Cherry blossom season in Kyoto, Japan

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Cherry blossom season—in March and April—is, of course, the main reason to visit Kyoto, Japan, in the spring. But the entire city and its history are worth exploring.

The cherry blossoms (sakura) usually bloom in the last week of March and the first two weeks of April in Kyoto (roughly between 20 March and 14 April). In an average year, the blooms peak on 1 April in Kyoto. Once they bloom, they are notoriously fickle: sometimes almost all the trees will come into full bloom (mankai) at the same time and stay in full bloom for a week or even longer.
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Changing From Year To Year

Other times, cherries in different parts of the city will peak at different times and some trees will start dropping petals while others still haven’t peaked. Worse yet, heavy rains can strike just after most trees have reached peak, bringing the petals down several days earlier than they might have lasted.

It’s Hard To Predict When The Cherry Blossoms Will Peak

Timing your trip to coincide with the cherry blossoms is a very tricky affair. If you leave yourself only a couple of days in Kyoto, you might find that you’ve arrived just after the cherries have bloomed, or you might have the frustrating experience of seeing the trees approaching peak just as you have to leave the city. In order to be sure of catching the cherries at their peak, you’d have to stay 10 days or so in the city, and this would cost a fortune at high-season rates.