Nothing compares to cherry blossom season in Japan, where entire days are spent picnicking under the blooms (there’s even a word for flower viewing, hanami). But, luckily for Americans, the Japanese have so generously lent their cherry blossom trees to cities and exquisite gardens throughout the US.
This emblem of spring can be just as beautiful here in the US, with cherry blossom festivals and events celebrating the fleeting pink and white blooms all this month. Here are seven impossibly beautiful spots in the U.S. to see these photogenic blooms—be in a botanic garden, a city park, or somewhere more unexpected like a college campus.
Washington, DC
Once you see the spectacle of hundreds of Yoshino cherry trees blooming around the Tidal Basin, with their delicate pink and white blossoms silhouetted against DC’s famed monuments, you’ll understand why the entire city dresses up in pink each spring. The National Cherry Blossom Festival draws in more than one million visitors each year, staging weeks of events from kite flying on the National Mall to a 10-block downtown parade down Constitution Avenue. Restaurants across the District and in Virginia and Maryland join in with pink-hued, cherry-themed desserts and drinks. The love affair with cherry trees in the nation’s capital goes back over 100 years, thanks to a gift of 3,020 cherry blossom trees from Tokyo in 1912 to DC—and this year, Japan is gifting 250 more trees in honor of America’s 250th birthday. Want to see the splendor on the Tidal Basin? Peak bloom is typically expected to happen each year in late March and early April, but those dates are variable. Visiting is free, and public transit is recommended due to the traffic snarls along the National Mall (especially on the weekend).
