Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival

Staying home due to COVID-19 is really making us miss cherry blossom season. Last year, we went to the cherry blossom festival in the small town of Jinhae, South Korea. There isn’t a lot going on in this town besides the cherry blossom festival, but there are so many trees that a trip here is more than worth it.

We decided to spend the weekend since we live in Seoul and it’s a few hours away by train. It turned out to be worth it because we wouldn’t have seen as much as we did had we only spent the day. We were also lucky to go at peak bloom which meant even more blossoms. As we walked along the roads if felt as though we were swimming in a sea of pink.

We walked along the river, along with thousands of others, and were covered in blossoms. The branches were so heavy with blossoms that they were weighed down and some of them were nearly touching the ground. Everywhere we walked we were surrounded by light pink blossoms and their falling petals.

While we enjoyed our time there we wish we could have done a few things differently. First, we should have bought our train tickets a little earlier. The KTX sells out quickly and even though we were able to get tickets for the days we wanted we didn’t spend as long as we would have liked. Second, we should have gotten up earlier to view the blossoms. This small town gets more than 2 million visitors a year during the cherry blossom season, so it gets crowded very quickly. There were many times that we walked shoulder to shoulder with other visitors. If you want to avoid the crowds then you should head out before sunrise and take as many photos as you can.

Overall, we had a great trip despite the crowds. If you’re able to go you should check out the thousands of beautiful cherry blossom trees scattered across this quaint town.