Shanghai opens its big cherry blossom festival

Spring in Asia is cherry-blossom season. Many think of Japan first, but you can see thousands of pink trees elsewhere too. On 9 March, Shanghai's big cherry blossom festival opened and runs for almost a month, until early April. The main venue is Gucun Park (顾村公园), with more than 16,000 cherry trees that turn the park into a vast pink garden during the bloom — avenues drown in flowers and form long tunnels of petals, one of the most photogenic spots of the city's spring. The festival is more than strolls under the blossoms: food courts, concerts, an evening fair, and even a robot carnival, with special lighting after dark. 🎟 Park entry is about 20 yuan (~230 ₽). It's outside the city centre but easy to reach by metro to Gucun Park station. Blossoms also appear at North Bund, Lu Xun Park, Century Park and the botanical gardens. So if you've dreamed of seeing cherry blossom, you don't have to go to Japan — in spring Shanghai becomes a city of flowering gardens. 🌸✈️