Takayama and Kanazawa-How would you split 4 days?
 

We have 4 full days to split between Takayama and Kanazawa. We are interested in architecture, gardens, , produce markets, and culture. We have no interest in shopping in either of these cities.. Would you split the time into 2 full days in each citiy, or some other way. We plan on taking a JR train from Takayama to Kanazawa at the end of a touring day.

I couldn't find train info in Japanese but there are bus. Its only over two hours.
http://www.hokutetsu.co.jp/bus/highway/08takayama.html
Kanazawa is easier walking around but not Takayama. You may need rent a car or tour bus will be easier.
http://www.nouhibus.co.jp/english/bus_tour.html
I haven't been Takayama but Kanazawa. I would say two days is kind of rush but will be fine if you planned well.

We walked through one of the two morning markets in Takayama very leisurely and it took us 2-3 hours. But given the size of it, we could have walked it in 10 minutes if we had chosen to.

It was also extended by a street food market when we went because we were there for the Autumn shrine festival.

You could give a couple of hours to walking through the preserved districts of the old town, a couple of hours to the markets, a couple of hours to each shrine, perhaps visit the old government house and if you want, take a walk along the temple path. Either a long/ full day or a day and half, but that depends on how much you like to do in a day.

I spent about a day in Takayama. I'm sure I would have enjoyed more time there, but it was enough for my priorities.

I spent just over a day in Kanazawa and would have liked at least one more day there. Don't miss Nomura-ke: http://www.nomurake.com

I suppose you could do Takayama in a (long) day. Don't miss the Art Nouveau museum on the outskirts or the float museum in town (see http://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com/...u-in-takayama/ ) You can get around fine on foot and by bus.

We spent a couple of days in Takayama and loved it. We stayed at the Sumiyoshi Ryokan which I would highly recommend. Some more info and photos on our blog. http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blo...4160/tpod.html . I cannot comment on Kanazawa as we didn't stay their but Takayama is definitely worth a couple of days.

Thanks so much for your input. From your replies it sounded as if we could use more time in both cities than we had anticipated, so we changed our flight to Japan to give us 4 more nights in Japan. There was no fee to change the flights as they were ff tickets. We are looking forward to the extra days in Japan to slow the trip down a bit.

Good for you! I don't think you'll regret the extra time, wherever you spend it.

Oh that is fabulous, I am sure you won't regret it...

I've been sharing various aspects of our trip here, if it's of interest: http://www.kaveyeats.com/tag/japan

Good, then you will have time to visit Shirakawago.

mrw-I've been wondering where you've been these past couple of days. Glad to see you're back online as you've given me such great information. Actually I am thinking about adding some of the extra days to Tokyo staying in the Ueno area for 2 full days, then spending the night in Nikko and returning to Tokyo for 2 full days in the Shinjuku area. This is subject to change, but I am holding tentative reservations for this. Any thoughts on this plan? The extra time will also allow me 2 full days in Takayama and 3 full days in Kanazawa. I am still not sure whether to vist Shirakago or just go to Hida no Sato in Takayama, because there is no way my DH would consent to stay overnight in Shirakawago. This trip is still a plan in evolution and subject to change, but we will now have 21 nights in Japan instead of 17. Thanks Kavey and kja for the thumbs up on adding the extra days.

Oh, I didn't notice that you were the OP, shellyk. Good to hear that you, in particular, are adding time to your visit to Japan.

An overnight in Nikko is better than a day trip, for sure. I still have yet to visit Nikko.

I think we discussed that you could visit Shirakawago for a few to several hours enroute to Kanazawa. But, sure, you can skip it in favor of taking the train from Takayama to Toyama (something I also have yet to do as it is supposed to be very scenic) - and that would avoid the buses traveling via Shirakwago, which I recall your DH might not enjoy.

Hida no Sato was much more interesting that I expected. Going there instead of Shirakawago is a good plan for your DH. Take a city bus (short trip) up Hida no Sato and then can walk back down to town.