomers at the far end of the big pond
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IMPERIAL PALACE
Admission: Free
Hours: Inside the palace gates – 9:00 – 17:00; outside the gates – always open, and the walk along Spot #1 is lit up at night until 22:00
Picnics/alcohol: Inside palace gates – No picnics/No alcohol; Outside palace gates – Yes picnics/Yes alcohol
Here’s what the early blooming trees look like (see them in the last week of March):
SPOT #1: This wave of pink is all along the Imperial Palace Moat, as you walk from Kudanshita Station toward Hanzomon Station
As a special bonus, this part of the moat is lit up at night until 22:00 during cherry blossom season
SPOT #5: The Ni-no-Maru Garden inside the moat has both early and late blooming trees, plus a nice reflecting pond
Here’s what the late blooming trees look like (see them in the first week of April):
SPOT #2: Rare varieties of cherry trees border the walkway outside the Imperial Palace
SPOT #3: A lovely cluster of late-blooming trees turns the moat near Takebashi Station into a fairytale wonderland.
SPOT #4: Choice pink yaezakura cascade over the tea bushes at the upper East Garden (the one past Ni-no-Maru, that you have to climb up the big ramp to enter)
SPOT #6: Late-blooming trees put on a glorious show along the moat, at the end closer to Hanzomon Station
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MONZEN NAKACHO
Admission: Free
Hours: Always open, lit up at night until 21:00
Picnics/alcohol: There’s no place for picnics, but the lantern-lit walk is fantastic and uncrowded
Here’s what the early blooming trees look like (see them in the last week of March):
SPOT #1: Lanterns line the path along the canal near Monzen Nakacho station. This is the view from the traffic bridge.
SPOT #2: During the day, you can get amazing pictures from the bridges that criss-cross the water at easily-walkable intervals
You can walk all along the water on this lovely (and deserted!) path
At night, the lanterns are lit from 18:00 – 21:00
Here’s what the late blooming trees look like (see them in the first week of April):
SPOT 3#: There’s a particularly beautiful kind of late blooming cherry at the Tomioka Shrine.
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Places to see before the end of March, because the trees bloom early at these spots:
ASAKUSA
Admission: Free
Hours: Always open; the Sumida River walk is lit up at night until 22:00
Picnics/alcohol: Yes picnics/Yes alcohol
SPOT #1: The Sumida River near Asakusa Station is one of the most famous places to see cherry blossoms in Tokyo. For an alternative view, take the waterbus down the river!
SPOT #2: Hordes of people crowd the walkways along the Sumida River, but they often miss this park when they turn inland on their way to Skytree.
From inside the Ushima Shrine, the cherry-shaded walkways beckon.
And, of course, if you want cherry blossom-encrusted shots of the big Skytree thing, this is the place to whip out your camera.
SPOT #3: This jewel of a street has a stream running down the middle of it (although it doesn’t always have water in it) and during cherry blossom season it becomes a bower of white. This is a great place to bring your lunch and rest your feet, in the middle of Asakusa.
SPOT #4: This secret garden is hidden right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of Senso-ji temple and it’s only open around cherry blossom season, so most people don’t even know it’s there.
Denpo-in Garden Admission: ¥300
Hours: 9:00 – 17:00
Picnics/alcohol: No picnics/No alcohol
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MEGURO RIVER
Admission: Free
Hours: Always open, lit up at night until 21:00 during cherry blossom season
Picnics/alcohol: Yes picnics/Yes alcohol
The blossoms are lit up at night with lanterns all along the canal. Lots of food and drink for sale at little stands along the way.
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YOYOGI PARK
Admission: Free
Hours: Sunrise to sunset
Picnics/alcohol: Yes picnics/Yes alcohol
SPOT #1: Even when the ground is paved with cherry blossom parties, the trees are splendid in Yoyogi Park
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RIKUGI-EN GARDEN
Admission: ¥300
Hours: 9:00 – 21:00 during cherry blossom season
Picnics/alcohol: No picnics/No alcohol
SPOT #1: There are other pink trees dotted around this fab garden, but the one everyone comes to see is this huge weeping cherry.
The trees are lit up at night during The Season, and the garden is open until 21:00.
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KORAKU-EN GARDEN
Admission: ¥300
Hours: 9:00 – 17:00
Picnics/alcohol: No picnics/No alcohol
SPOT #1: This garden doesn’t have a lot of cherry trees, but the ones that are here are really spectacular.
SPOT #2: Trees bordering the big pond in the late afternoon
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Places where you can see trees blooming into mid-April:
KYU-SHIBA-RIKYU GARDEN
Admission: ¥150
Hours: 9:00 – 17:00
Picnics/alcohol: No picnics/No alcohol
SPOT #1: This small garden has the latest-blooming yaezakura I’ve found – they’re still blooming strong, well into the third week of April
SPOT #2: You can stand under the trees at Kyu-Shiba-Rikyu and feel like you are in a pink and white room.
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ASUKAYAMA PARK
Admission: Free
Hours: Always open; lit up at night during cherry blossom season until 21:00
Picnics/alcohol: Yes picnics/Yes alcohol
You seldom see tourists at this wonderful northwest Tokyo park.
And they have an amazing variety of late-blooming trees.
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OUTSIDE THE NEW OTANI HOTEL
Admission: Free
Hours: Always open
Picnics/alcohol: No picnics/No alcohol
SPOT #1: The late blooming yaezakura lining the street outside the New Otani hotel are worth a special trip.
Somehow, these trees are so spectacular, you barely even notice the boring old skyscrapers in the background.
Jonelle Patrick is the author of the Only In Tokyo mystery series, published by Penguin/Intermix.
