Cherry Blossoms in Taipei
When the spring comes, Taipei will definitely be an ideal destination for appreciating the beauty and colors of flowers. Among them, cherry blossoms must be the most mentioned and the most favored. Probably inherited from the Japanese era, Taiwan is one of the countries you can easily find a wide varieties of Japanese flowering cherry trees along side the endemic Formosa cherry, which has delicate size of flowers in pink or dark pink color. Yangminshan National Park especially boasts its vast areas of flowers, including the city flower of azaleas. What you don’t know is that the National Park also displays a plethora of cherry blossoms, especially the Yangming Park, which is accessible by bus services and within easy walking distances.
Yangmingshan National Park
Yangmingshan National Park is the third national park established in Taiwan and the most accessible national park close to any big metropolis. Built in 1985, it is famous for thermal activities and volcanic vegetation – sometimes for snow when the winter is really cold.
Originally known as “grass mountain” among locals, the national park later takes on the name of a great philosopher, politician, and general Yangming Wang of the Ming dynasty of China because Generalismo Chiang is in favor of his school of thought. There’s a big park at the altitude of around 400-500 meters above sea level named after him. And, this is the highlight of the annual flowering season, during which the camellia blooms first, followed by Formosan cherries, azalea, and Japanese flowering cherries.
Yangming Park
With an elevation of around 450 meters, the Yangming Park perches at the bottom of the highest mountain of Taipei City – Mt. Qixing, or “seven star mountain.” It’s a huge gentle slope stretching for more than 100 hectares. The roads and paths have been beautifully dotted with azalea bushes and cherry trees. From January to early April, depending on the climate of that year, cherry blossoms in bloom spreading from the roadside into the park, and even remote corners in the woods. This is where most Taipei residents can come to mind if they want to expose themselves in the sea of pink color. Flowering cherries have many varieties and hybrids.
When the weather gets warmer, the Formosan cherry will come into bloom first with its dark pink clusters of delicate petals. Double-flowered varieties can also be seen right here. As time goes by, the Japanese flowering cherries in full bloom can be viewed around March, especially surrounding the Yangming Park Visitor Service Center.
Other Places Nearby to Find Flowers
Yangming Park has been served as the main venue of each year’s Yangmingshan Flower Festival. With most of the flowers are to be viewed here, the Second Parking Lot to the west of the national park headquarters is also a highlighted area during the flowering season. Though most of the azalea and camellia flowers can be seen further to the west of the huge parking space, some of the best cherry trees in full bloom are dotted alongside the parking lanes. As soon as you park your cars here, you don’t even have to walk to be completely enclosed in lines of amazing grace of cherry blossoms.
Most visitors find extremely limited parking space at Yangming Park, which can be only served by shuttle buses during the flower festival season. So, if you drive up the miuntains, the Second Parking Lot is actually a better solution for you, let alone it’s also serviced by frequent shuttle buses during the festival. What’s more, if you start from here, you can walk down the hills on well-paved paths to the lower elevation Yangming Park, where you can take the shuttle bus back to where you begin or travel straight down to city center.
Tamsui Wuji Tianyuan Temple
In the outskirts of Taipei, there’s another popular destination for viewing the cherry blossoms. Less than one hour’s travel from downtown Taipei, you’ll get to the northwestern ridge of Mt. Datun, which is one of the major volcanos in Yamgmingshan National Park. The establishment of Tianyuan Temple can be traced back to 1970s though the main temple was built in 1985. Located at the foothills of the volcanic group of mountains in the Yangmingshan National Park, it faces the scenic north coast with the lush green mountains behind.
The temple authorities have planted a wide range of flowering cherries and its flowering season lasts from January to April, which is quite a long span for flower lovers. In the “back mountain garden”, the cherry trees bloom from January to February, followed by the tender pink Yoshino cherries from March to April. Photographers and instagram celebrities alike love to take pictures in front the cherry trees against another landmark – the Temple of Heaven.
It even opens during the night with sufficient lighting shining on the radiant cherry blossoms. The temple followers worship the Heavenly Mater here but the tourists adore the enchanting cherry blossoms, which are their truly queens in spring. Shuttle buses are available from MRT Tamsui Station during the flowering season, and riding a YouBike from Danhai Light Rail’s Danjin Beixin Station (V05) can also be an option especially when you visit during weekends –parking space is scarce when the flowers bloom!
Zhongji Park of Zhongshan District
Cherry blossoms are no privileges of tourist attractions. In many parks of residential Taipei City, cherry trees seem to be quite ubiquitous in living quarters. Let’s take the Zhongji Park of Zhongshan District, Taipei City, for example. The borough chief of Zhongji Borough has put in a great deal of effort to renovate the parks under his jurisdiction and planted lots of cherry trees, primarily Formosan cherries and Yoshino cherries.
Each spring, passers-by are constantly drawn to stop and appreciate the tranquil beauty of clusters of cherry blossoms. The one-third-hectare little park is comparable with some famous flower viewing spots in the city when it comes to the density of the pink color. For those who need a break from the hustle and bustle of their daily lives or office workers who want to take a calming lunch break from piles of dossiers, a park like this in the neighborhood will be an easy getaway from urban living.
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
I’ve mentioned well-known attractions a bit outside downtown Taipei and small parks we can find within minutes of walk in the neighborhood, but it appears that we forgot the landmark attractions like Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. It’s been included in 99% of tour programs and visitor go there to be amazed by the grandeur of the main hall and the imposing changing ceremony of honor guards.
What you don’t know is that the whole complex is carefully designed to represent the three colorings of Taiwan’s national flag and is exquisitely surrounded by manicured picturesque gardens. The flowering cherry tree seems to be one of the must chosen plants to be added to make the lush green patches more colorful and the boulevards and plazas in the compound have been offering tourists great opportunities to view cherry blossoms when their time is too scarce to travel long to the mountains. The memorial hall is not just a cradle of Taiwan’s democracy or an icon of the authoritarian past; instead, it offers you a more convenient option when you visit in spring and don’t bother to travel far.
Visitor Information
Opening hours
If you come in spring and plan to make viewing cherry blossoms a must-have in your itinerary, don’t forget that most of the popular attractions like Yangmingshan National Park will have traffic control, especially during the flower festival season. This is actually a blessing rather than a pain in the neck because the central and local governments will generously offer more shuttle bus services at a reasonable cost, saving also lots of time. Viewing flowers is mainly a daytime thing unless you want to visit places like Tianyuan Temple, which offers visitors a romantic chance to see the cherry blossoms at night. Most of the little parks in the residential areas of greater Taipei will have suffient lighting at night, especially those planted with rows of flowering cherry trees.
How to get there?
Yangmingshan National Park is accessible by public transport, such as bus service No. 260 from Taipei Main Station or Red 5 from MRT Jiantan Station. As soon as you get to the terminus station, transfer to bus service No. 108 or flower festival shuttle bus services running between flower viewing spots in the Park. As for Tamsui’s Tianyuan Temple, you can either change to bus services of No. 866, 875, 876, and 877 from MRT Tamsui Sation or connect to Danhai Light Rail before using the flower shuttle bus services – or simply hop on a YouBike!
Useful Tips While Visiting
Too hot in summer?
Spring time is indeed the best season to visit Taiwan even though not for the cherry blossoms. The climate is cool and mostly sunny, without the burning heat of the sun.
Feeling hungry?
If you plan to go to Yangmingshan National Park or Tianyuan Temple, you can only find small food stalls by the parking lot or near the bus stations. The tour, however, can be done in half a day or, to the most, a full day. You can still wait until you go back to civilization for more sumptuous meal options.
Extra information
The award-winning travel agent Edison Tours, which is based in Taipei, offers a seasonal tour product Taipei Cherry Blossom Day Tour from February to the end of March annually. This is absolutely an ideal option if you simply want to view cherry blossoms in the vicinity of greater Taipei. You can also sign up for tour products like Beitou and Yangmingshan Day Tour, as well as Classic Taipei Landmark Day Tour or Taipei City Tour with National Palace Museum Ticket for just a short visit at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.
