You don’t need to fly all the way to Japan to see the stunning sakura; right here in Sydney the beautiful, pink blooms spring to life each August. You just need to know where to look for them.
Whether you’re in the city, the Inner West or the West, there’s four spots scattered around Sydney where you can see them. They’re pretty accessible by public transport, too.
We’ve made the pilgrimage to Japan’s stunning urban gardens, and, we admit, some of these spots sure do compete. Some enough to make an entire festival around the blushing flowers.
4 places to see cherry blossoms bloom in Sydney
Auburn Botanic Gardens
Where is it? Corner of Chisholm Road and Chiswick Road, Auburn
Getting there: You can take a train from Central Station to Auburn Station (T2), and then the 909 bus to the gardens.
Entry fee: $17.65 for adults or $9.60 for children who are non-Cumberland Council residents during the Cherry Blossom Festival. (Cumberland residents need tickets during the festival, but they are free.)
Each August, the Cherry Blossom Festival takes over Auburn Botanic Gardens where more than 200 trees bloom bright pink for a few weeks every year.
It’s the place to see cherry blossom trees in Sydney is also the busiest and the most expensive. But, we admit, it’s also the most beautiful. During the height of cherry blossom season, you do need to book a ticket to enter the park, but there is a whole festival around it where food stalls, entertainment and events will be taking place.
✅ We’ve been here!
Wistaria Gardens in Parramatta Park
Where is it? Parramatta Park, North Parramatta, 1 Hainsworth St, Westmead NSW 2145
Getting there: You can take a train from Central Station to Westmead and from there it’s about a 15-20 minute walk. You can also drive and parking is $3 per hour in the park. (We drove and parked across the street from the park where it’s free for two hours.)
Entry fee: Free
At the top end of Parramatta Park, Wistaria Gardens is tucked between a bend of the Parramatta River and Cumberland Hospital. The perfectly manicured gardens are a magical place for a riverside picnic surrounded by blooms.
Throughour the two-hectare garden, you’ll find beautiful blooms each spring, including cherry blossoms, almond trees, flowering peaches and both Japanese and Chinese wisteria.
✅ We’ve been here!
We visited during the last weekend in August and, unfortunately, found literally two cherry blossom flowers on a tree. We’re not sure if this was just a late blooming year or if Wistaria tends to bloom a bit later than some of the others. Either way, the grounds themself were lovely and connected to the much larger Parramatta Park. But before making the trek out there it may be worth checking if the trees are blooming.
Marrickville
Where is it? Sydney’s Inner West
Getting there: Until the metro line opens, you’ll need to either drive or take a bus to Marrickville. From the city, you can take one of the shuttle buses, the 423 or 426.
Entry fee: Free as they’re just on the city streets
Sure, it’s not as well manicured or landscaped as the gardens listed above, but Marrickville’s streets actually have plenty of cherry blossom trees.
It’s something we loved seeing at the end of each winter when we lived in the area. A few spots where you can see them include on Marrickville Road near Livingstone Road and at Arthur Street and Illawarra Road, across from the station.
✅ We’ve been here!
Royal Botanic Gardens (Lotus Pond)
Where is it? Mrs Macquaries Road, Sydney CBD.
Getting there: You can take a train to Circular Quay, or multile buses to the city.
Entry fee: Free
Having been through Royal Botanic Gardens hundreds of times, we have no idea how we missed the fact that there are cherry blossoms here. We admit we’re yet to see them ourselves, but according to the gardens themselves from late July you’ll be able to see Millennium Cherry trees blooming along the path to the left of Lotus Pond.
More fucshia than pale pink in colour, these trees were actually bred locally as hybrids of Wild Cherry and Taiwanese Cherry trees to be better suited for the climate.
🔜 While we’ve been to the Royal Botanic Gardens plenty of times, we haven’t seen these trees when they’re in bloom!
When to see cherry blossoms in Sydney
Being the opposite hemisphere to Japan, our cherry blossom trees bloom from August rather than March as this is our spring.
Buds and blossoms tend to appear in late-August, but depending on how the weather has been earlier in the year, it can be a bit earlier or later.
If you’re heading to Auburn Botanic Gardens, the cherry blossom festival dates are a good way to gauge whether the trees are in bloom. In 2026 it ran from 22-30 August. (But, that’s not to say there won’t be anything to see a bit before or after.)
