The first cherry blossoms I saw in Taiwan weren’t at any of the famous spots. They were on a random side street in Shilin, just past a 7-Eleven, growing over someone’s wall. That was mid-January. By the time the official season starts in February, you’ve already been catching glimpses for weeks — a pink branch here, a cluster there — and then suddenly the whole island is in bloom.
The Mountain That Turns Pink Before Breakfast
Yangmingshan is where most Taipei residents go, and for good reason: you can be standing under cherry trees within forty minutes of leaving Taipei Main Station. The 2026 Yangmingshan Flower Festival runs February 6 to March 15, which is generous — the actual cherry peak depends on which variety you’re after.
The Taiwan cherry (Prunus campanulata) goes first, deep magenta-pink, usually hitting full bloom in early February. Then the Showa cherry takes over around mid-February, lighter and more delicate. Yoshino cherry — the pale, almost-white variety that Japan is famous for — doesn’t really peak here until early March.
The Flower Clock area gets the most attention, but if you keep walking past the crowds toward Zhuzihu, things thin out. Pingjing Street Lane 42, technically just outside the park boundary, has become Instagram-famous in recent years — a narrow lane with cherry trees arching overhead. It’s genuinely beautiful but also genuinely packed on weekends. Go on a Tuesday morning if you can.
One thing the guides don’t mention: during flower festival weekends, Yangde Boulevard is traffic-controlled from 7 AM to 4 PM going up, 2 PM to 6 PM going down. Buses 124, 130, and 131 run special flower-season routes. If you’re driving, just don’t. The mountain roads become a parking lot by 9 AM.
Wuling’s Seventeen-Day Window
Wuling Farm sits at 1,740 meters in Taichung’s Heping District, and its cherry avenue is the one you’ve seen on every Taiwan travel poster — thousands of trees lining the main road, branches meeting overhead to form a tunnel of pink. The variety here is called Hong Fen Jia Ren (紅粉佳人), a hybrid bred specifically for Wuling. The color is more saturated than Yoshino, a warm rose-pink that photographs absurdly well.
The 2026 season runs February 13 to March 1 — just seventeen days. During this window, private vehicles are banned from the farm entirely. You either need to have booked on-farm accommodation (which sells out months ahead, sometimes within hours of opening) or take the dedicated cherry blossom shuttle buses that run from Taipei, Yilan, and Taichung.
This is where planning matters. The shuttle reservations also go fast. If you’re visiting Taiwan specifically for cherry blossoms and Wuling is your priority, start checking booking dates in November. I’ve heard of people setting alarms for the exact minute reservations open.
The weather up here is a different story from Taipei. Mornings can drop to 5°C or lower even in late February. Bring proper layers, not just a light jacket.
Alishan Runs on a Different Clock
Alishan’s cherry blossoms peak roughly three weeks after Wuling’s, which means if you miss the northern season, you get a second chance. The 2026 Alishan Cherry Blossom Festival runs March 8 to April 6, with Yoshino cherry hitting full bloom around mid-to-late March.
The real draw here isn’t just the blossoms — it’s the combination. Alishan is famous for its sea of clouds, its sunrise from Zhushan, and its narrow-gauge forest railway. When the railway runs through blooming cherry trees with clouds rolling below, you get a scene that feels almost choreographed. It’s one of those things that’s become a cliché precisely because it delivers every time.
Getting to Alishan takes more effort. From Chiayi HSR or TRA station, the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle (台灣好行) takes about 2 to 2.5 hours winding up the mountain. During cherry season weekends, private cars are restricted — you’ll need to park at the 61K Leye service area on Provincial Highway 18 and transfer to shuttle buses (one-way ticket around NT$80).
Spots Nobody’s Fighting Over
Beyond the big three, Taiwan has cherry blossoms scattered across the island in places that don’t make the tour bus itineraries.
Tamsui Tianyuan Temple (天元宮) in New Taipei has a multi-tiered pagoda surrounded by Yoshino and tri-color cherry trees. It’s visually striking — the temple architecture against the blossoms — and far less controlled than Wuling. The trade-off is that it peaks later (late February into March) and the surrounding area is less scenic than a national park.
Sansheng Trail in Sanzhi follows a creek lined with cherry trees, mostly Yoshino, blooming around mid-March. It’s flat, easy walking — good if you’ve had enough of mountain climbing.
Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village (九族文化村) in Nantou does a cherry blossom festival with night illumination. It’s more theme park than nature experience, but the night-viewing with lit-up trees reflecting on the lake is worth seeing once.
The Parts That Aren’t Romantic
Let’s be honest about a few things. Taiwan’s cherry blossom season coincides with the tail end of winter rain. You’ll likely get at least one day of drizzle during a three-day trip. The upside is that rain-wet petals on the ground are genuinely photogenic, and misty cherry trees look better than harsh-sunlight cherry trees. But your feet will be wet.
Crowds at the major sites during weekends are serious. Not Japan-level, but enough to make photography difficult and trail walking slow. Weekday visits are dramatically better — if you have any flexibility, shift your schedule.
Mountain accommodation in cherry season operates on scarcity pricing. A room at Wuling that costs NT$3,000 in November might be NT$6,000 or more during the festival, assuming you can even book one. Alishan’s surrounding minsu (民宿) aren’t quite as extreme but still book up early.
And altitude: both Wuling and Alishan can trigger mild altitude discomfort in some people, especially if you’ve arrived from sea-level Taipei the same morning. Nothing dangerous, just headaches and fatigue. Take it easy on arrival.
What to Eat While the Flowers Are Out
Cherry blossom season overlaps with some of Taiwan’s best spring produce. Miaoli Dahu’s strawberry season runs through March — if you’re driving between Taipei and Wuling or Alishan, the strawberry farms along Provincial Highway 3 make a worthwhile stop. The berries are smaller and sweeter than what you’d find in a supermarket.
Mountain restaurants around Alishan and the broader Chiayi highlands start serving fresh bamboo shoots in spring — usually stir-fried or in soup. It’s one of those seasonal dishes that doesn’t travel well, so eating it at elevation is the point.
If you’re based in the Yangmingshan area, Beitou’s hot springs are right there. Soaking after a day of walking through blossoms is the kind of simple pleasure that makes Taiwan travel work so well. Most public hot spring houses charge NT$40-60 for a basic soak.
If you’re sorting out accommodation, Booking.com and Agoda both have decent coverage of Alishan-area minsu and Taipei hotels near Yangmingshan. For Wuling Farm itself, you generally need to book through the farm’s own website — third-party platforms don’t always have availability during the festival window.
Getting There Without the Headache
The simplest cherry blossom trip is Yangmingshan: MRT to Jiantan or Shilin, then a bus up the mountain. Half a day, no advance booking needed, back in Taipei for dinner.
Wuling requires more commitment. The easiest option if you don’t have accommodation is a day-trip shuttle — KKday sells packaged day trips that include transport and farm entry. It’s a long day (the drive from Taipei is about four hours each way) but it solves the vehicle ban problem.
Alishan is best as an overnight trip. Take the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle from Chiayi, spend a night on the mountain, catch both the cherry blossoms and the sunrise, then head down. If you’re flying into Taiwan specifically for this, Taoyuan Airport to Chiayi HSR is about 90 minutes by high-speed rail.
One more thing: Taiwan’s cherry blossom season is shorter than Japan’s, which is actually a selling point. The whole thing wraps up in about two months, the crowds are manageable by comparison, and you can see mountain cherry forests, coastal temple blossoms, and urban park flowers all within a single small island. Not bad for a country most people don’t even associate with sakura.
We grabbed coffee at the Wuling Farm convenience store on the way out. The cashier had a small branch of cherry blossoms in a plastic cup behind the register. Didn’t seem like decoration — more like someone just picked it up off the ground and didn’t want to throw it away.
