Vancouver

Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival

Thanks to over 40,000 cherry trees lining the streets of the city, crowds of visitors arrive in Vancouver each spring to celebrate the clouds of light pink blossoms that dominate our neighbourhoods during the season. Running from the end of March through to mid-April each year, the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival offers a cultural calendar full of opportunities to capture their beauty, including a line-up of arts events, community bike rides, cherry blossom viewing tours and traditional Japanese festivities.

If your primary focus is to see as many cherry blossoms as possible, the festival offers a few options. Visit their site for a regularly-updated list of the best viewing spots and a map of the 2,100+ areas across the city where ornamental cherry trees are planted. The Japanese say “there is no stranger under the cherry tree” and there’s no better way to enjoy the blossoms with like-minded people than by joining the #BigPicnic viewing party that happen in Queen Elizabeth park. You can even pre-order specially-themed box lunches for your picnic.

Grab a bike and join the Bike The Blossoms ride, a free group tour that starts out by Trout Lake and winds through a few of Vancouver’s blooming neighbourhoods awash in petals. Led by one of the Vancouver Park Board’s arborists, the route changes each year but has included neighbourhoods such as Mount Pleasant, Strathcona and Riley Park. Or lace up your walking shoes to take part in the Tree Talks & Walks program with guided walks to see blossoms, and evening talks to learn more about these magnificent trees. The walks actually start before the official festival kick-off to include some of the neighbourhoods that are planted with early-blooming varieties, so it’s best to check the VCBF site for dates and times.

The Sakura Days Japan Fair at VanDusen Botanical Garden is a great opportunity to learn more about Japanese culture among the blossoms, with traditional tea ceremonies, sake sampling, haiku poetry readings, and workshops where you can try your hand at origami, calligraphy and more.

For those that have found their own inspiration among the snowy petals, the festival offers a Haiku Invitational competition and a BC Blossom photo contest that’s open to everyone.

Be sure to check the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival website for updates, and for the beer enthusiasts out there, make sure you check out our self-guided walking tour of East Van breweries during Cherry Blossom season here.

March 29 - April 25, 2024

 

Outside

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Each spring Vancouver’s rains bring colourful flowers. The city is home to over 40,000 cherry trees, which burst into pink and white blooms between February and May. With so many...

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