Heading to Japan this Spring? Here’s some of my favourite sakura viewing spots in Osaka, Kyoto & Nara, plus some tips for Tokyo and how to check the cherry blossom forecast.
Last year I spent cherry blossom season in the gorgeous Kansai region of Japan. Kansai is made up of 7 prefectures, including Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara. I visited as many places as I possibly could during those fleeting sakura days and thought I’d share some of my favourites. Some of these are very well known locations, but I enjoyed my experiences and almost always found quiet parts where I could enjoy the flowers in relative peace and quiet. All of these locations are either in Osaka, or are easy day trips from the city and some charge entry and others don’t, so make sure to check before you go.
Nishinomaru Garden, Osaka Castle
Nishinomaru Garden was one of my favourite spots to come and picnic during sakura season. You have to pay a very small entry fee (¥200) unlike the rest of the grounds, but in my experience it was quieter than the rest of the Osaka Castle park area. You get beautiful unobstructed views of Osaka Castle through the cherry blossom trees and there is plenty of space to sit and enjoy a picnic, even if you don’t manage to grab a spot immediately under the trees. They have an evening event this year from the 22nd of March to the 13th of April, where they extend opening until 9pm for cherry blossom illuminations and Osaka castle is lit up too (¥350). These events can get crowded, more so than during the day, but they also provide food and drinks stalls for a different experience.
Mount Yoshino, Nara
Mt Yoshino is a beautiful area to see the cherry blossom. I kept a close eye on the blossom forecast to make sure I hit it at the right time, but wanting to avoid the weekend and a particularly rainy couple of days, meant that they were actually turning when I visited. The hike up the mountain was beautiful and I had the most fantastic day out. I ate some delicious local snacks and desserts, including dango, tofu doughnuts, yomogi mochi, and made a reservation at a place specialising in the dessert kudzukiri (transparent starch noodles) in the town for my descent. There is a cable car that takes you part way up the mountain from the station to the main town, but I chose to hike all the way through and up higher, enjoying the different views of the sakura trees in the valley as I went. It is an absolutely stunning location and the view and colours of the valley isn’t something I could capture well enough through the camera.
Hasedera Temple, Nara
I cannot express how beautiful the Hasedera temple grounds are when they’re filled with blooming cherry blossom. It’s gorgeous anyway, with stunning architecture, but the blossom just makes it even more so. You can spend a few hours here just exploring, taking photos and admiring the views. It’s about a 25 minute walk from the station, but there are hills and a lot of stairs to contend with at the start (and at the temple too), so keep that in mind. There are actually wild monkeys in the area, and one was sat in the tree when I arrived eating the blossom! I visited both here and Mt Yoshino on the Kintetsu Rail Pass (only the 2 day or more covers these locations), as it was cheaper than paying for all of the individual train rides. It has gone up in price since, but it’s worth taking a look to see.
Expo ’70 Commemorative Park, Osaka
This park, originally used for the World Expo in 1970, is a fantastic place to visit for flower and nature viewing of all kinds. I visited on a Sunday afternoon and there was a HUGE queue to pay and enter. I was originally concerned about this, but don’t be put off if this happens to you, as it actually moved extremely quickly and I was entering in no time. There was an event going on in the centre which drew a lot of people, as did the tulip displays and the area of sakura around them. However… if you head north west towards the North Gate, there’s an area of weeping sakura over a little stream area, and parallel behind it is an area of many cherry trees with a lot of space to sit and picnic and enjoy hanami. This was much quieter and a lovely escape from some of the more crowded spots, even though there were a lot of people on the path, not many stopped to sit under the trees. I loved it here.
Heian Shrine, Kyoto
This was an absolute gem of a discovery towards the end of the main cherry blossom window, with the gardens here abound with cherry trees, mainly the weeping variety. The gardens would be absolutely beautiful at any time of year, but the quantity of cherry blossoms in the first part of the garden just blew me away. Over the road from the shrine, Okazaki Park is home to quite a big weeping cherry variety and I made sure to sit and enjoy the view there for a while too.
The Mint, Osaka
For a few select days every year, the Japan Mint in Osaka opens up the Cherry Blossom Walk on their grounds. The passageway is over 100 years old, and contains 340 cherry blossom trees of 141 varieties. You have to reserve your entry in advance and last year the reservations opened on their website around mid-March (use the Japanese site and Google Translate, because the official English version doesn’t have the same pages/information!). I can’t tell you what a beautiful walkthrough this is – to be surrounded by all of the different shades and styles of sakura blossoms. It is fairly busy and the staff encourage you to keep moving through and to not backtrack the route too much, but you’re not rushed at all. There were some absolutely gorgeous varieties of blossom and it was hard not to take photos of every single tree in bloom!
Nara Park, Nara
This is probably one of the most well known spots for cherry blossom for tourists, but since Nara Park is so vast, you’ll definitely find spots all to yourself. A busy spot, but one I’d still recommend seeing, is Sagi Pond and the Ukimido Pavilion, either from up the hill above or down around the waters edge. There were photo shoots and painters down here and it’s easy to see why. The area heading towards Mt Wakakusa can be a little quieter and you can find deer here who are a bit more relaxed when taking your deer crackers than the ones near the temple (always keep your crackers in your bag and take out one at a time – out of sight – to avoid them getting greedy). I set up for a picnic in Kauganoenchi, which is a big open field surrounded by sakura trees. This was a great spot with plenty of space, but occasionally you will get deer coming to try and eat your food, so keep an eye out!
Philosopher’s Path & Keage Incline, Kyoto
Another popular spot, but for good reason. The walk alongside the water is actually very peaceful and even when there are busy sections, you don’t have to walk far to escape them. In full bloom the trees dotted along the edge are beautiful, but don’t be afraid to come a little later in the season, because the snowfall of petals that come down in the breeze makes for the prettiest sight. Not terribly far from the south end of the Philosopher’s Path is the Keage Incline – old railway lines that have been converted into a pedestrian trail and lined with sakura trees. This is a lovely spot to walk along just before sunset and if you happen to be there after peak bloom, then the crowds are definitely lower.
Honourable mentions
Both Kodaiji and Maruyama Park in Kyoto have evening illuminations of their focal sakura trees. Kodaiji has an entrance charge and I recommend coming earlier to see the temple grounds before it gets fully dark, because the view of the Founder’s Hall needs to be seen in daylight. The light effects on the tree and the surrounding garden are beautiful, but I’d love to see it without the effects next time. Maruyama Park is one of the most popular spots for hanami parties with tables and food stalls set up underneath the trees, but the focal point is the huge weeping sakura that’s illuminated at night and well worth seeing despite the crowds.
Sakura Viewing Spots in Tokyo
If you’re looking for sakura spots in Tokyo, then check out Cakes with Faces, as Amy has made a video of Off the Beaten Track spots in Tokyo.
Cherry Blossom Forecast for Japan
If you want to keep up with the upcoming cherry blossom forecast, you can do so on SoraNews24 in English. The JMC are the meteorological society that release the predictions and they do so through tenki.jp I also highly recommend using this site, along with the translate function on your browser, because they have a whole special cherry blossom section, which will update the cherry blossom situation in all of the most popular spots, including parks, temples, shrines and other spaces. Just choose the location you want (Osaka, Kyoto etc.) and check through the individual spots to find the one you want. They’ll update from ‘bud’ through to when they’ve turned. It’s a fantastic resource. An app is also available, but only in Japanese. I found it extremely useful for saving my most used locations on the top menu bar and using that for the weather to judge what days I visited which locations.
There are so many more spots that I either haven’t had space to mention or didn’t manage to visit on this trip, but I’m already looking forward to experiencing more in the future.
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