Collection

Kyoto Cherry Blossom Map

Where to see sakura in Kyoto, and the nights they're lit

Kyoto's Somei-yoshino cherries usually reach full bloom around 4 April, about nine days after the first flowers open. Early and late kinds stretch the season well beyond that. Hirano Shrine has something in flower for about six weeks from mid-March, and Nison-in's Fugenzo cherry doesn't flower until mid-April and lasts into Golden Week. Go to the big names early. Kiyomizu-dera opens at 6:00, and the Philosopher's Path and the Keage Incline are free to walk, so start there before the crowds arrive. After dark, Maruyama Park's weeping cherry and the trees along the Shirakawa canal in Gion are lit, and you don't pay to see either.

The cherry blossom spots on a map

Every spot in this collection, numbered from west to east. Spots within about 250 m of each other share a pin, and the ones outside the frame are listed under it. Tap a pin to open its page, or open the full map to see the spots with the events and the rest of Kyoto.

  1. Nison-in · Arashiyama
  2. Kameyama Park, Okochi Sanso · Arashiyama
  3. Togetsukyo Bridge · Arashiyama
  4. Daikaku-ji · Arashiyama
  5. Sagano Romantic Train · Arashiyama
  6. Ninna-ji · Kinkakuji
  7. Hirano Shrine · Kitano
  8. To-ji · Kyoto Station
  9. Nijo Castle · Nijo
  10. Kamigamo Shrine · Demachiyanagi
  11. Kyoto Prefectural Old Main Building · Imperial Palace
  12. Kyoto Botanical Gardens · Demachiyanagi
  13. Shosei-en Garden · Kyoto Station
  14. Kyoto Gyoen · Imperial Palace
  15. Gion Shirakawa · Gion
  16. Maruyama Park · Gion
  17. Okazaki Canal · Okazaki
  18. Heian Shrine · Okazaki
  19. Kiyomizu-dera · Higashiyama
  20. Shogunzuka Seiryuden · Higashiyama
  21. Keage Incline · Okazaki
  22. Philosopher's Path · Ginkakuji
  23. Daigo-ji · Daigo

Off the map: Choken-ji (Fushimi).

Open the cherry blossom map full screen

Cherry blossom 2027 at a glance

Checked . Bloom dates move by a week or more from year to year, and every light-up date below is last year's, so check the source before you book anything round one.

When they usually bloom
In an average year (1991 to 2020) the Meteorological Agency's Kyoto tree opens around 26 March and reaches full bloom around 4 April. In 2026 that was 23 and 30 March. Over the last six years full bloom has come as early as 24 March (2023) and as late as 5 April (2024 and 2025). Source: Japan Meteorological Agency
Forecasts
None for 2027 yet. Last season the Japan Meteorological Corporation published its first forecast on 18 December 2025, with Kyoto's first flowers on 23 March and full bloom on 30 March. Both came on the day. Source: Japan Meteorological Corporation
Hirano Shrine
About 400 trees of some 60 kinds, from early to late flowering. Not announced for 2027. In 2026 they were lit from sunset to about 21:00, 28 March to 12 April. Source: Kyoto City Tourism Association
Maruyama Park
Not announced. In 2026 the big weeping cherry was lit 18:00 to 22:00 from 24 March to 8 April. Spreading a sheet to save a spot isn't allowed. Source: Kyoto City Tourism Association
Gion Shirakawa
Not announced. In 2026 the cherries on the 220 m of canal from Kawabata-dori to Tatsumi Daimyojin were lit 18:00 to 22:00, 27 March to 5 April. Source: Kyoto City Tourism Association
Kiyomizu-dera at night
Not announced. In 2026 the temple stayed open to 21:30 (last entry 21:00) from 27 March to 5 April, and you didn't need to book. Source: Kiyomizu-dera
Nijo Castle
Not announced. The 2026 cherry festival ran 19 March to 19 April. The light-up, 18:00 to 22:00 (last entry 21:00), needed its own ticket, ¥2,400 to ¥3,200 from junior high age up, depending on the day and when you bought it, and 4, 5 and 11 April took date-specific tickets. Source: Nijo Castle, Kyoto City
To-ji
Not announced. In 2026 the pagoda and its Fuji-zakura weeping cherry were lit 18:00 to 21:30 (last entry 21:00), 14 March to 12 April, ¥1,000. Source: To-ji
Ninna-ji, Omuro Hana Matsuri
Not announced. In 2026 it ran 27 March to 6 May, and adults paid ¥800 to go past the middle gate to the low Omuro cherries (free for high school students and younger). They flower late, usually early to mid April. Source: Kyoto City Tourism Association
Daigo-ji
The Hotaiko Hanami Gyoretsu, a procession recalling Hideyoshi's cherry party of 1598, is normally held on the second Sunday of April. It was called off in 2026, so check the temple's page before you plan round it. Source: Daigo-ji
Kyoto accommodation tax
Kyoto has charged it since October 2018, and the rates went up on 1 March 2026. You pay it per person per night, set by the room rate before meals and consumption tax. It's ¥200 under ¥6,000, ¥400 under ¥20,000, ¥1,000 under ¥50,000, ¥4,000 under ¥100,000 and ¥10,000 from ¥100,000 up. Source: Kyoto City
25 places
Late March to mid-April When

The places

Park · Kyoto Station Shosei-en Garden Higashi Hongan-ji's own pond garden, a few blocks east of the temple. It began in 1653 as a retirement villa for the temple's 13th head, the layout is credited to Ishikawa Jozan, and it's been a national Place of Scenic Beauty since 1936. You'll also hear it called Kikoku-tei, after the trifoliate orange hedges planted round it.
Temple · Kyoto Station To-ji When Heian-kyo became the capital in 794, the only temples allowed in it were To-ji and its twin, Sai-ji, built either side of the main gate, Rashomon. Sai-ji and the gate are long gone, and To-ji is all that still stands of Heian-kyo. In 823 Emperor Saga handed it to Kukai, and his Kodo hall holds a three-dimensional mandala of statues. The pagoda, about 55 m tall, is the fifth on the spot, rebuilt in 1644.
Neighbourhood · Gion Gion Shirakawa North of Shijo-dori, the Shirakawa canal runs through Gion Shinbashi, where neat rows of machiya, stone paving and trees line the water. Kyoto has protected it as a district of traditional buildings since 1976. In spring the cherry trees along the canal are lit up for an evening illumination.
Park · Gion Maruyama Park Maruyama Park opened in 1886, which makes it Kyoto's oldest park, and it's a designated Place of Scenic Beauty covering 86,000 square metres at the foot of the eastern hills behind Yasaka Shrine. The centrepiece is an old weeping cherry that's lit up at night when it blooms. You'll also find stroll gardens, rest houses and Japanese restaurants inside.
Temple · Higashiyama Kiyomizu-dera Kiyomizu-dera was founded in 778 on Mount Otowa, and its main hall, rebuilt in 1633, juts out over the slope on a wooden stage about 13 metres high. Eighteen zelkova pillars hold it up, and the joints don't use a single nail. The grounds have about 1,500 cherry trees and 1,000 maples, and they've been part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto World Heritage site since 1994.
Viewpoint · Higashiyama Shogunzuka Seiryuden Shogunzuka is the mound on the Higashiyama ridge where Emperor Kanmu is said to have buried a clay general in armour to guard his new capital in 794. Beside it, Shoren-in's Seiryuden has a wooden stage of 1,046 square metres, 4.6 times the size of Kiyomizu-dera's, looking over the whole city, and from the west viewpoint you can see as far as the towers of Osaka. The National Treasure Ao Fudo painting is kept in its inner hall, and you pray before a detailed copy.
Shrine · Okazaki Heian Shrine Heian Shrine went up in 1895 for the 1,100th anniversary of Kyoto becoming the capital, and its vermilion halls copy the Heian palace's state halls at about five-eighths scale. Behind them is a 33,000 m² stroll garden by the seventh Ogawa Jihei, with weeping cherries in spring and irises in early summer.
Landmark · Okazaki Keage Incline The Keage Incline is a 582 m inclined railway that carried canal boats up and down a 36 m drop on wheeled carriages, so cargo never had to be unloaded. It was the longest in the world when it was built. The rails are still there, and you can walk the whole slope between rows of cherry trees.
Park · Okazaki Okazaki Canal The Okazaki stretch of the Lake Biwa Canal runs through Okazaki Park and under the giant Heian Shrine torii, with cherry trees along its banks. In cherry season, Jikkokubune boats run 25-minute, roughly 3 km round trips from the Nanzen-ji boat basin, with a guide explaining the canal's history.
Neighbourhood · Ginkakuji Philosopher's Path A stone path that follows a branch of the Lake Biwa Canal for about 1.8 km, from near Nyakuoji Bridge in the south to Ginkaku-ji in the north. It's named after Kitaro Nishida, the Kyoto University philosopher who's said to have walked here deep in thought. In 1922 the painter Hashimoto Kansetsu gave 360 cherry trees for the banks, which is why they're known as Kansetsu's cherry trees.
Temple · Arashiyama Daikaku-ji Emperor Saga built a detached palace here in the early 800s, and it became a temple in 876, headed by emperors and imperial princes until the start of the Meiji era. Beside the halls lies Osawa Pond, which the temple calls the oldest surviving garden pond in Japan. It's also the home of the Saga Goryu school of ikebana, which traces itself to Emperor Saga arranging wild chrysanthemums picked on the pond's island.
Viewpoint · Arashiyama Kameyama Park Kameyama is the hillside section of Arashiyama Park, upstream from Togetsukyo on the north bank, a slope of red pines, cherries and maples with wild azaleas underneath. Paths wind up through it to rest spots and a viewing deck.
Temple · Arashiyama Nison-in Nison-in is named for its two main images, a Shaka who sends souls off and an Amida who welcomes them, a gilded pair carved in the mid-Kamakura period. Past the gate, the Momiji no Baba approach runs about 100 m between alternating maples and cherries. The temple dates to the 830s or 840s and sits at the foot of Mount Ogura.
Park · Arashiyama Okochi Sanso Okochi Denjiro, a period-film star of the early Showa years, fell for the view from Mount Ogura and spent 30 years building this hillside garden at the far end of the bamboo path. Its paths wind through cherries and maples to views of the Hozu River, Mount Hiei and the city. Four of its structures, the Daijokaku house among them, are registered cultural properties.
Landmark · Arashiyama Sagano Romantic Train This slow, old-style train covers about 7 km of the Hozu River gorge in 25 minutes, from Torokko Saga next to JR Saga-Arashiyama Station to Torokko Kameoka. It runs on track left over when the JR line was double-tracked, and it's been carrying sightseers since 1991. Car 5, the Rich, has no window glass, so you get the wind and the river noise.
Landmark · Arashiyama Togetsukyo Bridge The 155 m bridge over the Oi River, with wooded hills rising right behind it, is the picture most people carry of Arashiyama. A monk named Dosho first bridged the river near here in the 830s or 840s, and the bridge you walk across today was finished in 1934. Its name, the moon-crossing bridge, comes from the retired Emperor Kameyama, who watched the moon move over it.
Landmark · Nijo Nijo Castle Tokugawa Ieyasu built Nijo Castle in 1603 to guard the Imperial Palace and to lodge the shogun on his visits to Kyoto. Its Ninomaru Palace, six buildings lined with Kano school paintings, is the only palace complex still standing inside a Japanese castle. In 1867 the 15th shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, announced the return of power to the emperor in its great hall.
Park · Imperial Palace Kyoto Gyoen Kyoto Gyoen is the park around the Imperial Palace, 1.3 km long and 700 m wide. More than 140 princely and noble houses stood here in the Edo period, and what's left is lawns, woods more than a century old and the remains of a few old gardens, among about 100,000 trees. It never closes and it's free.
Landmark · Imperial Palace Kyoto Prefectural Old Main Building Finished in 1904, this brick Renaissance-style building was the prefecture's headquarters until 1971 and still has working offices, which makes it the oldest government building in Japan in use in its original form. You can walk into the main hall, the old governor's office, the old dining room and the old assembly chamber, and it's free.
Shrine · Demachiyanagi Kamigamo Shrine Kamigamo Shrine is one of Kyoto's oldest, on 76 hectares south of Mt Koyama, where its god is said to have come down to earth. In front of the Hosodono hall stand two cones of white sand, the tatesuna, that stand for the mountain, with pine needles stuck in the top of each. The two main halls are National Treasures and 41 other buildings are Important Cultural Properties.
Park · Demachiyanagi Kyoto Botanical Gardens Opened in 1924, this is Japan's oldest public botanical garden, 24 hectares with about 10,000 kinds of plants, 7,000 of them garden varieties. The glass conservatory, one of the largest in the country, holds about 4,500. About 500 cherry trees flower in spring, and in autumn the maples, sweetgums and ginkgos turn.
Temple · Fushimi Choken-ji Choken-ji, known locally as the Benten of Shima, is the only temple in Kyoto whose main image is Benzaiten. It was founded in 1699, when the Fushimi magistrate developed the Chushojima district, and you'll spot it by its red walls and Ryugu-style gate.
Shrine · Kitano Hirano Shrine Hirano Shrine grows about 400 cherry trees of some 60 varieties, many of which started here, so something's in flower for about six weeks from mid-March. The shrine came here from Nara with the capital in 794, and its paired main halls of 1625 and 1632 are an Important Cultural Property.
Temple · Kinkakuji Ninna-ji Emperor Uda finished Ninna-ji in 888, and imperial princes served as its head priests until 1867. The Kondo main hall is the oldest surviving Shishinden, the ceremonial hall of the Imperial Palace, moved here between 1624 and 1643 and now a National Treasure. The five-storey pagoda went up in 1644, and in early to mid April the low, late-blooming Omuro cherries flower inside the middle gate.
Temple · Daigo Daigo-ji Daigo-ji climbs from the foot of Mount Daigo to its summit, and its five-storey pagoda, finished in 951, is the oldest wooden building in Kyoto Prefecture. Toyotomi Hideyoshi threw his famous cherry blossom party here in 1598, planting 700 trees for it, and he designed the Sanbo-in garden. Kamidaigo, the original temple on the summit, is about an hour's steep climb from the trailhead.

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Every Kyoto event on the calendar

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