What you'll do
We’ll carefully match you with the perfect Host based on your personality, interests and requirements and together you’ll discover how magical cherry blossom season is in Kyoto - an experience made all the more so when you discover how the locals really celebrate it!
Just like the locals do, you’ll enjoy a picnic with your Host under the blossoms. It’s permitted to drink in public in Japan so locals gather with their friends and family, enjoy some beers or sake and share plates of tasty traditional dishes together, whether it’s a picnic brought from home, traditional sweets or street food picked up on the way like yakitori (grilled chicken skewers), takoyaki (fried octopus balls) and yakisoba (fried noodles).
Taste sakura mochi, the traditional spring sweets which you’ll find in almost every wagashi (Japanese sweet) shop in Kyoto at this time of year - these are delicious pink rice cakes wrapped in sakura leaf and the classic cherry blossom season sweets!
Next, your Host will take you to a park which they will choose according to where the best blossoms are. The dates of the cherry blossom season vary each year, so your Host will choose a park based on where the blossoms are in full bloom and at their best. In order to secure a good picnic spot, you will likely arrive before midday as it can get extremely busy.
Have your own hanami party under the sakura trees as you feast on your picnic and your Host shares with you the traditions of hanami and its festive parties.
If cherry blossom season falls early or late, your host will know the places in the city where you can still go to see late or early blossoming sakura, so you can still make the most of your time in Kyoto.
Important note: The season for cherry blossom season usually falls on and around the first week of April. However this changes each year depending on a number of factors including how cold the winter has been previously. We keep up to date with the predictions, but there is no guarantee of exactly when the season will take place.
What to expect
* Celebrate cherry blossom season like a local with your personally chosen Host
* Enjoy your picnic with your Host under the branches of a cherry tree in full bloom
* Visit the most famous and spectacular cherry blossom viewing spots in the city
* Discover the traditions and meaning of the cherry blossom in Japan
* Visit a traditional “depachika”, a department store incredible food-hall to choose food for your Japanese picnic
* Feast on traditional dishes like sakura mochi, pink rice cakes wrapped in cherry tree leaves
* Stroll along the banks of the Kamo-gawa River, along the Path of Philosophy or visit the iconic Hirano-jinja shrine
