With the weather warming up and Tokyo’s sakura season just around the corner, now is the time to start making your cherry blossom plans. You can find plenty of sakura events and superb hanami (flower viewing) locations around the city to enjoy the warm weather while marvelling at the pink blossoms. But another great way to see these springtime flowers is by taking a tour along Tokyo's cherry blossom-lined roads and rivers.
For a whirlwind tour of the capital’s best sakura spots, you can hop aboard the double-decker Sky Bus for an open-air cherry blossom adventure from March 20 to April 7. Departing from Tokyo Station, the bus follows a special spring route that takes you around the Imperial Palace, Chidorigafuchi-National Diet Building, Tokyo Midtown and Tokyo Tower before heading back towards the station.
The tour takes roughly one hour and runs between 10.15am and 6.15pm daily. If you'd like to catch the blossoms during the evening, there are yozakura (evening sakura) tours from 5.30pm.
If you’d prefer to leave the streets and cruise Tokyo’s waterways, you can also take a cherry blossom cruise on the open-air Sky Duck water bus from March 25 to April 5, which takes you past Kinshi Park and Sarue Park for riverside sakura views. It operates three times a day at 10am, 1.30pm and 3.40pm daily (except on March 30). For those of you in Yokohama, the Sky Duck is also operating sakura tours around the Minato Mirai area.
Tours on the Sky Bus are ¥2,100 per person (¥1,000 per child) and you can book them online here. The Sky Duck tour is ¥2,900 per person (¥1,400 per child) during March and an additional ¥100 in April. Tickets are available online here.
This article was originally published on March 26 2021 and updated on March 6 2023.
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