Apr 7, 2020
Of the many reasons we are bummed to be stuck indoors, missing cherry blossom season in Japan is pretty high on the top of the list. Thankfully, you can now hanami, or “watching blossoms”, from home with Google Earth’s new virtual tour of the world’s best cherry blossom sites.
The virtual tour covers 10 of the most beautiful spots across the globe based on written reviews by locals and visitors on Google Maps.
You’ll start with a stroll through Tokyo’s Meguro River Cherry Blossoms Promenade, a street lined by more than 800 sakura. From there, visit Miharu Takizakura in Miharu, Japan, where the main attraction is a stunning 1,000-year-old weeping cherry blossom.
Venture to Paris, Brazil, Sweden and Spain before stopping at Jinhae Gunhangje Festival, South Korea’s biggest spring festival, held at an out-of-use railway station. The thematic carriage takes passengers through an 800-meter-long sakura tunnel. Continue the tour to Vancouver, Canada, London and finish off at Washington DC’s Tidal Basin.
While a virtual journey might not provide the same magic as the real thing, you can use the tour as a primer for next year’s trip.
