The peak tourist season in Japan coincides with the months of April and May as locals and foreigners flock to view the beautiful and magnificent blossoming of the Sakura, a Japanese Cherry tree. The following are highly recommended places for cherry blossom viewing:

Shinjuku Gyoen

Beautiful scenery with red leaf, green willow, blossom sakura, clear pond and bright vivid blue sky in spring cherry blossom season, Shinjuku Gyoen Park, Tokyo

A few minutes’ walk from Shinjuku Station, the Shinjuku Gyoen is a downtown Tokyo park that has many walking paths, landscape gardens, pavilions, and, of course, cherry trees, that look amazingly refreshing and stunning during spring time.

It starts to get packed with tourists around the second half of April as the sakura trees begin to blossom.

Sankeien Garden

Japanese Garden at Night

Located in Yokohama, the Sankaein Garden is a top cherry blossom viewing site that showcases gorgeous and colourful flowers in the spring time.

With an area of more than 174,000 square metres, it has ample space for the throngs of people that want to witness the beauty of the sakura up close, starting the last week of March up until the first couple of weeks of April, when it offers an illumination event every night.

Tsurugaoka Hachimangi Shrine

the Great Buddha.The foreground is cherry blossoms Located in Kamakura

A 500-year-old shrine found in Kamakura, the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu was built in dedication to the Minamoto family’s patron god, Hachiman. Its complex covers a large area that has a garden abundant with sakura trees.

Once April kicks in, visitors start to flock to the shrine to get a good view of the hundreds of trees on their way to full cherry blossoming.

Kawaguchiko

Mt Fuji and Cherry Blossom at lake Kawaguchiko

When the second week of April approaches, the northern and eastern shores of Lake Kawaguchiko get crowded with people wanting to catch sight of the cherry blossoms. Spots close to the Kawaguchiko Music Forest or the Kachi Kachi Ropeway lower station are particularly popular as these two are surrounded by different types of cherry trees that look spectacular during this season.

Philosopher’s Path

Philosopher's Walk with sakura (cherry blossom) in the Springtime

A three-kilometre long stone path in Kyoto, the Philosopher’s Path offers a picturesque scenery during spring time, as it is lined with hundreds of sakura trees in full bloom in April.

Start on one end of the path, around the Ginkakuji Temple, and spend about an hour strolling along the pleasant trail, with rows of cherry blossoms enveloping you as you make your way to the end, in the Nanzenji Temple neighbourhood.