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Seasons · Event guide
The National Cherry Blossom Festival is published for 20 March–11 April 2027, marking a century of the gift of trees. The bloom itself is separate: the average peak is 3 April, and the park service says an accurate prediction is not possible more than about ten days ahead.
01 · Event details
Timing: 20 March–11 April 2027 · bloom forecast issued separately
Venue or host area: The Tidal Basin and West Potomac Park, Hains Point and East Potomac Park, and the Washington Monument grounds, with most festival events staged around those sites.
Access: Walking the basin is free and needs no ticket. Most festival events are free, with a few ticketed performances and the parade sold separately. No 2027 ticketing detail beyond the published festival window was verified.
02 · Plan the visit
The organiser recommends Metrorail and Metrobus as the best way to reach the Tidal Basin, and the Smithsonian and L'Enfant Plaza stations are the usual approaches. The festival runs 20 March–11 April 2027 and is subject to change. Bloom timing is separate: the average peak is 3 April, and the park service says an accurate prediction is not possible much more than ten days ahead.
03 · Location
The US capital is organised around the National Mall and the Tidal Basin, with the Potomac shoreline and the monument grounds framing the blossom sites.
The airports serving Washington, DC and its region:
Connections, terminals and transfer arrangements change — confirm them with the airline and the organiser rather than planning around a fixed transfer time.
The Tidal Basin and West Potomac Park, Hains Point and East Potomac Park, and the Washington Monument grounds, with most festival events staged around those sites.
The catalogue marker shows Washington DC, United States at city or region level only — it is not an entrance, a gate, a course or a transfer route. For the event’s position among its category peers, open the Cherry blossom overview and map.
04 · Overview
The National Cherry Blossom Festival, a four-week programme in Washington DC around the bloom of the Japanese cherry trees along the Tidal Basin, with a parade, a kite festival, a Japanese street festival and daily events. The trees ring the basin between the Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument, and the walk around the water is the main viewing route.
The trees are a diplomatic gift — 3,020 were sent from Tokyo in 1912 — and the annual festival commemorates it, which is why the event carries a Japanese cultural programme alongside the bloom. The Tidal Basin bloom is the city's biggest tourist season, and the trees themselves are a managed collection, pruned, replaced and inventoried by the National Park Service.
The first trees arrived in 1910 but were diseased and burned; the successful shipment of 3,020 trees arrived in March 1912 and was planted by First Lady Helen Taft and the Japanese ambassador's wife. The festival began in 1935 and has run annually since, apart from a wartime pause, and the peak bloom forecast is now issued by the National Park Service each March.
| Trees planted | 1912, a gift from Tokyo |
|---|---|
| Festival since | 1935 |
| 2027 dates | 20 March–11 April |
| Bloom forecast | Issued by the National Park Service |
| Main route | Tidal Basin walk |
05 · Research & credits
Evidence and event information reviewed 2026-10-31. Published edition facts are separated from typical timing and historical context.
No affiliate links. This guide is for travel planning, not a guarantee of entry or event conditions.
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