5 Recommended Spots to See Beautiful Cherry Blossoms in Kanazawa

“Sakura” or cherry blossom, which is the symbol of Spring, is a very special flower for Japanese. For people in Kanazawa, cherry blossoms are exactly the arrival of Spring after long and severe winter.

Usually in Kanazawa, cherry blossoms are in full bloom around the first week of April, but in 2021, they are blooming at the fastest speed on record like the other areas of Japan.

I will introduce beautiful spots with cherry blossoms, which is located in the center of Kanazawa, so you can visit easily. Especially, I would like to recommend the riverside of Saigawa River.

CONTENTS

Kenrokuen Garden
Kanazawa Castle Park
Saigawa River
Asanogawa River
Mt. Utatsu-yama

Kenrokuen Garden

Kenrokuen Garden, known as one of the top 3 Japanese gardens, has seasonal attractions, and in the cherry blossom season, you will see the beautiful scenery of more than 400 cherry blossom trees of 40 types.

It is open for free every year when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom until 9:30 pm. Many times and even every day, you can enjoy different scenes of the beautiful garden and sakura: “quiet walk in the fresh air of the morning”, “matcha, sweets and sakura under the blue sky”, or “illuminated cherry blossoms in the evening”.

Even if you miss the free opening period, you can always enter the garden for free from 4:00am to 7:00am, and of course there are less people in the early morning. The sunrise around this time is before 6:00am. K’s House Kanazawa is a 10-minute walk to Kenrokuen Garden, so let’s get up early and go for a walk!

Kenrokuen Garden official website introduces the highlights of the cherry blossoms of the large garden with a map.

Kenrokuen Tourism Association Site “Highlights of April”

It is difficult to show enough in a photo the beautiful scene of the stream under the cherry blossoms in full bloom.

The photo below is the Hanami Bridge, which is also on the map in the link above. It is a nice shooting spot with sakura and the stream.

There is a teahouse on the bank of Hisago-ike Pond. At this time of year, you can enjoy lunch or matcha green tea and sweets while enjoying the view of the pond and cherry blossoms.

Kanazawa Castle Park

Kanazawa Castle Park, especially around Ishikawa Gate, has a magnificent view of the cherry blossoms and the stone walls of the castle. You can see the beautiful sights from any angle: the cherry blossom trees along the path between Ishikawa Gate and Kenrokuen Garden, the stone walls and cherry blossoms under Ishikawa Gate, and the view overlooking the road and cherry blossom trees from the bridge over the gate.

Going through the Ishikawa Gate, there are more cherry trees along the moat and in the plaza, 400 cherry trees in total. Kanazawa Castle Park is open for free during the same period as Kenrokuen Garden, so let’s visit the both places together.

Cherry blossoms along the moat in the Kanazawa Castel Park, (C) K’s House

Here, you can see the fantastic 360d view of Kanazawa Castle Park during the sakura season.

Saigawa River

This is the one I wanted to tell you the most this time. Saigawa River is not a sightseeing spot at all, but the cherry blossoms at the riverside is one of the best beautiful scenes in Kanazawa at this time of the year, which is only 3-minute walk away from K’s House Kanazawa.

Seeing the great view every day, we share the excitement with our guests who stay in the two weeks of cherry blossom season every year. I definitely want all people who visit Kanazawa during the sakura season to see this view.

Right next to downtown Katamachi, about 2.8km along the river from Saigawa Bridge to the upstream, a 30-minute way is lined with cherry blossom trees, and the scenery of the river and mountains are very impressive.

If you take Kanazawa Loop bus, you can get a glimpse of the scene, when you go over Saigawa Bridge and Sakurabashi Bridge, but I definitely recommend to get off the bus and walk along the river. It is a pleasant walking path all the time in the morning, noon and evening.

My favorite custom in sakura season is to take out sandwiches and drink from a café nearby, and have a picnic under the cherry trees at the riverside. You can do picnic and cherry blossom viewing under the branches of cherry trees at the riverside from Saigawa Bridge to Sakurabashi.

The above photo is a view from Sakurabashi, which means “cherry blossom bridge” in Japanese, only 3-minute walk from K’s House Kanazawa. The scenery in the evening is as below.

It is a 30-minute walk from Saigawa Bridge in the center to Kamikikubashi Bridge. From here, along the river for additional 20 minutes toward the upstream, the cherry blossoms are also beautiful. There are nice parks and promenades where you can walk in the woods and cherry trees. On weekends during the sakura season, many local people go on picnic to see the cherry blossom at the riverside and the parks.

Asanogawa River

The center of Kanazawa is spread between two rivers; one is Saigawa River and the other one is Asanogawa River. On both sides of Asanogawa river, two Geisha Districts are located: Higashi Chayagai and Kazuemachi, which are one of the must-visit spots in Kanazawa. At this time of year, you can see the cherry blossoms and the teahouses under dim lights in the evening.

Mt. Utatsu-yama

It takes 20-30 minutes to climb this small mountain from the back of Higashi Geisha District, and there are about 500 cherry trees at Mt. Utatsu Park. You can enjoy panoramic views of Kanazawa city from observatory like “Boukodai” and “Miharashidai”.

The view from Miharashidai, (C) K’s House

The weather is good at this time of year, and cherry blossoms are blooming all around the city. Kanazawa is a nice city for walking, and the cherry blossoms make walking even more joyful.

We look forward to welcoming you at K’s House Kanazawa, and share the great view and excitement some day!