Kyoto Nighttime Fireworks & Maruyama Park Cherry Blossoms Viewing Guide 2025

This cherry blossom season, you must visit Maruyama Park in Kyoto! You can even enjoy dining under the open sky beneath the cherry blossoms 🇯🇵—what a way to live!

⛩️ **Maruyama Park (円山公園)** 📍 **Location:** East of Yasaka Shrine. From Kyoto Station, take Bus 206 to "Kiyomizu-michi" and walk. Alternatively, get off at the subway station "Gion-Shijo," pass through Yasaka Shrine, and you’ll arrive—killing two birds with one stone. 🕙 **Open all day.** Illumination for night cherry blossoms is from sunset to 22:00. 💰 **Free admission.**

📸 **Photo Tips** Maruyama Park is home to a massive 200-year-old weeping cherry tree, known as the "Queen of Weeping Cherries" (scientific name: *Prunus pendula 'Hitoe-shira-higan'*). Its lush pink blossoms cascade like a waterfall. When the lights turn on at night, it looks like fireworks blooming in the sky ✨🎆. For portraits, stand beneath it and shoot upward—capturing both you and the cherry blossoms in the frame. Using flash enhances the effect!

🍱 **Dining Under the Cherry Blossoms Guide** 1️⃣ **Spot Selection:** Near the Gion weeping cherry tree, there’s an area with three food stalls operating during the cherry blossom season (mid-March to mid-April). Search for "Hanami Chaya Oto Wa" for the exact location. Traditional Japanese seating is available—perfect for eating and drinking under the blossoms.

Note: Besides food costs, there’s a ¥500 per person hourly seating fee. 2️⃣ **Food Recs:** The stalls offer a variety of snacks like yakitori, takoyaki, and sakura ice cream—it’s like a food street moved under the cherry trees 🤣. 3️⃣ **Seating Hack:** We arrived around 8 PM and found plenty of spots open.