Hanami

Cherry Blossoms in Fukuoka (福岡櫻花)

It may seem like there will never be an official ‘end’ to the COVID-19 pandemic, but finally after some difficult years, we’ve gotten to a point where we’ve been vaccinated enough that we’re able to live with the virus. With restrictions across the world easing, even in countries that imposed the strictest mandates, tourism has started to make a comeback, and people are eager to hop on a plane and enjoying life!

I’m sure, like so many around the world, the inability to travel for the duration of the pandemic was quite frustrating - and like myself, many of you probably came up with grand plans of traveling to distant lands when it all came to an end. Personally, I figured that my first overseas trip in a post-pandemic world would see me flying back home in Canada to visit family, or back to Europe for some more backpacking.

I had a bit of a rude awakening in that department, though, as flights back home, were priced at double, or even triple their pre-pandemic prices. So, instead of an ambitious trip to a far distant land, we decided to stay close to home, and celebrate my birthday with a quick trip to the southern Japanese island of Kyushu.

The plan was to fly into Fukuoka (福岡縣), stay there for a few days, rent a car to drive to the north of the island, then head south to a popular hot spring resort for my birthday before returning to the city. If you follow my Instagram, you’re likely aware that one of my favorite things to eat is Japanese ramen, and Fukuoka is pretty much the birthplace of Tonkotsu (豚骨) ramen, so I was quite content with the decision to spend some time there.

One of the highlights of the trip, however, was to be the cherry blossoms, which were forecast to start blooming the day after our arrival. After years of taking photos of cherry blossoms all over Taiwan, I was excited that I was finally going to be able to see them in all their glory in Japan, taking part in an annual ritual of blossom viewing known as ‘hanami’ (花見 / はなみ), which remains one of the special cultural links that the people of Taiwan share with the Japanese.

Link: Taiwan Cherry Blossom Guide (臺灣櫻花地圖)

On our first day in Fukuoka, the weather was quite nice, but the forecast for the rest of the week, unfortunately, wasn’t looking very promising, so after having a bowl of ramen, and checking out a couple of small shrines near our hotel, we decided to try our luck and head over to the city’s Maizuru Park (舞鶴公園), to see if any of the trees were blooming.

Sadly, we were several days early, and all we saw were the buds on the trees.

We probably should have known better though.

The Japanese are experts when it comes to their ‘hanami’ forecast, and they have a scientifically exact blooming schedule for every city in the country, which is something that doesn’t seem like it ever fails.

Link: Fukuoka Cherry Blossom / Sakura Guide 2023 (Fukuoka Now)

What I ended up discovering over the next few days of the trip was that no matter where you go, there are cherry blossoms blooming pretty much everywhere. It didn’t matter if we were just walking around the city, visiting shrines in the mountains, or simply just driving along the highway.

They were everywhere..

For the first few days, I got pretty excited seeing them, and wanted to stop and take photos, but to tell the truth, the novelty wore off pretty quickly, and after a few days, I started feeling like they were like the Tung Blossoms (油桐花) that turn the mountains of Taiwan white in April and May.

It’s a bit of a running joke, even though they’re quite beautiful, but people in Taiwan refer to tung blossoms as ‘mold’ on the mountains, because they make Taiwan’s beautiful mountains look as if parts of them are rotting. As we traversed the highway on our way from Fukuoka to the northern part of the island, I couldn’t help to notice the similarities as there were cherry trees all over the mountains.

Link: The Different Varieties of Cherry Blossoms in Japan From Light Pink to Radiant Yellow (Japan Travel)

That being said, after a week of seeing cherry blossoms all over northern Kyushu, I have to admit I wasn’t actually prepared for what I was going to experience on our return to Fukuoka.

We arrived in town in the early afternoon, dropped our bags off at our hotel, dropped off our rental car, and then started to make our way to the park where Fukuoka holds its annual cherry blossom festival.

As we approached the park, the amount of people on the streets started growing dramatically. It was the busiest I had seen the city during our trip, and there were so many smiling, happy people that we knew that we were about to see something special. As we got closer, and the blossoms started to come into sight, I was awestruck.

All of the trees that were bare just a few days earlier had completed transformed, and we were in hanami-heaven!

Maizuru Park is home to about a thousand trees, including nineteen different species of cherry, with the Somei-Yoshino (染井吉野櫻 / ソメイヨシノ) and the ‘Weeping-Cherry' Shidarezakura (枝垂櫻 / シダレザクラ) being the most common varieties. To celebrate the blossoming season, the city hosts the ‘Fukuoka Castle Sakura Festival’ and invites vendors to set up stalls within the park, offering some really great food and drinks to all the people coming to view the blossoms. They also install lights throughout the park, which light up the historic castle walls, and more importantly so that the cherry blossoms can be enjoyed both during the day and the night.

Company picnic in the park with copious amounts of sake!

Not only did I get to enjoy my first Japanese hanami experience, I took more photos than I can count, and then as the sun went down we visited the food area and enjoyed some takoyaki (章魚燒) octopus balls, (which I have to admit were so much better than anything we get here in Taiwan), some of Fukuoka’s famed yakitori (焼き鳥), chicken skewers, and some locally made craft beer, before heading back out to take more photos of the trees after they were lit up.

It ended up being a great conclusion to my birthday celebrations in Japan, and over the next few weeks (or months), you’re likely to see more articles about the places I visited during the trip, but until then, enjoy some of the photos I took of the cherry blossoms.

Taiwan Cherry Blossom Guide (臺灣櫻花地圖)

One of the clearest indications that spring has arrived in Taiwan is when the cherry blossoms start to bloom throughout the country. It’s one of those things that you can’t miss as the trees in cities large and small start to turn pink. It would be an understatement to say that the people of Taiwan have a tremendous amount of respect for the natural environment, but when it comes to cherry blossoms, viewing them is an important part of many, if not most families social calendars. 

The blossoms which are also referred to as "sakura" grow in the early months of the year when the Taiwanese winter is coming to an end and the weather starts to get better after a few months of rain. The blooming season also just so happens to take place near the conclusion of the all-important Lunar New Year (農曆新年) celebrations, when many families have a long winter vacation and are able to travel freely.

Taiwan is a fertile land with fruit, flowers and vegetables growing all over the place and when there are flowers to be seen, you can be sure to see crowds of people enjoying the beauty of nature and practicing the age-old tradition known in Japan as "Hanami" (花見) or “flower-viewing”.

Considered to be a cultural remnant from the Japanese Colonial Era, the people of Taiwan take their flowers very seriously and these days wherever you go you’ll be sure to find advertisements the various flower-related festivals held throughout the year.

You might be thinking that these festivals probably only appeal to a bunch of senior citizens with too much time on their hands, but you’d be wrong - Hanami is a serious thing and you’ll see people of all ages traveling to enjoy the natural beauty that this country has to offer. Flower viewing is often a family affair, but it is also a romantic one, so you’ll often see families as well as young couples enjoying the experience.

And there is no better experience than cherry blossom season, so for the few few months of the year when the blossoms are in bloom, the country turns a beautiful shade of pink and in the areas where they grow in abundance, you’ll also find large crowds rushing to see them.

One of the things I've come to realize in the years since opening this site is that there are very few English-language resources or information available about the cherry blossom blooming season. Some of my most popular blog posts (and the ones that generate the most comments or emails) are those about cherry-blossoms.

People travelling to Taiwan and expats living here want to know where to find them and unfortunately that information is often lacking. So, what I’m going to attempt to do with this post is explain a few of the most common varieties of cherry blossom in Taiwan, provide a list of the most popular places to see them and also provide a map that I’ve compiled of other places where you can find them.

I hope that this short guide helps out and that you can find the location most suitable for you to view these beautiful blossoms.

Cherry Blossoms (櫻花)

Taiwan is home to around two dozen different species of cherry blossom and while some of them appear similar to those in Japan, the majority of them can only be found in Taiwan, which makes the blossom-viewing experience here an especially unique one. The most common species of blossom is the dark-pink Taiwanese Mountain Sakura which can be seen all around the country. There are however several other species that only grow in specific locations and in high elevations, so if you want to check them out, you’ll have to head to the mountains to see them.

An important note when it comes to Taiwan’s cherry blossoms is that most of them are the result of hybridization, which means that the species have been mixed together to create something new.

Link: A Beginners Guide to Cherry Blossoms - Cherry Tree Varieties

With almost two dozen species of cherry blossom in Taiwan, how are you to differentiate between what you’re seeing? Take it from me, I’m no expert, I’ve put a lot of research into Taiwan’s blossoms, but no matter how much I read about them, they all look relatively similar. 

And hey, Taiwan is also home to Plum Blossoms (梅花), Peach Blossoms (桃花) and Tung Blossoms (桐花), which probably only help to exacerbate your confusion.

There are some characteristics that can help even beginners differentiate the various blossoms that you’ll find. 

  • Number of Petals

One of the easiest ways to figure out what you’re looking at is to count the number of petals on the blossom. The majority of Taiwan’s cherry blossoms have five petals, but there are others like the Double-Layered Cherry (八重櫻) that can have anywhere between ten or twenty petals. 

  • Colour of the Blossom

The most common cherry blossom in Taiwan is the Taiwan Mountain Cherry, which has dark-pink petals. The most popular blossoms however are light-pink, white or red. The colour of the petals however can sometimes be quite similar, so you’ll also have to pay attention to the stems inside which have their own distinct colours. 

  • Blooming Period

Taiwan’s various species of cherry blossoms bloom anywhere between January and April and one of the easiest ways to figure out what you’re looking at is by knowing the blooming time for the area you’re visiting. For example, when I visited the Loving Farm (恩愛農場) in Taoyuan, I knew that the Fuji Cherry bloomed in late February while the Japanese Alpine Cherry (千島櫻) grew sometime in March. Despite the fact that they both have five petals and the colour of their petals are similar, I knew that I was looking at Fuji Cherries because of the time I was there.

Even though the links below are in Chinese, they should help differentiate Taiwan’s various species: 

Link: 你賞的是什麼櫻?(Hiking Notebook) | 台灣櫻花種類 (Jeff Yen)

Taiwan’s Cherry Blossom Varieties 

  1. Taiwanese Mountain Cherry (台灣山櫻花) - Late-January - February

  2. Formosan Cherry (福爾摩沙櫻) - Late-January to February

  3. Taiwan Cherry (緋寒櫻) - Late-January to February

  4. Double-layered Cherry (八重櫻) - Mid-February - March

  5. Peony Cherry (牡丹櫻) - Late-March - Early-April

  6. Showa Cherry (昭和櫻) - February - March

  7. Pink Lady Cherry (紅粉佳人) - Mid-February - Late-February

  8. Wusheh Cherry (霧社櫻) - Mid-March - April

  9. Taiping Cherry (太平山櫻) - Mid-March - April

  10. Japanese Alpine Cherry (千島櫻) - March - April

  11. Oshima Cherry (大島櫻) - Late -March - April

  12. Takasago Cherry (高砂櫻) - Late-March - April

  13. Yoshino Cherry (吉野櫻) - Mid-March - April

  14. White Yoshino Cherry (白色吉野櫻) - March - April

  15. Kawazu Cherry (普賢象櫻) - Late-March to Mid-April

  16. Fuji Cherry (富士櫻) - Mid-February to Mid-March. 

Taiwan’s Most Common Cherry Blossoms

In this section, I’m going to introduce some of the most common varieties of cherry blossoms in Taiwan.

I’ll also continue to update this section as I get more photos in the future.

1. Taiwanese Cherry / Kanhizakura (臺灣山櫻花)

The indigenous Taiwanese Mountain Sakura are the most common type of cherry blossom in Taiwan.

The flowers are a dark shade of pink and when you are in an area where there are quite a few trees, it can be one of the most beautiful experiences of your life. Unfortunately even though these cherry blossoms are beautiful, they are viewed as less important by most local people than some of the other varieties.

These trees grow all over the country but the most common places to find them are on Alishan (阿里山), Yangmingshan (陽明山), Dakeng (大坑) and Zhongli's Ju-Guang Park (中壢莒光公園)

Blooming Period: Late January to March.

2. Yoshino Cherry (吉野櫻)

The Yoshino Cherry is probably the most popular of all the Sakura in Taiwan due to the fact that it is considered the most "Japanese". These trees with their beautiful light-pink blossoms are not endemic to Taiwan and were brought here during the Japanese colonial era from Mount Yoshinoyama (吉野山) in Japan's Nara Prefecture (奈良市). As Japan's most popular cherry blossom a lot of people in Taiwan will plan their yearly schedules around the blossoming season to take a trip to Japan to see them. You don't have to take a trip to Japan to see these flowers though, they grow in abundance in several places around the country.

The most common places to find Yoshino Cherries are on Alishan (阿里山), Wuling Farm (武陵農場), Aowanda (奧萬大), the Formosan Culture Village (九族文化村) and at Danshui's Tian-Yuan Temple (天元宮)

Blooming Period: Mid-March to Late-April.

3. Double-Layer Cherry / Yaezakura (八重櫻 / やえざくら)

Double-Layer Cherry go by a few names but they are common in both Taiwan and Japan. We can refer to them as 'Double-Layer Cherry', 'Yaezakura' or 'Late-Blooming Cherry'. The Double-Layer Cherry is a multi-layered cherry blossom and is a blanket term that defines several different species of cherry blossom that have more than 5 petals. The varieties of Sakura in this type vary in colour ranging from light to dark pink and are often hard to identify individually unless you're an expert. In Taiwan people refer to them simply as the "eight variety cherry" (八重櫻) which helps solve some of the confusion as to what they actually are. 

The most common places to find these types of blossoms growing in abundance are on Yangmingshan (陽明山) and Alishan (阿里山) while they can be found on many smaller mountains throughout northern Taiwan.

Blooming Period: February - March. 

4. Fuji Cherry (富士櫻)

GTJ-2020-0302-2.jpg

The Fuji Cherry is another of Taiwan’s most popular species of cherry blossom - A hybrid of the Taiwanese Cherry (台灣山櫻花) and the Japanese Yamazakura (山櫻花). As a hybrid species, the blossoms take on aspects of both the Taiwanese and Japanese cherries with the shape of the petals being similar to that of the Japanese cherry, with each blossom having five petals and are a light red or pink. The blossoms are usually clustered together in bunches and face down.

The best places to see Fuji Cherry Blossoms is at Taoyuan’s Lala Mountain (拉拉山), Nantou’s Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village (九族文化村) and Qingjing Farm (清境農場).

Blooming Period: Late-February - March


Where to find Cherry Blossoms in Taiwan

Between February and March, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find cherry blossoms growing around Taiwan.

If you’re like a lot of people though and you want to make the special effort to visit a pink-sakura forest, there are some places that you should definitely keep in mind.

This is the most current version of the top fifteen popular cherry blossom viewing locations around the country, with an estimation of when the blossoms will be in bloom in each area.

Each location can be found on the Cherry Blossom Map below represented by a heart, but you can also click on each of the links below to be taken to a Google Map link.

  1. Yangmingshan (陽明山), Taipei (Mid February - Mid March)

  2. Lane 42, Pingjing Street (平菁街櫻花), Taipei (Mid January - Mid February) 

  3. Donghu Park (東湖樂活公園), Neihu (February - March) 

  4. Tian-Yuan Temple (天元宮), Danshui (February - March)

  5. Jinguashi Museum (金瓜石博物館), Ruifang (March - April) 

  6. Xiong-Kong Sakura Forest (熊空櫻花林), Sanxia (January - April 

  7. Loving Farm (恩愛農場), Taoyuan (Late February - Mid March) 

  8. Wuling Farm (武陵農場), Taichung (February)

  9. Dongshi Forest Garden (東勢林場), Taichung (February) 

  10. Tai-An Police Station (泰安派出所), Taichung (Late February - Mid March) 

  11. Fushou Mountain Farm (福壽山農場), Taichung (Mid Feb - April) 

  12. Formosa Aboriginal Culture Village (九族文化村), Nantou (February - March)

  13. Aowanda Forest Recreation Area (奧萬大國家森林遊樂區), Nantou (Mid March - April)

  14. Alishan (阿里山), Chiayi (December - April)

  15. Taimali Green Mountain Farm (太麻里青山農場), Taidong (February - March)


Cherry Blossom Map (臺灣櫻花地圖)

This map is something that took quite a bit of time to create, so I hope it can help people find the best (and closest) locations for viewing Taiwan’s cherry blossoms so that you can have the best viewing experience.

You are welcome to use it for personal use or share it however you like.

If you are a media organization though, ask for permission.

All that I ask is that if you have any leads for locations that I haven’t added on the map, let me know so I can continue to update it for others!

On the map I’m simply providing the geographic location and the name in English and Chinese.

When I have more time I'll add a bit more information for travelers on how to get to each point, what blossoms you’ll find and when would be the best time to visit.

I hope what is available thus far is of use to you. 

 A few things to Keep in Mind

  • Cherry blossoms, while beautiful are extremely vulnerable to the weather.

  • Taiwan's winter's are often unpredictable and are known to be cold, rainy and windy. Weather conditions often affect the health and the amount of blossoms that are available.

  • A few locations like Danshui's Tian-Yuan Temple and Wuling Farm have websites that give the most recent information about the growth of the blossoms in their respective area.

  • Something else to take into consideration is that while the blossoming season is typically between March and April, Global Warming has affected the blossoming periods meaning that sometimes they appear a bit earlier. This means that if the blossoms appear earlier, they are also likely to disappear much more quickly.

  • If you are planning a trip to Taiwan to view the cherry blossoms, you should do a bit of research beforehand as you could end up a bit disappointed.

  • The cherry blossom season is one of the busiest flower-viewing seasons in Taiwan and is one that you won't want to miss if you're in the country.

  • I highly recommend a trip to any of the top spots listed above, but if you're shy and don’t like crowds, you can find some other great places to visit on the map I’ve provided.  

As always, if you have any questions feel free to comment below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can! 

Happy Sakura hunting!  


2016 Tung Blossoms (客家桐花祭)

In April and May forests in Taiwan turn white with the popular Tung Blossoms (油桐花) that line mountains and hillsides around the country. Locals often refer to Tung Blossoms as "April Snow" or "May Snow" (depending on when they are in full bloom) and their arrival attracts people from all over the country to places where they grow in abundance.

The Tung Tree (油桐樹) is a deciduous tree that can grow up to 20 meters tall and is endemic to south China and Burma. It was originally brought to Taiwan by the Japanese during the occupation period and was planted in mountainous areas in north-western Taiwan. The cultivation of the tree was important primarily to the Hakka people who lived in the areas where the trees were planted. The trees have thus had a long-lasting relationship with the Hakka people and that relationship continues to this day as the tree has become an important symbol of their culture.

The importance of the tree originally was because of the economic benefits it brought - The seeds were instrumental in the production of Tung Oil (桐油) which was used to make paint, varnish, caulking and wood finish while the wood in turn was used for making everything from furniture to toothpicks. The economic benefits the tree brought rural communities allowed families to make ends meet. When those economic benefits eventually subsided, the tree transformed into the symbol of the Hakka people who drew parallels between the simplicity and hard working nature of  their culture and the tree as well as showing their respect for the economic prosperity the tree brought them.

In 2002 the Hakka Affairs Council (客家委員會) started the "Hakka Tung Blossom Festival" (客家桐花祭) an annual event that takes place during the blooming season as a method to promote and preserve Hakka culture as well as to help improve economic development and tourism in Hakka towns. The yearly event attracts large crowds of people in part to see the Tung Blossoms but also to experience Hakka culture and cuisine - especially in old town towns like Beipu, Daxi and Nanzhuang where there are popular "old streets" that already work quite hard to preserve Hakka culture. 

May Snow (五月雪) 

The Tung blossom is just one of the various types of blossoms that bloom during the early parts of the year in Taiwan. Spring is a busy time of the year in Taiwan for people who appreciate this kind of things. The Tung blossom differentiates itself from the others though as it is the only one that "symbolizes" one of the cultures of the country. The Tung blossoms may not be as popular as cherry or plum blossoms (the national flower) but in recent years they have become an important part of the annual "Hanami" (flower viewing) habit of the Taiwanese people between January and May and as fas as I'm concerned, viewing the Tung blossoms and enjoying and some amazing Hakka food on the same day sounds like time well spent! 

I consider myself lucky living in Taoyuan (Literally: Peach Garden) where we start the year with cherry blossoms (櫻花) and then get peach (桃花), plum (梅花) and Tung blossoms shortly after. I never really have to go very far to see this stuff and it is convenient that I can often avoid the large crowds by travelling by scooter close to home and driving past all the traffic.

One of the coolest things about the Tung blossoms is that in areas where they grow in abundance they tend to turn hiking trails 'white' as the blossoms fall to the ground. This is somewhat similar to what happens in Japan with the Sakura snow referred to as Hanafubuki (花吹雪). Tung blossoms are different however because of their colour and give off an effect of snow falling in the forests which is beautiful as at any giving time hundreds of them are falling around you while you're hiking.

Tung Blossoms in a small mountain stream. 

The festival has only been happening for fourteen years but in that time the blossoms have become popular with people of all ages. In the past few years though they have become quite popular with young Taiwanese couples who enjoy hiking into the mountains to have impromptu romantic photoshoots with the Tung Blossoms. You'll also notice that it is quite common that people along the hiking trails will spend time gathering some of the blossoms that have fallen on the ground and arranging them into hearts or Chinese characters such as the word for love (愛) as well as other shapes on the ground. Husbands or boyfriends even go as far as making a 'Tung blossom halo' that they put around their head of their partner. This is all quite new but with the help of the media, it has only fuelled the popularity of the Tung blossom festival. 

Technically speaking, the problem with shooting Tung blossoms as opposed to Cherry or Plum blossoms is that the trees are typically on the side of mountains and are very tall. Cherry blossom trees are actually quite short and only ever reach about 10 meters tall making them extremely easy to take photos of while Tung blossoms are more of a pain in the ass as you can't get that close to them. This means that if you are like myself and want photos of the blossoms still on the tree, you are going to need the help of a telephoto lens of at least 300mm in focal length.

Most people however are unlike me and prefer taking shots of the blossoms as they fall to the ground and don't really focus on them too much while they're still on the trees. Apart from taking shots of the blossoms on the trees I prefer finding a hiking trail that has a river stream running through it so that I can get photos of the blossoms sitting in the water or just using my telephoto lens to take shots of the shapes all the other photographers spend a lot of time arranging.

Photography like all art is subjective and when it comes to this stuff there is no right or wrong way of taking photos - it is up to the person taking the shots and what they want to show. I prefer photos that are much more natural than something staged and you won't ever find me arranging the blossoms into hearts (but I'll still grab a quick shot or two if someone does the work for me)   

The 2016 Tung Blossom festival is on until May 22nd (the blossoms may actually last longer than that) and apart from viewing the blossoms there are many activities planned during the weekends in Hakka towns throughout Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli (among others) where visitors will be able to experience Hakka culture, cuisine and art as well as traditional performances. This is an important time of the year for cultural promotion and preservation so if you have a chance, try to get out and enjoy some of the activities, some Hakka Lei Tea and of course the blossoms. 

Website: 2016 Hakka Tung Blossom Festival