Cherry Blossoms 2014

Hello,
my husband and I are scheduled to leave for Japan on March 27,2014 and return April 10. We will be in Osaka .. then move on to Kyoto, Hakone , Tokyo . Where will we most likely get a perfect viewing of Cherry Blossoms. ( This is in my bucket list :) )

Is this a good itinerary ?

Also we are planning to stay in a Ryokan, wioth private ONSEN and great Kaiseki ... could you recommend us to really good ones from places I mentioned above?

Hope you can help us.

Thank you.

I think it is the very best schedule for viewing cherry blossoms.
I'm living in Tokyo and there are many good places for cherry blossom viewing, but I think Kyoto is the best since the flowers look best on historical temples or shrines there.
Actually almost all temples and shrines has cherry blossoms in their site, so you don't have to find places for viewing cherry blossoms especially.

I don't know much about Ryokan, but ONSEN is better in Hakone than in others, I think.

Hakone can be the right place for onsen.

Below is one of the good ryokans in Hakone. It may cost you roughly $600-$1,000 per night for two if you choose a room with a roten (open air) bath.

http://senkyoro.co.jp/english/

Enjoy the onsen.


Cherry usually starts blooming end of March in Tokyo and lasts a week or so. Comes late a bit in Osaka... But it is hard to predict the good dates and places as it depends on the weather. You must keep watching, but for sure you will have a chance to view it somewhere during your trip.

Thank you to KKinJapan and JayKay for your quick replies.

Looking into Senkyoro now. Looks interesting.

One place I'd recommend is Shukugawa Park in Nishinomiya, very easy to reach from Osaka.

I tried to plan our cherry blossom 2013 viewing down to the smallest detail, and then they bloomed so much earlier this season than they ever did! So I ended up being a little late when I got to Hiroshima on April 3, and when I got to Tokyo on April 11, forget it. So I think your dates are very good, considering I was trying to play it on the late side for some reason. You will definitely be able to see them somewhere along the way, as I caught them in Hiroshima and Kyoto ... then there was a terrible storm on like April 6 of this year that blew them all away. But hey, Japan was still there and lovely as ever! Good luck, and enjoy!!

Every year Mother Nature is a little different. There is no way to give exact info on when the cherry blossoms will bloom next year. But as the time gets closer, you can see various forecasts and they are generally fairly accurate.
You might look at these as the time approaches:
http://www.rurubu.com/season/spring/sakura/
http://www.sakurazensen.com/
http://weathernews.jp/sakura/