As signs of spring are starting to appear in Korea, I’ve been reflecting on weekend trips taken last year and starting to plan what I hope to do this spring. I’ve been revisiting photos of various getaways and one in particular that stands out was the weekend spent in a southern city of Korea, called Jinhae, for their famous cherry blossom festival.
After a long day of travel by subway, train, and bus we made it to Jinhae and were immediately greeted by streets lined with blossoming cherry trees. The Jinhae cherry blossom festival is one of the most well-known events in the country and attracts thousands of visitors each year. We started our afternoon at the festival walking through rows of tents set up as shops, game booths, and restaurants, before landing on one of the restaurant tents for a quick pig roast and makgolli lunch.
Once we had finished eating and walked through all of the tent lined streets, we started exploring to find the river we’d all spent the week dreaming about via Pinterest and Instagram. Seeing as there really were thousands of people at this festival it wasn’t terribly difficult to find. All we had to do was follow the masses in hopes of making our way to the front of the line to take a photo of the brightly colored river umbrellaed by blossoming pink and white trees.
We spent hours walking along the river and eventually made it to a coffee shop around dusk for a quick rest and caffeine fix. As the sun set we ventured back out into the crowds and found that the paths had been lit up by arches wrapped in white lights making the small town seem just a bit more magical.
Hours after arriving in Jinhae, when we had had our fill of the festival, we made our way back to the bus terminal. Our next stop for the weekend would be Busan. A coastal city in Korea that would be hosting the annual Holi Hai festival the following day.
bbm travels 