5 Tips for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Cherry Blossom Festival

If you’re heading out to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Sakura Matsuri Cherry Blossom Festival, here are some tips to may your trip as enjoyable as possible:

1. Buy your tickets online. Doing so will allow you to skip long entry lines, which can last more than an hour. Buy tickets here. Members also get in free and can be purchased here. In either case, you’ll need to print out the tickets/e-mail confirmation to bring with you. There area also membership table near the BBG’s entrances where you can sign up last-minute.

2. Come early. According to organizers, the least crowded time is Sunday morning. The garden opens at 10. 

3. Do not drive. Streets around the garden are full of traffic and the wait to get into the garden’s small parking lot is usually quite long. Street parking is hard to find. If you are coming from outside of NYC, park a 1/2 mile or so away and either take the subway or walk there. The Q, 2/3/4/5 and Franklin Avenue Shuttle all stop nearby. Travel directions and subway and bus information. 

4. Eat before you go. You can buy Japanese food under the tent in the Cherry Esplanade and American food at the Terrace Cafe, next to the Steinhardt Conservatory, but lines are usually long there, too, and the costs add up quickly. You’re not allowed to picnic in the garden so best just to eat beforehand. 

5. Plan your visit. There are more than 60 events in three separate areas, so take a look at the schedule before you go so you don’t miss something of particular interest to you.

See Also:

Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Cherry Blossom Festival Begins