Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival

By Jason Willis

Jinhae, South Korea hosts the largest annual Cherry Blossom Festival in Korea. The festival lasts ten days, and during that time, up to two million people visit the city. Last year, my wife and I decided to go and add two more to the mix.

Jinhae is currently home to the only U.S. naval base in South Korea. In the past it was home to the Imperial Navy throughout the Japanese occupation. It was during that time that numerous cherry trees were planted across the city. Estimations suggest that there are roughly 340,000 trees lining city streets and surrounding mountains. Although the trees were widely planted by the Japanese, they were later traced back to Jeju Island.

Luckily, we planned ahead and purchased bus tickets in advance. We heard, after the fact, that buses were full, and people were turned away without seats. From Gwangju, we first traveled to Masan and then caught another bus into Jinhae. The trip should have taken four-and-a-half hours, but with the heavy festival traffic, it took over five. As we entered Jinhae, we instantly saw the festivities taking place.

We knew with the forecasted rain that we had limited time to see as much as possible. We made the right call to immediately visit the hilltop Jaehwangsan Park. At the center of the park sits the nine-story Jinhae Tower. Since that is the best view of the city and the sea, we wanted to make it there before the clouds rolled in.

There are exactly 365 steps leading to the base of the tower. The stairs allow people time to reflect on the past year, take selfies or pose with the decorations set-up along the way. For those unable to tackle the stairs, there is also a monorail leading to the top of the park.
Once you make it to the tower, nine more flights of stairs must be ascended. Or, again, if you are not up for walking the stairs, you can wait in line for the elevator. After the 365 steps to the tower, we opted for the time-saving, additional short climb to the top. What a beautiful view! It is hard to beat a city scene that includes the sea, mountains and cherry blossoms at their peak.

We had a route mapped out, but we changed it due to the impending weather. We decided to visit our next must-see location, the Yeojwacheon Stream.

The Yeojwacheon Stream is lined with cherry trees and boardwalks on both sides with little footbridges crossing every hundred meters or so. Vendors line the boardwalks selling different types of food and art. These areas were very crowded and full of tourists, so we took stairs downward to the stream. There were still plenty of festival goers, but we did not have to fight our way through hordes of people.

There were different decorations along the length of the stream. Our favorite was the umbrella display.

Then it was on to the famous Gyeonghwa Station. That is when the monsoon rolled in. It started pouring cats and dogs! During full bloom, small gusts of wind made petals rain down and swirl in the streets like swirling snowflakes. Or, in our case — during heavy rain — falling raindrops made the petals plunge rapidly and cover everything in sight!

We opted to skip the station and head back to the festival center. There, we found shelter at a food vendor and enjoyed some delicious pork barbecue. Just moments before, the pig had been roasting on a spit over an open flame.

The clouds darkened the sky, and it continued to rain. We decided we had seen enough and made our way to the bus station. We did not make it to Gyeonghwa Station or Anmin Hill, but we had a great time. My advice is to go at least once. Plan ahead, map a route, but be prepared to adapt and brave the unexpected.

We made it home with a bundle of memories. The only thing I would do differently, if we made a return trip, would be to take a snorkel and floaties.