Experience hanami in the tropics: enjoy the Japanese tradition of flower-viewing with Gardens by the Bay‘s elaborate display with a multitude of sakura trees in the award-winning, record-breaking Flower Dome. The special Sakura Matsuri event brings these stunning, cherished blooms to Singapore to welcome spring.

…or so they’d like you to think.

My regular companion alerted me to our little local hanami and we paid the Residents’ special discounted total of S$21.60 for two tickets, arriving late afternoon before rush hour.

We haven’t been to the Flower/Cloud Domes since Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay opened, and it is further from the MRT than you’d expect. There is a shuttle, and apparently it costs $3 for unlimited rides, so that’s up to you – but if you’re coming with friends and family who have mobility concerns, the vehicle is apparently wheelchair-friendly and those who ride with their chairs can do so for free.

I printed the tickets as instructed, but it looks like you can show them the PDF on your phone, so long as the barcode can still be scanned. We saw a few tourists unable to re-enter the Dome after leaving, so if you want to return, ask the staff at the exit whether there’s a stamp to indicate this.

The Japanese-themed Decor

We went off to catch the sunlight in the Flower Dome first for some photos, and we welcomed the aggressive air-conditioning.

The Sakura Matsuri floral display is roughly divided into two sections: the first at the entrance, a gathering of sakura trees of different species, with an awkward Japanese house-style facade, Japanese rickshaw and two mannequins donned in floral mock-clothing. These are not spectacular nor high quality, but you can easily escape these particular photo spots if you’re more interested in the botany, which is fairly plentiful and decorates the trail downwards.

There is more Japanese theming once you get to the second section (the lower floor), with miniature displays and smaller saplings jammed into boxed Japanese scenery. Again, these are not the most high-quality or photogenic dioramas I have seen, and the most delight I got from them was a branch vomiting a flurry of petals down on the artificial diorama moss. (It also gets wicked cold by this point of the Dome, so you might want to bring a jacket if that’ll be troublesome for you.)

Past the dioramas is the showpiece of the Sakura Matsuri Floral Display – a long walk-through section housing various species of sakura, with a bunch of dubious torii gates that are, again, not great.

If you hope for pretty Japanese-inspired constructs, don’t. If you’re there to cosplay with said Japanese-inspired constructs, work that depth-of-field. The extra decor is really not great.

The Sakura Trees Themselves

However, if you’re there to see and photograph (/yourself with – the yukata rental is $20 per person, and there’s a shop selling adorable jinbei and yukata for kids) the sakura itself, by all means, please go. The sakura trees, some in large pots, are taller than the average person, and a fair number are aggressively blooming and dumping blossoms along the pots and paths.

The occasional plaques alert you to different species of trees, and that helped us stop and stare at the different types of flowers and colours. They are beautiful flowers and it’s enjoyable to mull over the various shapes and configurations of their blooms. Some species were still only budding, which is regretful, but also a great business opportunity for Gardens by the Bay if you’re invested enough to go again for the currently-bare sakura species.

My big complaint with the sakura display itself is that there aren’t plaques for every tree, even though some are clearly not the same species as the one next to it. I’m actually interested in which species is which and their colour variants – that deeply annoyed me, and it’s a complaint I have with the rest of the Flower Dome. We had fun walking down and seeing the other permanent botany they had on display, but so little had proper plaques. I know that’s an orchid, but what orchid? I know those are hydrangeas and I have never seen them in person before (and they are the size of a man’s head) but what if I didn’t know? I really wish they’d put more labels around the Flower Dome, and, as an attraction in itself, I think our previous experience in the Cloud Dome (circa the launch of Gardens by the Bay, so old as heck) was stronger.

Am I happy enough with having paid $21.60 for two solely to see the sakura trees (and go to their little market, Nippon Street)? Yes. I feel like I understand Japan’s hanami tradition more because they’re really darn pretty flowers in person. Would I pay tourist prices? Not sure, but if you’re already touring here, might as well! Will I pay again to see the other trees actually blossoming? Probably not. Still, I think the experience I had was worth what I paid, and I’m glad we went.

Also, you might get to see otters crossing the road when you leave.

Max rates 3.5/5, for the nice flowers and the inclusion of Nippon Street.