How to plan your cherry blossom trip to Japan without failure?

How to plan your Sakura trip to Japan without failure? You may hear someone saying they booked the tickets too early or too late that they missed the cherry blossom season. So how to make sure that you book the trip correctly? I can tell you that it is purely a gambling. No matter how much data you study and how careful you plan the trip, there is no 100% guarantee that you can see the most beautiful blossom view since weather is hard to predict nowadays and sakura only last for a week time or less. (If there is heavy rainy day before your visit, sorry to tell you that most of the sakura will be gone) So having a longer trip will be a nice option since longer you stay, greater chance of catching the peak season. However, it you are not able to do so like me (I was only able to have a 7 days trip because of a very demanding full time job), there are some tricks to know which place will be still available when you are already on your fight to Japan.

I visited Kansai area in Sakura season twice and I was a little bit late for the peak season according to the news report at that moment! However, I was still able to see the sakura in bloom in certain location by checking the local website. These website is very useful in finding the perfect Sakura spots around Japan. Besides, Japan is so big that it is difficult for you to read all the article about Sakura. So I am writing about my method of getting almost 99% information of the best sakura spot and I will share a little bit about my Sakura trip in Kyoto, Himeji & Osaka in the coming post. If you are planning to visit for cherry blossom, hope I can give you a hand on searching the ideal places. 

How to know exactly when will be the Sakura blossom period?

The best way to get the sakura sightseeing resources is using the Japanese website. Well, there are lots of travel blog telling you the blossom period all over Japan. But you can only have more details by looking into the local website. Different type of Sakura trees have very different blossom time. So the blossom level may not be the same even in the same region. Although I don’t  completely understanding Japanese, we can always use online translation tools. (I am such a poor student of studying language but lucky that I can read Kanji as a Hong Konger)  For Sakura info, “Hanami.Walkerplus” is a useful website that I love and it saved me from being failure.

This website will show you the exact time of each sakura spot! Japanese are so into details when it comes to sakura. Take “Hanami Walkerplus” as an example, you will first see the whole map of Japan and there are little dots in the left top corner. Those are the color representing how is the sakura tree at the moment. I am writing this post in Dec so everywhere is in green color which means there are only leaves on the tree.

Once you choose the region, for my case here is Kyoto, you can see the recommended location in Kyoto- 京都府の花見・桜名所 ( Famous Kyoto Sakura places) and 条件を絞り込む (special filter selection). 

Detail information is provided for EVERY places. I use Arashiyama (嵐山 Storm Mountain) as an example, you can see the blossom time right on the first line and it also provide transportation details down below. Here is the translation of each column and what you need to pay attention to. 

例年の見頃 (Best time to visit every year) : usually written as X月下旬/中旬/上旬 ～ Y月下旬(late)/中旬(mid)/上旬(early). 3月下旬 means late March, easy to guess.

夜桜観賞 (Night-time Sakura): It shows you whether night time sakura visit is available or not. Usually, special lighting will be set up and it is totally different to enjoy sakura at night. Available dates will be listed or it will show なし as NO.

売店 (Shop): em...yea, it just simply tell you are there any shops in that area. Usually it is souvenir shop or convenience store.

ビール販売 (Beer available?): Such an important information! Japanese love to have picnic while enjoying the sakura. They need to know is it able to buy beer in that place or gonna bring some by themselves.

日本酒販売 (Sake/Japanese Wine available?) yup, same as above.

公衆トイレ (Public toilet): It is important, right? あり=YES; なし=NO

開園・閉園時間 ( Opening hour): Some park or public area may written as 24時間 (24 hours) you can visit any time.

休日 (Holiday/Day Off): Check this before you go!!! 無休=no day off and usually most of the famous places won’t have any day off in sakura period. But still, check it carefully and Japanese have totally different writing of Monday to Sunday. They are represent in elements like fire & water…(yup, I will write about that later)

料金 (Entry fee): Some of the area requests entry fee. And it is totally worth it in my point of view, especially for the historical building. Lots of old temple or castle needs to be repair and maintenance work needs cash. If you truly love Japan and how they preserve the history, it is definitely worth paying it.

How to choose specific area or time to visit for Sakura period?

Yes, people have different preference of sightseeing. Some people loves visiting Sakura at night time, some wish to join the local festival and enjoy a lovely picnic under sakura trees. The special filter selection in Hanami Walkerplus helps you a lot in searching for particular choice.

さくら名所100選 ( 100 popular Sakura area): There are 100 popular Sakura spots among all the regions of Japan. Once you choose the region and click this filter, you can see which places are on the top 100 list. For Kyoto, there are 5 places which are popular among Japanese.

夜桜名所(Night-time Sakura): Again, it shows you which location is available for night time sakura.

桜祭り開催(Sakura festival): Oh yea, that’s my favourite thing in Japan! Omatsuri is traditional festive occasion. For sakura period, it is like a Carnival in cherry blossom version. Lots of street food are waiting for you to try and it is fun to experience how they celebrate the sakura season. It maybe only available for 2 days or can last for a week, depends on the location. 

今見頃(Sakura at the moment): It is literally At the Moment. When you check the web during the sakura season, it will tell you which area is on the bloom. I am writing this blog in Dec so it shows “0”, haha. But if you are in Japan right now and have no idea where to go for the best sakura places, this column is SUPER important for you. 

例年2/3/4/5月見頃 (Best time to visit on Feb/Mar/Apr/May): It shows you the best place to visit among those month. As I said, different trees has slightly different opening time and the weather or altitude of the location also matters. For the famous Yoshinoyama in Nara, there are 3 blossom timing for the same mountain because of its height. So you better check the time before you go!

国指定名勝 (Special Places of Scenic Beauty, Special Historic Sites and Special Natural Monuments): In order to protect Japan's cultural heritage, the government selects through the Agency for Cultural Affairs important items and designates them as Cultural Properties under the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties. If you are interested in both cherry blossom and Japan history, these maybe a good choice for you.

庭園・神社 (Garden & Shrine): It is usually beautiful for the sakura in garden & shrine, which is the temple for Shinto. Garden is mostly owned by noble in ancient time and they were willing to spend on gardening. Sure they wished to have a nice view in sprint. And it is more easy to find old giant sakura trees within these places. 

駅から近い ( Close to train or metro station): It is important especially when you don’t drive during travel. If you don’t want to do a lot of homework on transportation, better plan to visit those places that are close to station.

By using these website which almost update everyday in sakura period is 100% useful in planning your trip. In January to February, the Sakura forecast website will start working and tell you the forecast of that year. Once I book the flight and hotel, I love checking the sakura forecast 3 weeks before the trip so I can have a better idea whether I book the correct time & date. If you found your booking a little bit too late for that region, maybe think of having a day trip to other region which still have sakura.

I was a bit late for sakura in 2018 since the blossom time was much earlier than expected. ( I was there on 8/4 but the peak time was around 1-4/4) However, there was still some available in Heian Shrine and thanks to the web! 

Hope you find this post useful and don’t be afraid of using Japanese website. You can use that for travel inspiration and explore a little bit more by official tourist website, tripadvisor or travel blog. If you don’t find any one writing about that spot, you may just find a tourist free zone and can enjoy the place with local, wonderful!!!

BTW, I would like to know is anyone interested in getting a sakura trip planning sheet or a translation table of the keywords that are commonly use in Japan travel. Last but not least, don’t forget to check out my traveling board in pinterest. Let’s have a wonderful trip in Japan!!!

Nanami.Walkerplus website: https://hanami.walkerplus.com/