Cherry Blossom Festival Tours
OnBoard Washington DC Tours offers its DC The Blossoms! Cherry Blossom Festival tour from March 25 through April 13. The DC The Blossoms! Tour has five tour times per day and your choice of four starting locations (see below). Book this tour now, before it sells out.
Overview of the Cherry Blossom Festival
This year marks the 96th Annual Cherry Blossom Festival. The original trees were a gift to the United States by Japan in 1912. They were planted by First Lady Mrs. William Howard Taft and the Viscountess Chinda of Japan. More than 3,700 cherry trees of several varieties bloom in Washington DC. They are found around the Tidal Basin near the Jefferson Memorial, at East Potomac Park, and on the Washington Monument grounds. The DC The Blossoms! Tour will take you to all the best places to view and photograph the blossoms. Keep in mind, most tours will just leave you on your own, but OnBoard’s tour guides will walk you through the blossom areas, pointing out all the best vantage points and giving you the history of not only the cherry trees, but also the Washington DC monuments around the areas.
DC The Blossoms! Tour Schedule
OnBoard DC offers five tour times per day and four pickup locations to choose from. This tour runs from March 25 to April 13 in 2008. We pick up 3 times per day at the Old Post Office. Listed below are some hotel pickup times. If you are interested in hotel pickup at another hotel, please call or email us. Here is a schedule of the regular tour times and pickup locations for you to choose from (click on the link to buy tickets for that departure):
8:30am — Capitol Hilton — 1001 16th Street, NW
8:30am — Old Post Office — 12th Street & Pennsylvania Ave, NW
12pm — Old Post Office — 12th Street & Pennsylvania Ave, NW
12:30pm — Renaissance Mayflower Hotel — 1127 Connecticut Ave, NW
3:30pm — Old Post Office — 12th Street & Pennsylvania Ave, NW
4:20pm — Westin DC City Center — 1400 M Street, NW
Cherry Blossom Blooming Schedule
Rob DeFeo, chief horticulturist of the National Park Service, predicts peak bloom for the Yoshino cherry trees around the Tidal Basin and East Potomac Park to be March 27 - April 3, 2008. The “peak bloom” is defined as the period when 70% of the blooms are open. Because of this winter’s weather patterns, OnBoard believes that the blossoms will start opening on March 24. As a result, we will run our DC The Blossoms! Tour from March 25 through April 13. If you take the tour at the beginning or end of that period, you should expect to see fewer blooms, and you run the risk of there not being any blooms at all. Unfortunately, we cannot control mother nature, and sometimes she has her own plan that does not take into account the interests of DC visitors.
Fireworks Show
On April 5, a spectacular fireworks display will take place over the water at 8:30pm. The festivities start at 5:00pm with the prelude to the fireworks, including musical performances, kids craft activities, cuisine from local restaurants, and more. We suggest that you sign up for the DC The Lights! Tour on April 5th. In addition to seeing DC’s monuments lit up at night, our guide will take you to a strategic location to view the fireworks in the middle of the tour.
The Cherry Blossom Festival Parade
The Parade of the National Cherry Blossom Festival begins at 10am on Saturday, April 12. The Parade marches along historic Constitution Avenue between 7th and 17th Streets, NW. Tickets are $15 each, and may be purchased through Ticketmaster.
The parade is a wonderful event for children of all ages. It includes:
