Cherry blossom season: when and where to see it

A cherry tree is in full bloom for about a week, and the date moves with each spring's weather. In Japan the bloom works its way north for almost four months, from Okinawa in January to Hokkaido in May, so missing it in Tokyo does not mean missing it altogether. Use the windows below to pick a region, then check that year's bloom forecast two or three weeks before you fly.

Japan

Japanese weather services start publishing bloom forecasts in late winter and update them weekly. These are the usual full-bloom windows:

• Okinawa: late January to mid February. The trees here are a darker pink variety that flowers in the cool season.
• Kyushu, including Fukuoka: the last week of March.
• Tokyo: late March to early April. Ueno Park, Chidorigafuchi moat and the Meguro River are the classic spots.
• Kyoto and Osaka: the end of March into the first week of April. In Kyoto, walk the Philosopher's Path or go to Maruyama Park and Arashiyama; in Osaka, the castle park.
• Hiroshima: about the same time as Kyoto, with Miyajima a short ferry ride away.
• Kanazawa: early to mid April, in and around Kenroku-en garden.
• Mount Fuji and Hakone: mid April around the Fuji Five Lakes, a little later than Tokyo because of the altitude.
• Hokkaido: late April to mid May. Hakodate and Matsumae go first; Sapporo follows in early May.

If your dates are fixed, plan a route that can follow the bloom: Tokyo and Kyoto first, then north to Tohoku or up into the mountains if you arrive late. A warm March can bring everything forward by a week.

South Korea

Korea flowers a little after southern Japan. Jeju goes first, in late March. Jinhae, west of Busan, holds the country's best-known cherry blossom festival at the end of March and start of April, when Busan itself is in bloom. Seoul usually peaks in the first half of April, along Yeouido and around Seokchon Lake.

China and Taiwan

Wuhan University's campus blooms in mid to late March, and Yuantouzhu on Lake Tai in Wuxi from late March into early April. Beijing follows in early April, with Yuyuantan Park as the main spot. In Taiwan, the mountain bloom at Alishan runs from about mid March into early April, and Yangmingshan above Taipei has earlier varieties from February.

North America

In Washington, D.C., the trees around the Tidal Basin usually peak in late March or the first days of April, and the National Cherry Blossom Festival is planned around them. Vancouver has tens of thousands of street cherries that flower in waves from March to late April. New York is later, mid to late April, with Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Central Park. Toronto's High Park, near Niagara, blooms in late April or early May.

Europe

Japanese cherries in European parks and streets flower from late March to mid April. Bonn's old town has the most photographed street of them. Near Paris, the Parc de Sceaux has a grove of double-flowered cherries, and Amsterdam's Bloesempark, in the Netherlands, holds a cherry blossom day in early April.

How to plan around it

• Keep a day or two free to move. Peak bloom lasts about a week, and one night of rain and wind can strip the trees.
• Forecasts become reliable about two to three weeks ahead. Before that, the windows here are averages.
• Go early in the morning for soft light and quieter paths.
• If you arrive after peak, look for the double-flowered yaezakura. They open a week or two after the common Somei Yoshino and keep the season going.