Watch my video here: https://youtu.be/fLVDPqwmTEQ
The Japanese Cherry Blossom park in Amstelveen is a beautiful unique park in the Netherlands, located in the Amsterdamse Bos. What makes this park so special is, that there are four hundred Japanese Cherry Blossom trees, which you will not see anywhere else in the Netherlands.
In the Japanese Cherry Blossom park there is also a memorial tablet, in memory of the victims of the earthquake and tsunami, that hit Japan in March 2011.
In October 2000, the Japanese Women’s Club (JWC) in Amstelveen donated the four hundred Japanese Cherry Blossom trees to the Dutch population, on the occasion of the four hundred years of relations between Japan and the Netherlands. Since then, every year around the end of March, the Hanami Matsuri (Cherry Blossom Festival) is celebrated in the Japanese Cherry Blossom park in Amstelveen.
The Hanami Matsuri is a centuries old traditional Japanese festival, where the Japanese people celebrate the arrival of spring. The people are enjoying a picnic with family and friends, sitting under the Cherry Blossom tree, while admiring the delicate pink flowers blooming.
Spring is the best time to admire the Japanese Cherry Blossoms, as the blossoms are in full bloom. The Cherry Blossom trees only bloom for a very short period of time, more or less for two weeks, depending on the weather. In bad weather conditions, such as wind and rain, the flowering period will be shorter compared to mild Spring weather without wind.
In the Netherlands, the Cherry Blossom season starts around the end of March, beginning of April. The blooming time varies from year to year, so you have to keep an eye on it, to be sure you won’t miss it!
I still remember two years ago, at the end of April 2019, I went with my friend to admire the Cherry Blossoms in Amstelveen. When we arrived at the Japanese Cherry Blossom park, after a long trip to this location, while full of hope and excitement, there was not one Cherry Blossom left on the trees.
Last year we were not able to visit the Japanese Cherry Blossom park due to Covid-19. This year it would be a totally different story. We’ve been to the Japanese Cherry Blossom park three times! At the beginning, the middle and the end of the two-week flowering period. The second time we came it was mind blowing. I will tell you why.
The first time we visited the Japanese Cherry Blossom park, it was on the 28th of March 2021 around midday. It was raining that day, but that was good news for us, because we thought it would probably be not that crowded on a rainy day. The Japanese Cherry Blossom park attracts a lot of visitors during the blooming season.
We were walking on a path in the Amsterdamse bos towards the entrance of the Japanese Cherry Blossom park and from a far distance we could see through the woods, a sea of pink flowers on top of the four hundred Cherry Blossom trees. We knew we were on time!
When we arrived at the Japanese Cherry Blossom park and saw all those pink Cherry Blossoms, it was amazing. Even though the flowers were just blooming, and only some of them were widely open, we were still in awe by the sight of it. Did the rain keep the crowd away? Not at all! It was still crowded. Who doesn’t want to see these beautiful flowering Cherry Blossoms? But we enjoyed our time there and we could still make some beautiful pictures for our photo shoot.
One week later, for the second time we visited the Japanese Cherry Blossom park. It was on the 5th of April 2021, this time early in the morning around 8.30 a.m. We had to wake up early for the trip, but it was so worth it. This time at the day, no crowd at all, but the view though!
The Japanese Cherry Blossom trees looked incredibly beautiful. They looked so much different than the first time that we came. All the Cherry Blossoms were open and in full bloom, it looked like a sea of white blossoms and all the trees were filled with it. What an amazing sight!
When flower blossoms are on their peak of blooming, all the energy of the trees are concentrated in the blossoms. It looks like the blossoms are glowing with a radiating aura spread around them. This was exactly that moment when we saw it.
The wind was blowing and because of that, there were tiny white Cherry Blossom leaves everywhere; on the trees, in the air and the grass was filled with white blossom leaves like snow.
As cherry on the cake it started to snow. Snow in April! Cherry Blossoms and snow! How often does that happen? It was mind blowing.
A snow storm at the Japanese Cherry Blossom park.
Being there at the right moment at the right time. Such a unique moment captured. The white Cherry Blossoms leaves dancing in the air, spread by the wind, combined with white snow flakes, twirling around, it looked like a miracle. It made me dance myself. I felt so happy at that time. Gosh, what an experience. The photo shoot went amazing.
The third time we visited the Japanese Cherry Blossom park was on the 10th of April 2021, almost the end of the season. This is probably the best time to come if you want to make a photo shoot on a more quiet day. People probably think that the season is over, so it wasn’t that crowded anymore and the Cherry Blossom trees still looked like the day they were in full bloom.
When you have the chance, it is definitely worth it to visit the Japanese Cherry Blossom park in Amstelveen.
You can watch my video, where you can see the first and the second day of our visit at the Japanese Cherry Blossom park in Amstelveen.
Our dream is, to visit the Cherry Blossoms in Japan next time, and celebrate the Hanami Matsuri in Japan!
