Check out these bloomin’ brilliant spots to catch London’s cherry blossom season in 2026
For a few magical weeks each spring, London turns pink. Ornamental cherry trees burst into bloom in parks and suburban streets, carpeting the pavements with petals and sweetly scenting the air. Outshining the cheery daffodils, delicate bluebells and bright spring flowers, these extravagant pale-pink blooms are a real showstopper (and an unmissable photo op).
Think cherry blossom and you might imagine Japan's sakura season, where festivals celebrate these glorious trees. But ornamental cherry trees have been planted for centuries in the UK, too, bringing joyous pompoms of blossom to London's streets and parks as soon as the first warm days appear.
The pastel pink blooms tend to grace our parks from April, but in cooler years it might not come out until May, and in warmer years cherry blossom can be seen as early as mid-March.
You can find cherry blossoms in some of London’s best parks and lining pretty suburban streets. From the candyfloss arches of Greenwich Park, to the Cherry Walk in Kew Gardens, London folk are spoilt for choice. Get your camera at the ready and find out if one of these top places to see cherry blossoms in London is conveniently on your doorstep.
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Just beyond the cricket pitch in Greenwich Park is a road of bursting cherry trees that leads you straight to a Georgian villa called Ranger’s House. The tangled branches create a candyfloss arch that makes every pic look like the backdrop of a Lawrence Alma-Tadema painting. Careful not to slip on the magenta carpet of mushed petals.
Best for: sheer prettiness, combined with vistas over London
Park Row, SE10 8XJ
Walk through the Chester Road entrance and (if you’re lucky enough to catch them) you’ll find an avenue belted by tall white Sunset Boulevard-variety cherry blossoms. When the light hits, they’re all ‘Mr DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up’. For more cherry-chasing, hit the south end of Avenue Gardens, where a cluster of pink trees hang over the path like a big bubblegum cloud.
Best for: oh-so-glamorous white blooms
Chester Rd, NW1 4NR
The best way to see the ostentatious blooms of St James’s Park is to travel in full circle. At Storey’s Gate, you’ll meet a clique of eight or so pink trees; keep walking to the Buckingham Palace side to find elegant cherries leaning over the lake. They are among the first to flower most years, so go as soon as the season gets underway to see the petals before they fall.
Best for: blooms fit for a queen
Horse Guards Parade, SW1A 2BJ
It often gets overlooked in favour of the eight Royal Parks around the city, but Battersea Park has loads going for it, with Thamesside views, an art gallery and a zoo to discover around its 200 acres. And it also has a rather lovely Spring Tree Walk, where you can glimpse views of Battersea Power Station’s 100-metre-tall chimneys among the blushing pink petals.
Best for: gorgeous blooms with a modernist backdrop
Queenstown Rd, SW11 4NJ
London is full of places to see cherry blossom without opening your wallet. But seasoned botanists and bloom-fanciers will still be tempted to get a ticket to Kew Gardens, and the spectacular sights of the Cherry Walk. You'll find it starting at the Rose Garden at the back of Palm House, which is home to a graceful arc of Japanese cherries. Two parallel rows with 15 trees apiece form a blushing runway to Temperate House.
Best for: warming up in the greenhouse afterwards
Royal Botanic Gardens, TW9 3AB. £16-£24
How do you know it’s spring in London? When the pale rosy pom-poms on the tree outside St Paul’s Cathedral make an appearance. They popped early in previous years, so to be on the safe side visit soon if you’re after a petal-framed picture of the dome.
Best for: a spring sightseeing jaunt
St Paul's Churchyard, EC4M 8AD
West London is steeped in sakura during cherry-blossom season. Many of the fancy pastel homes of Notting Hill Gate are fronted by branches covered in flamingo florets. But you’ll get grumpy looks for draping yourself over the gable end of a mansion for photo ops. Instead, try Kensington Gardens. Start at Lancaster Gate where you’ll be greeted by blooms and walk to the Albert Memorial, which has six big, blowsy pink trees nearby.
Best for: an oh-so-refined spring stroll
Lancaster Gate, W2 2UH
The Kyoto Gardens in Holland Park was built to celebrate the Japan Festival held in London and across the UK in 1991. It’s home to koi carp, a little bridge at the foot of a waterfall and, you guessed it – cherry blossom. It’s no Hirosaki Park, but it’s a beautiful, unusually tranquil pocket of London that's always at its best in spring.
Best for: an authentically Japanese experience
Ilchester Place, W8 6LU
A line of skinny cherry trees point straight towards Ally Pally. It’s not the most abundant collection of blossoms in the city, but there are plenty of green patches where you can settle in for a hanami (flower viewing) picnic.
Best for: a good hike, with spectacular views over London
Alexandra Palace Way, N22 7AY
The arborealness of N8 is too often overlooked, but the area usually has some healthy blossoms to offer come April. Just around the corner from Hornsey Town Hall (and Flashback Records, fyi) is Cecile Park, a road lined with pink prunus ‘kanzan’. The billowing trees transform it into one of London’s prettiest streets.
Best for: marvelling at a classic Victorian suburban street at its very prettiest
Cecile Park, N89AS
London's newest major park sprung up in the aftermath of the Olympics. So its recently-planted blossom garden isn't the biggest or longest established in the city, but it's still well worth seeking out this collection of 33 trees (one for each London borough), which include native hawthorn and crab apple alongside cherry.
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