I’m planning to travel in the period of March – April and although I would love to see Sakura, the accounts of insane crowds during this time in the major cities are scaring me a little bit.
My itinerary right now roughly looks like this and tentative dates are March 23rd to April 1st.
Tokyo > Nikko > Osaka > Wakayama > Kyoto > Tokyo
Some questions I have are:
1. The Sakura forecast says the flowering period for Tokyo is from March 20 and full bloom is on March 27. What exactly does the flowering period look like- will the flowers be pink during this time? And how long do the flowers last after full bloom?
2. Are the crowds worse during the last week of March or in the 1st week of April? Especially for Kyoto.
3. Would it be better to prepone my trip to say 18th to 27th to avoid the worst of crowds but still see Sakura in the tail end of the trip in Kyoto and Tokyo?
I am basically looking for insight into crowds and Sakura in the 3 major cities during the last 2 weeks of March.
7 comments
If you want to see Sakura in the main cities you have to deal with crowds. If there are no crowds there are no blossoms. Try to travel during the week. Go early. Get major sights out of the way in the am. Spend the day in the hills outside of Kyoto. Sakura in Japan is a lifetime experience.
1. The forecast is a period when the Sakura could bloom. They can bloom anytime within that peorid and once they bloom they last a couple days. Within a week or so they’ll mostly be gone.
2. Depends on the blooming period. The busy period will be when the sakura are blooming.
3. If you’re going for the sakura then there’s no way to avoid crowds. Once the sakura are in bloom crowds will get worse as the crowds are mainly locals coming out to see the bloom.
I think that people overestimate how much this period is crowded versus other months.
Concerning international tourism, 2023 will likely be far from 2019 level, and it was not even the month with the highest number of international visitors…. it was 5th.
Also, international tourism will just be a drop compared to the local population, so even if there is a difference of 20-30% between the most popular month and the least popular, you would likely not notice it that much.
It is true that there will be crowded places during cherry blossom… that is especially the cherry blossom spots. If you can, avoid going during the weekend, because Japanese people will go to all the possible spots to eat and drink with their friends. And this will be true with any seasonal things, if there is seasonal events, festivals, etc, then yes, you can expect to have larger crowds in the concerned area, and that is true all year long.
However, if you go to non-sakura related places, you will likely not see a big difference. Temple, shrines, castle, museum, observation deck etc will be more or less as crowded regardless of the month of the year.
Think about how it is, during summer holiday, with according pricing.
You may only have the opportunity to see sakura on your last day’s in Tokyo. When I went Kyoto did not have blooms until the 3rd of April, past years may not provide certainty though. Some of the smaller gardens in Tokyo did not have enormous crowds viewing the sakura but were probably a lot busier than normal. It’s well worth the crowds to experience the sakura in my view.
> And how long do the flowers last after full bloom?
They can last a few days… they can last a little longer… not every tree blooms at the same time and you have to account for different varieties etc.
One thing that not enough people are mentioning is that Climate Change Is Real and it’s had a significant impact on sakura in recent years… for example the 2021 blooms were [around 10 days earlier than normal in most places](https://sakura.weathermap.jp/result2021.php); all the forecasts were off and even February forecasts in Tokyo were off 3-6 days.
TL;DR don’t plan your trip around sakura forecasts, you may be disappointed.
Few things to consider.
1. Major Japanese cities are crowded at all times of the year. Sakura season doesn’t make them more or less crowded, it’s just the local Sakura hotspots which will be crowded.
2. Sakura forecast can’t predict it very well such long time in advance, but generally expect flowering to happen between March 20 and April 1 in Tokyo, perhaps a day or two later in Kyoto and much later in Nikko.
3. Sakura stays in full bloom for a couple of days at best, with opening and falling periods before and after. It’s extremely hard to catch the very tail of the full bloom, besides it won’t be less crowded. In fact, in Tokyo some people keep drinking on the same spots well until June, when Sakura is long forgotten.
4. Sakura is white, not pink. At least the kind which blooms in the end of March.