7 Tips for Seeing the Washington, DC Cherry Blossoms

There’s really nothing quite like cherry blossom season in Washington, DC. Peak bloom is truly an incredible time of year to visit our nation’s capitol, and with a few tips and planning, you can see blossoms all over the city with time to spare. Read on for my 7 essential tips for seeing the Washington, DC cherry blossoms!

1. Plan your trip for late March/early April

The cherry blossoms tend to reach peak bloom around the end of March to the beginning of April. There’s usually about a 4 week window for when they’ll hit full bloom. Keep in mind that not all cherry blossoms in the city will necessarily be in bloom at the same time, so plan accordingly. Peak bloom last year fell on April 6, 2018.

2. Book a flexible ticket

I can’t emphasize this enough: make your trip dates flexible! It would be a shame to miss the cherry blossoms by a few days or weeks because of rigid travel plans. Some airlines like Southwest don’t charge change fees for adjusting your flight dates. I’d also look for a hotel or AirBnb that doesn’t charge cancellation fees close to your travel date.

I was fortunate enough to time my trip just right, but I also booked my plane ticket close to my trip and kept an eye on the blossom predictions. For reference, I visited on peak bloom day, and my trip was April 6-7, 2018.

3. Research cherry blossom locations ahead of time

Peak bloom can vary around the DC area, so do your research ahead of time. If you time your trip correctly, you’ll get to see blossoms in bloom all over the metro area, as well as the tail-end of magnolia blooming season! Seeing all of these gorgeous flowers in bloom across DC is truly breathtaking.

4. Keep an eye on Cherry Blossom Watch

I can’t recommend Cherry Blossom Watch enough for helping you time your trip appropriately. This blog was a huge help to me when I was scouting out bloom locations. They post daily updates about how the blossoms in the Tidal Basin are progressing with pictures and predictions for peak bloom. Capital Weather Gang, the local DC weather Twitter account, is another great resource for daily bloom updates and travel info.

5. Time your visit for lower crowds

Since the DC cherry blossoms are a world-renowned sight, they bring in * a lot* of visitors in a very short amount of time. A lot of the walkways around the Tidal Basin are narrow, so I’d definitely recommend visiting earlier in the day to avoid crowds. Sunrise and earlier in the morning are great times to visit higher traffic locations with some peace and quiet 🙂 It’s also a lot easier to get photos without people in them if you visit earlier and on weekdays during the morning commute.

6. Check out Cherry Blossom Season exclusives

When the cherry blossoms come to life, Washington, D.C. does, too. There are a lot of cute pop-up events and specialty snacks and merchandise to enjoy during cherry blossom season:

• Cherry Blossom Festival (March 20 to April 14, 2019)
• Cherry Blossom Doughnuts from Astro’s Doughnuts and Fried Chicken
• Speciality Cherry Blossom Cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcakes and Baked & Wired
• Cherry Blossom merchandise from The National Gallery of Art
• Cherry Blossom Cups on the National Mall
• Exhibit featuring the cherry blossoms at the Library of Congress

7. Best cherry blossom photo spots

These are my favorite spots for seeing and photographing the world-famous DC cherry blossoms. I hope you enjoyed this post and consider visiting DC during this magical time of year 🌸 For more DC insider tips, visit my Weekend Guide to DC blog post.

Tidal Basin

Jefferson Memorial

Washington Monument

U.S. Capitol

Supreme Court

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