The city is once again preparing for numerous visitors during the cherry blossom season. During the blossoming period, the busy streets in Bonn's old town will be closed to through traffic from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends and public holidays. This applies to the weekends on March 29/30, April 5/6 and April 12/13. Depending on the duration of the bloom, a closure is planned for the Easter weekend from Good Friday to Easter Monday, April 18 to 21.

The closure will apply to the entire Breite Straße and the section of Heerstraße between Kölnstraße and Vorgebirgsstraße. Paulstraße, Peterstraße, Wolfstraße and Dorotheenstraße will also be closed to through traffic, as they can only be reached via Heerstraße and Breite Straße.

Bollards will be set up at a total of nine road closures and a security service will monitor the ban on weekends and public holidays on behalf of the city. Residents as well as delivery and service vehicles are exempt from the closure and may pass through. During the cherry blossom season, coaches are generally prohibited from passing through.

There will be no parking ban at weekends this spring. Last year, the city tested a combination of a parking ban and neighborhood parking spaces in public parking garages for the first time as part of a pilot project. However, demand was very low. This year, the impact of the introduction of the parking concept for Nordstadt on the parking situation during the cherry blossom season will be reviewed and appropriate consequences drawn for subsequent years.

The municipal public order service is prepared and will also close the streets during the week if necessary for safety reasons in the event of very large numbers of visitors. The city asks all road users to show consideration for each other. As a general rule, it is advisable not to drive to the Old Town for the cherry blossom festival, but to travel there on foot, by bike or by bus and train.

The city will once again be providing toilet cubicles for visitors from the end of March - in front of the Marienschule in Heerstraße and at the City Hall on the corner of Maxstraße and Breite Straße (Elisabeth-Selbert-Platz). They are barrier-free and will be cleaned regularly. Bonnorange will also clean the streets more intensively during the cherry blossom season and will set up additional litter bins in the old town, which will be emptied regularly.

"Prunus serrulata" (Japanese flowering cherry) is the name of the trees that give Bonn's old town its pink blossoms. Different varieties of this ornamental cherry grow in the district, whose flowering periods gradually begin from the end of March until around mid-April and overlap with each other. It starts in a small cul-de-sac in Maxstraße, followed by ornamental cherries in Michaelstraße, Dorotheenstraße, Franzstraße, Georgstraße, Paulstraße, Wolfstraße and Schützenstraße.

A little later, Maxstraße and Peterstraße are the first highlights: the Japanese columnar cherries (Prunus serrulata 'Amanogawa') bloom there in April. These more delicate trees were planted in the somewhat shadier streets so as not to darken the apartments too much. The flowers are light pink.

The grand cherry blossom finale takes place around mid-April in Heerstraße and Breite Straße. There are 60 Japanese clove cherries (Prunus serrulata 'Kanzan') planted there. This cherry variety is famous for its particularly lush, bright pink flowers. Thanks to their funnel-shaped crowns, the branches form a pink canopy above the road, creating a beautiful cherry blossom tunnel.

The maintenance of the 300 or so ornamental cherries in the old town is the responsibility of the Office for Urban Greenery.

The cherry blossom has become a more magnificent event in the old town every year since the ornamental cherries were planted at the end of the 1980s as part of a comprehensive urban redevelopment project. Previously, the old town was an outdated craftsmen's quarter, characterized by through traffic and grey facades. The redevelopment was intended to improve the ecological situation and the quality of life in the district. The historic façades were renovated, traffic was calmed and the streets and courtyards were planted with greenery. The Japanese flowering cherries along the roadside were intended to provide a special color accent in the old town. The fact that the pink blossoms would one day become a crowd-puller and trademark of the district exceeded all expectations.