How to Spend a Perfect Day Seeing the Cherry Blossoms in Washington, DC

The weather where I live in New York City has been all over the place these past few weeks, but down in Washington D.C., the nation's capital is rapidly approaching peak cherry blossom season. While reporting out the guide below, I learned that the best place to see the trees isn't actually the Tidal Basin (which is typically very crowded), but off the beaten path at the National Arboretum.

—Emily Burack, Deputy Digital Editor

How to Spend a Perfect Day Seeing the Cherry Blossoms in Washington, DC

There's no better time to visit Washington, DC than in the spring when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom.

"When you are thinking about coming to the nation's capital, the spring is one of the best times to come," Elliott Ferguson, the president and CEO of Destination DC, tells T&C. "Clearly, the weather is amazing. You enjoy the extra hours of sunlight during the day. The icing on the cake is the fact that the cherry blossoms are in bloom, and the National Cherry Blossom Festival is ongoing. You absolutely want to be in town during some variation of the blooming of the trees."

Every year, about 1.5 million attendees take in the National Cherry Blossom Festival, an event which extends over a four week period. "There is truly something fun for everyone—if you're an individual, a couple, a family, a group," Diana Mayhew, the president of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, says.