5 Tips for Visiting The Macon Cherry Blossom Festival

Did you know the Cherry Blossom Capitol of the World is located in the South? Yes, Macon, Georgia holds the title with having over 300,000 cherry trees! That’s more than Washington DC’s 3,800 trees and more than a few cities in Japan. The city celebrates the display every spring with their annual Macon Cherry Blossom Festival. AKA “The Pinkest Party on Earth!”

The festival is a 10 day event that spans two weekends at the end of March during the peak bloom season. There are all kinds of family friendly activities during the Macon Cherry Blossom Festival. Hot Air Balloons, carnival rides, a parade, nightly concerts and more to choose from.

Our Experience at The Macon Cherry Blossom Festival in 2022:

After being in Washington DC for their cherry blossoms, I had to go and check this out. I mean 300,000 cherry trees sounds amazing, right? Here’s the thing, it’s definitely NOT like DC. Washington DC’s trees are mostly grouped in only a few spots throughout the city. Macon’s Cherry Trees are spread out all over the city, so you don’t really get the same effect.

The timing may have impacted our experience as well. I dragged a friend with me to check this out during the last weekend of the Macon Cherry Blossom Festival, March 26th & 27th. After getting there, we heard from hotel staff that the drought really affected the trees this year. The cherry trees in the downtown area didn’t bloom or we missed it.

We did follow the city’s self driving tour and found some beautiful trees throughout the city. Some were in parks, but most seemed to be in neighborhoods on private homes. After experiencing this myself, I’ve got 5 tips to help you have a better time at the Macon Cherry Blossom Festival.

5 Tips For Visiting The Macon Cherry Blossom Festival:

1. Check The Status of The Cherry Blossoms

Scroll through the city’s social media and website to check the status of the blooms before visiting if this is important to you. The city has a live webcam a few weeks before the festival to show the status of the blooms. You can check out their website HERE.

2. Check The Schedule of The Macon Cherry Blossom Festival Events

Check the Macon Cherry Blossom Festival website for the schedule of events. There are dozens of events and some will be available every day while others are only offered once. You can check the website HERE.

3. Book Hotel Reservations Early

The best hotels will book up on the weekends of the festival, so book early to secure a room! We enjoyed our stay at Hotel Forty Five. Check out my hotel review HERE.

4. Check Out Other Sites in Macon

Macon, GA is a lovely place to visit for a weekend getaway. There are many historic places to visit, incredible restaurants and a cute downtown for shopping.

The Big House Museum

Have you heard of the Allman Brothers? They lived and practiced here! Every room shows a bit of the band’s history plus individual members. Having never heard of them, I ended up learning a bunch on the self guided tour of the house.

2321 Vineville Ave. Macon, GA 31204

Ocmulgee Mounds National Historic Park

This National Historic area preserves prehistoric American Indian sites. Many different Indian cultures occupied the land.

There are trails throughout the park that will lead you to the mounds. They preserved one mound, so you can go inside to see what it’s like and imagine how they lived all those years ago.

1207 Emery Highway Macon, GA

5. Enjoy Yourself No Matter What

This is a mindset I try to have on every trip, because things can and do go wrong. Sometimes frequently!

One of the festival’s featured events was the Balloon Glow. Hot Air Balloons with live music in the evening. We were looking forward to the $10 tethered balloon float. However the wind was too strong and they didn’t even get inflated that evening. Things happen. We left and had a wonderful dinner somewhere else.

Would I Attend The Macon Balloon Festival Again?

If I happen to be in the area, I would definitely go back and see if I can catch the trees at the right time. However I wouldn’t make a special trip out there again just for the festival.

I would visit Macon again, because there are a few things I wasn’t able to fit in while we were there.

Other Spring Time Destinations Nearby:

Gibbs Gardens has the largest daffodil display in America! Read this post for tips on visiting the gardens.

Calloway Gardens has everything and is a must visit any time of year! Check out this post on why you need to visit Calloway’s!