D.C.'s cherry blossom festival

Washington, D.C attracts more than 20 million visitors every year, and of that one million come for the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

Taking place between March 25 and April 9 of every year the festival celebrates the blooming of the 3,000 cherry trees adorning the Jefferson Memorial and Tidal Basin.

It is also a celebration of the date when the trees were given to the United States by the Japanese government in 1912. The exact date of the blooming is never certain, but always falls within the festival's dates.

For the festivities taiko drummers, marching bands and Japanese horticulturalists are on hand to ring in the blossoming. An enormous parade takes place down Constitution Avenue with a Japanese Street Festival coming shortly afterwards. The Japanese festival boasts food stalls, arts and crafts displays and artistic performances.

Apart from the blossom festival there are plenty of reasons for visiting the nation's capital. Washington, D.C. is home to some of the most important and historic districts in the country.

The Georgetown and Dupont Circle areas have a number of world-class shops, museums and restaurants. Historic monuments are also abundant and give the visitor a good lesson in America's past.

What's even better news is that Washington, D.C. has become easier and cheaper to get to than ever. A number of discount airlines serve the city, including Independence Air whose hub is located at the city's Dulles International Airport.

JetBlue has announced it will fly six round-trip flights between Boston and Washington, D.C. in January.

Delta Airlines has increased the frequency of a number of its routes serving the capital, particularly its shuttle service from Boston and New York. It has also decided to serve Washington's Reagan National Airport with larger planes, a move that will generate more availability for a frequently sold-out route.

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