Last weekend I went with my friends to Jinhae for the cherry blossom festival. There was just over 30 of us, so we rented a bus to get there. It takes roughly 3 hours if the traffic is good. Typically during the festival it can take much longer to get there (maybe twice as long when it’s really bad), but because we were in a bus we got to drive in the bus lane.
We lucked out too since it was a bit cold the previous week, so we weren’t sure if the blossoms would be open. However, it was a clear sunny day. It was also quite crowded. If you aren’t a fan of big crowds this might not be the event for you.
We didn’t really see any performances or events even though it was the 50th anniversary. Our timing was kind of bad I guess. I heard SHINee performed the weekend before for the opening of the festival. But there’s still enough to see and it’s pretty good exercise — I wouldn’t recommend driving anywhere once you get there. What should have been a 3- 5 minute drive took maybe 20+ minutes. We ended up walking all day which was fine because of the weather.
There’s plenty of food to eat. You can sit down in one of the big tents if you feel like it or find a restaurant. If you aren’t too picky I’d just stick with street food. It’s fast and easy and there’s no wait. I don’t recommend any of the coconut stands though. I bought one for the fun of it, but the milk (water?) was kind of sour. Definitely not fresh.
Basically, it was very lovely, good exercise, and fun. You need plenty of patience, but it can be worth it. I probably won’t go back next year since we experienced it already. I hear there’s more festivals much closer to home (i.e. in Daejeon) so I’ll look forward to that.
Oh Happy Dae! 