<p>Extensive studies have revealed the phenomenon of directional wave propagation in phononic crystals (PnCs) and metamaterials, due to the functionality of energy and information transportation along specified paths. Distinguished from previous elastic media, this work combines finite element simulations and experiments to investigate directional flexural wave propagation in viscoelastic PnC plates. The sample of cross-shaped viscoelastic PnC plate is fabricated from epoxy resin with characterization of viscoelasticity by Kelvin-Voigt model. Firstly, non-negligible discrepancies of wave attenuation are observed between complex band structures of unit cell and transmission spectrum of finite PnC plate. In comparison, complex dispersion and modal analysis on the basis of supercell more accurately capture the wave attenuation ranges. Secondly, both simulations and experiments confirm the phenomena of flexural wave propagation along either single or two orthogonal directions. The complex band structures of supercell are employed to help predict the spatial attenuation of evanescent wave within directional bandgaps. The characterization results, with combination of low-order evanescent modes, agree well with numerical simulations and experimental measurements. In addition, the orthotropy index and concentration index of wave transmitting are proposed to evaluate the directional wave propagation. For wave transmitting in a single direction, there is significant and positive correlation between concentration index along the propagating direction and the imaginary part of wavenumber along its orthogonal direction. This work could shed light on the directional propagation of flexural waves, which is beneficial to the design of viscoelastic devices and waveguides.</p>