Japan Cherry Blossom Tours 2025

Cherry blossom season and spring is a beautiful time of year to travel to Japan.  With the changing of the seasons people across the country enjoy the vibrant early plum blossom before the more popular and delicate colours of the cherry come into bloom. 

We have designed our blossom tours to capture some of the best displays the Japan has to offer.  However, our tours include much more than simply the opportunity to enjoy some of the cherry blossom festivals that are held in different parts of the country.  Japan is a country that allows you to enjoy terrific scenery, fascinating castles, temples, shrines, culture, a rich history as well as delicious food as you travel around.

In previous years our cherry tours have seen many early bookings, well in advance.  On occasion we have closed these tours to additional bookings as early as January meaning we were unable to accommodate inquiries and bookings that arrived during February and March.  Therefore, we recommend that you contact us early to secure your place.  You can either use our simple contact us form or email us directly at admin@japancustomtours.co.nz  We are offering two main blossom tours for 2026.

April 2026 Japan Cherry Blossom Tours

Japan cherry blossom tours are very popular some of our cherry blossom tours sold-out several months in advance.  For 2026 we are running our "Classic" blossom tour chasing the cherry blossom across Japan and a later blossom two covering two weeks in the second half of April.   We also have scope to offer a plum blossom tour in February as that is also a nice time of year for travel.  

Our main tour is based around the core blossom season covering late March and April.  Building on previous years we have made some changes to our schedules based on guest feedback and improvements to the order and travel times in some places.  This has resulted in a reduction in travel times between locations, but also things like an additional scenic journey between Takayama and Matsumoto, and incorporating a visit to the city of Sendai and one of the "three views of Japan", Matsushima Bay.

With most arrivals occurring one or two days prior to the commencement of the tours this allows us to meet most of our guests at the airport, transfer you to your hotel in Tokyo and provide an initial introduction to Japan and Tokyo, one of the largest and vibrant cities in the world.  This also gives you some free time to adjust to the time-zone, and explore a few areas of the city that interest you before we head off on our journey around the country.  We understand many guests wish to arriving before the formal start of a tour due to flights and flight pricing, this allows people flexibility to easily join a tour. 

We design our cherry blossom tour schedules taking into account the likely dates for the cherry blossom season and viewing in each location. These dates are based on the average flowering times from the last ten years and are a guide only. (The actual dates are out of our control.) However, there are a couple of things that make chasing the cherry blossom a little easier.  Firstly, the early part of the season is when plum trees are flowering, providing an alternative offering of spectacular colours.  Secondly, the "official" cherry blossom forecasts refer to a specific five petal variety (somei yoshino), and there are many different types of cherry trees - some that flower earlier and some later, extending the season.  Certainly for our previous tour seasons we had cherry blossom viewing across a two month period.  We also take pride in finding tranquil and uncrowded spots for our guests to enjoy the blossom on our trips.

The following provides a brief description of the tour we are planning for spring 2024 and a more detailed schedules are available on request.  A tour brochure with additional information is available for download using the following link.  Comments from previous guests can be found on our TripAdvisor listing on on our previous tours page. 

 

Classic Cherry Blossom Tour (Saturday 28th March to Sunday 12th April 2026)

(Note that as at June 2025 this tour is currently sold-out.)

For this tour we are offering a pre-tour Fuji/Hakone excursion on the Friday 29th March as an option for early arrivals (priced at JPY19,500 per person).

The peak period for cherry blossom viewing usually starts in Tokyo at the end of March and into the beginning of April.  Therefore, we include some of the famous and popular viewing locations around the city including the Shinjuku National Gardens and Ueno Park.  For the early 2023 season we also included the Hamarikyu gardens that included green blossom as a contrast to the usual white and pink.

From Tokyo, the shinkansen (bullet train) carries us south to the historic capital of Kyoto for some of the famous sites around the city, including a day trip to the first capital of Japan at Nara.  From Kyoto, we travel to Hiroshima and time on the beautiful island of Miyajima with its floating torii gate.

Leaving Hiroshima we head to the west coast city of to Kanazawa and its famous Kenrokuen Gardens and castle buildings.  We then head to the Japanese alps and Takayama before visiting Nagano prefecture for a stay at a traditional Japanese inn and onsen.

Rounding out the tour and chasing the cherry blossom north we visit the festival in the area around Sendai city.  During out time in the city we also include a visit to the scenic Matsushima and a cruise around Matsushima Bay (considered one of the "three views of Japan".) The end of the tour sees us return to Tokyo on the Sunday.

Late Cherry Blossom Tour (Saturday 18th April to Saturday 2nd May 2026)

Our late cherry tour includes a trip to the north of Tokyo including side trips from Sendai (for Matsushima), and also Aomori for the Hirosaki Castle Park, a site with 2,600 cherry trees and a beautiful cherry blossom festival.

Returning to the centre of the country, we stay in the mountains at an onsen near Nagano and a visit to the snow monkeys before two days in the mountain town of Takayama and then across to the western city of Kanazawa.  From Kanazawa we head to the historic city of Kyoto for three nights before returning to Tokyo. 

Price inclusions/exclusions

We price in Japanese yen, but can quote in your local currency on request. 

Classic Cherry Blossom Tour: The price for sixteen days (accommodation for fifteen nights) is from JPY895,000 per person share twin/double. 

Late Cherry Blossom Tour: The price for fifteen days (accommodation for fourteen nights) is from JPY895,000 per person share twin/double.

For solo travellers (one person, without a shared room), the cost of accommodation is unable to be shared, but we have a policy to limit the extra cost and have priced our tours for a solo travellers at JPY1,095,000

The price includes:

• Our tour service, including a dedicated guide for the duration of your tour. That includes a meet&greet at the airport and transfers to the hotel in Tokyo.
• Accommodation, averaging 4* - 5* properties.   We aim to book superior rooms to give additional space and comfort during your trip.
• Transport, all train travel, subways, and transfers. Taxis are also covered during the day for our sightseeing as well as the occasional bus connection. (Not flights to/from Japan.)
• Entrance fees for temples, shrines, castles, parks, gardens, and museums.  These are listed in your agreed tour schedule.
• Evening meals at ryokan (Japanese inn) accommodation are normally included. In general, we do not include lunch and dinner meals because Japan has a huge range of foods and we prefer not to restrict options, especially when food is a significant part Japan.

Exclusions are generally items such as theatre performances, sporting or other special events, theme parks, lunch and evening meals, snacks/drinks and other incidental costs such as hotel room service/laundry. 

Bookings and Inquiries

If you are interested in joining one of these tours, please contact us or email us directly at admin@japancustomtours.co.nz.

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