The 7 best places to see cherry blossoms in Australia

This 9.2-hectare oasis of lush greenery is renowned for hosting one of NSW’s most Instagrammable events – the Sydney Cherry Blossom Festival. Running for one week in mid to late August each year, this pink-hued festival is all about celebrating Japanese traditions, music, pop culture and food, with visitors able to wander through fields of fluffy pink sakura blossoms in a traditional Japanese garden. If there’s ever a time for a trip to Auburn, this is it.

You can take in the magical sights of Japan just an hour’s drive from Melbourne CBD at the gorgeous CherryHill Orchards. Every spring, this Yarra Valley orchard hosts an enchanting Blossom Festival where you can wander through endless rows of flowering cherry blossoms, sip on cherry-based drinks, relax with high tea and enjoy family-friendly activities. It’s a dreamy day out in the countryside for the whole family, and will surely do wonders for the ’gram.

The hills come alive with the sweet smell of blossoms during S&R Orchard’s annual September Blossom Festival. Only a 30-minute drive from Perth CBD, the short but sweet festival invites visitors to wander through a breathtaking sea of cherry blossoms in full bloom. Pack a picnic basket and make a day of it, with family-friendly activities like tractor rides, an animal farm, a Ferris wheel, a bouncy castle and more than 20 food trucks.

Pack a picnic basket and enjoy a relaxing (and scenic) day out on one of the lawns at Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden. The 40-hectare garden is home to a colourful display of 15,000 rhododendrons, 12,000 azaleas, 3,000 camellias and 250,000 daffodils, plus thousands of cherry and other spring blossoms that burst to life in mid to late spring. You can enjoy a peaceful stroll down the avenue of ornamental flowering trees or hop aboard the Garden Explorer bus for a 25-minute guided shuttle tour of the gorgeous grounds.

Famed for hosting the largest Christmas light display in the Southern Hemisphere, this 14-hectare botanical wonderland is easily one of the most impressive in the country. With more than 6,000 trees and 600,000 shrubs spread across ten internationally themed gardens, you can rest assured cherry blossoms are on the seasonal roster (carefully tended to by a dedicated team of 40 gardeners). These delicate blossoms typically come into full bloom in late August, but can flower earlier depending on the weather. Follow the carpet of pretty pink petals through their Oriental Garden and pretend you're somewhere mysterious in Japan. 

Less than 90 minutes from Sydney CBD lies the breathtaking Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, which is completely free to wander around to your heart's content. Averaging altitudes about one kilometre above sea level, the gardens here allow cool-climate species, like cherry blossoms, to thrive. These pink-petaled beauties generally burst into full bloom from late August to early September, transforming the Ornamental Horticulture Garden into a dreamy floral wonderland. 

Much of this small Japanese-themed lakeside garden was gifted to Canberra by its sister city, Nara, in Japan. With grand wooden gates, an eight-metre-tall pagoda and traditional tōrō (Japanese stone lanterns), the Peace Park is a picture-perfect tribute to Japanese culture. Come spring, the sight of fluffy pink and white cherry blossoms – gifted by Japan’s prime minister in 1980 – makes it even easier to imagine you’ve touched down in the Land of the Rising Sun.