【France】The ultimate​ cherry blossom guide in Paris (With map) 🌸

Spring has become my favorite season in Paris. Printemps in French means Spring. It’s the start of a new year, after a few months of cold winter, suddenly everything comes to life. Flowers start popping up everywhere, all the grass and trees become a garden of lush green, it is a wonderful feeling. Last but not least, you get to see the wonderful sakura, cherry blossom everywhere around Paris. It’s unbelievable how often you can spot a cherry tree when you’re wandering around Paris!

In Japan, cherry trees are called sakura (桜/ 櫻/ さくら), so cherry trees and sakura means the same thing! The Time of cherry blossom is slightly different from year to year depending on the weather, it’s usually around March to April, and usually lasts around 2-3 weeks. Most sakura you can find here i of pink and white colors.

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Le printemps est la saison de l’amour.

Le printemps est la saison de l’amour. Spring is the season of love, because it’s just so romantic! Do you agree?

I’m so glad to be staying in Paris to witness the changes of sakura. From empty tree branches, and then flowers slowing popping up, into full blossom and then petals slowing falling off, and a few weeks later, all the flowers are gone, replaced by green and lively leaves. I’ve made some new friends who are also fond of cherry blossom, we went chasing cherry blossom and it was so much fun!

Here are the best places to see sakura in Paris:

1. Square Jean XXIII (Notre Dame)

This is definitely one of my favorite spots to see cherry blossom in Paris. It’s located right next to the famous Notre Dame. This little square is surrounded by sakura trees, and the best part is you can take photos with Notre Dame as background. Unfortunately, Notre Dame is on fire on 15 April 2019. I was fortunate to witness this unfortunate event up close, you can read about it and see the heartbreaking photos of Notre Dame on fire here.

P.S. Due to the fire, Notre Dame and surrounding area including Square Jean XXIII is closed for restoration until further notice.

READ: Heartbreaking photos of Notre Dame on fire on 15 April 2019 – and my witness story

2. Jardin des Plantes

I love the gardens in Paris! There are just so many gardens in Paris and they all have their own charms. Jardin means garden and plantes means plant in French, so very simple, jardin des plantes is Garden of plants. There is one big pink and one white sakura trees with castle-looking Gallery of Evolution as a background.

The pink sakura tree is one of the biggest you can find in Paris. The first time I went to this park, I didn’t know what to expect. It turns out I saw Kangaroos there, it was totally unexpected! I do not encourage any zoo as it is not where animals should belong to. There is a zoo, and 4 museums inside Jardin des Plantes, you can easily spend half a day there.

3. Jardins du Trocadéro

Trocadero is probably a must-visit place in Paris because you can find one of the best views of Eiffel tower there! After you walk down the stair in Trocadero square, you will find gardens on both sides, where you can just lay down or have a picnic. Sakura with Eiffel tower in the background? This is the best place to go.

During the sakura season, it’s also the strawberry season! You can find strawberry from different nearby countries in Paris, mostly from France, Spain, Belgium and The Netherlands. The Spanish ones are really cheap compared to the other ones, but after tasting all of them, I think I like the French ones the best and wouldn’t mind paying more than the Spanish ones! The French ones are much sweeter and softer than the Spanish ones. There are many different kind of strawberry, the gariguettes strawberry is the most popular ones you can find in the market in Paris.

4. Jardin des Combattants Espagnols de la Nueve (Hotel de ville)

This place is actually my first place to see cherry blossom in Paris! This little garden is located right next to Hotel de ville. It is only open on Saturday and Sunday so don’t go there on a weekday if you want to go inside! There were magnolia trees too but the flowers were pretty much gone when this photo was taken.

5. Square Gabriel Pierné

This cute little square in Saint-Germain-des-Prés (6eme) is called Square Gabriel Pierné, just a few minutes from Pont des Arts, which was the famous love locks bridge where 45 tonnes of love locks have been removed in 2015. In spring, this little garden is full of beautiful sakura. I am so happy to capture this when the sakura when it was in full blossom!

If you pay attention, you will see that I’m actually standing on a book-shaped bench. Such a lovely design!

6. Champs de Mars

Eiffel tower and cherry blossom? Again? Yes!

On the other side of Eiffel Tower, it’s champs de Mars, also a great place to have a picnic while enjoying the view of Eiffel Tower. Sakura trees are scattered around this area os you have to look for it!

There is one sakura tree really close to the Eiffel Tower which blossoms quite early in the season, it literally marks the start of the sakura season.

7. Square Marie Trintignant

Square Marie Trintignant in 4th arrodisment is a small park that probably doesn’t attract too much attraction…unless it’s springtime. But look at this Parisian lamp with cherry blossom as background, isn’t it very Parisian? When I was shooting there around noon, there were no other people at all! My friend Camela and I took our time to enjoy and take photos in this small but beautiful park. That is one thing I really like about Paris – you can still find peaceful and quiet places even in this busy city. There is a castle right next to this park, and it is great to use the castle as a background for the sakura!

8. Rue Carrier Belleuse

My sakura-chasing friend Camela found this hidden gem when she was taking the metro looking around! Located in the residential area of the 15th arrondissement, this place is quiet and not well known. The whole garden is made up of sakura trees!

9. Shakespeare bookstore

The Legendary Shakespeare bookstore is one of the most popular attractions in Paris. If you come to Paris in Spring, you might be lucky to see two beautiful sakura trees in blossom right in front of the bookstore. The Shakespeare bookstore is only 5 mins walk from Notre Dame. It probably is not the most beautiful bookstore in the world, but definitely one of the most charming ones. When you are there, don’t forget to check out the second level of the bookstore, you can get a pretty good view of Notre Dame.

10. Metro Falguiere

Metros in Paris are very iconic and photogenic! So I bought some baguettes and pretend I am Parisian. Actually have been living in Paris for 3 months, most people treat me liIke a local (well, I had been treated like a local most of the time when I travel except in Africa), people would ask me questions or direction in French. I would try my best to understand and to answer with my limited French.

11. Petit Palais

There is a sakura tree near the entrance of Petit Palais. You can also find sakura tree when you go inside the Petit Palais museum, the permenant exhibition is free. Don’t forgot to check out the beautiful golden gate of the entrance of Petit Palais and the most beautiful bridge in Paris (in my opinion) nearby – Pont Alexander III.

12. Place Franz-Liszt/ Church of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul

Not a usual place to see sakura but there are a few sakura trees! The sakura trees are right outside the entrance of the beautiful church, which make an amazing photo!

13. Parc de Sceaux

Last but not least – this is probably the most popular park to see sakura near Paris! Located around 40mins by train from the city center of Paris. Parc de Sceaux is so beautiful that many local Japanese will gather here and have a picnic together during the weekend. You have to come here early in the morning to avoid the crowd, it starts to get busy after 9 am. I like this park so much I have to write a blog post just about it – The most beautiful park to see cherry blossom in Paris – Parc de Sceaux .

Read: The most beautiful park to see cherry blossom in Paris

14. Somewhere in Paris??

Bonn in Germany? No.

I was thinking of going to Bonn to visit my friend and to see the famous sakura street. However my friends who are living in Bonn went to Oman when the sakura was in blossom. Fortunately thanks to @wonguy974 on instagram, he told me about this hidden gem. There is a street very similar to the one in Bonn, and it’s just near Paris! The whole street was full of sakura trees, it is so magical!

When I was shooting there, a resident came out of the building, and start talking to me, he told me the history of this street and that there is a hotel there. He was so nice and told me there is one more street nearby that is similar. The other street only has sakura trees on one side so it’s not as magical as this one. I have to say Parisian love to talk and they are usually very friendly!

15. Other places

There are really so many places to go to see cherry blossom in Paris but I didn’t have the time to visit all of them in just a few weeks’ time. Here is the list if you want to go explore on your own.

• Jardin du Luxembourg (Early in the season)
• Parc Martin Luther king (Early in the season)
• Parc Floral de Paris (Need to pay 2.5EUR entrance fee)
• Jardin Anne Frank
• Parc de Buttes-Chaumont
• Parc Monceau
• Metro Saint Paul
• Parc Montsouris
• Tino-Rossi Garden
• Musée Albert Kahn (With a Japanese bridge)
• Parc Georges Brassens
• Place de l’Iris La Défense
• Jardin Saint-Simonian
• Montmartre Cemetery

Paris cherry blossom locations map

I hope this map will help you plan your route to see magnificent cherry blossom in Paris! The flowers in red are the locations I had been to, which is point 1-13 in the above list, the rest of the locations are marked in blue flowers icon. You may click the top left button to navigate the whole list easily.

I am sure there are a lot more places to see cherry blossoms in Paris apart from this list. Please do let me know so I can add them in!

So after seeing all the sakura photos, are you planning to visit Paris during Spring? I would definitely recommend visiting Paris during the sakura season – not only you get the see beautiful cherry blossoms, but the temperature is also getting warmer and it is not as crowded as Summer when most people visit Paris.

Besides Paris, I have seen cherry blossom in Japan(Tokyo and Osaka), The Netherlands and Serbia. Where is your favorite place to see cherry blossom? Give me some inspiration! Would love to hear that!