We are a couple in 60s visiting Japan for the first time in April. Our itinerary is
Tokyo 4 days
Takayama 2 days
Kanazawa 2 days
Kyoto 5 days
Tokyo 2 days
We would really like to visit Hiroshima. I am not able to decide if we should travel from Kanazawa to Hiroshima and stay overnight and then go on to Kyoto next day OR stay in Kyoto and do a day trip.
Most likely we will hire a private guide (any recommendations?) in Hiroshima due to short time. I will really appreciate any help. Thank you.

PS. We didn't go with a tour company to save money, however, now I am overwhelmed making all these decisions. I have all hotel bookings though.

Either is possible and doable, depending on what you want to see and do. The Peace Memorial and Museum and the areas around it would fill up at least half a day.

I agree with tripplanner001 -- your choice! Whichever you choose, you might want to plan a quiet evening after your time in Hiroshima -- visiting can be quite powerful emotionally.

FWIW, I don't think you need a guide -- the Peace Park and Peace Museum are easy to see on your own. If you do want a guide, note that the Japanese National Tourism Organization coordinates free volunteer guides throughout Japan. These “Goodwill guides” – who are generally knowledgeable and happy to guide you in return for practicing their English – can be excellent, but as I understand it, they are a bit of a luck-of-the-draw. I don't know how it works now, but in the past, you could communicate by email in advance to ensure that the plan meets your needs.

You pay any entrance fees and his/her meal if your time with the guide includes one. Do NOT tip these guides (or anyone else in Japan). My suggestion would be to make your needs regarding any meal (including price range and any particular dietary requirements or restrictions) very clear in advance.

https://www.japan.travel/en/plan/lis...unteer-guides/

If you choose to spend a night in Hiroshima, consider taking just an overnight bag and sending the rest of your luggage on to Kyoto. (Luggage forwarding -- takuhaibin -- is very reliable in Japan; https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2278.html ) Otherwise, there are lockers in the train station.

When you wrote "2 days" I hope you meant 3 nights.

You will take 3 trains. Shinkansen from Kanazawa to Tsuruga, easy transfer to a Thunderbird limited express train to Kyoto, and then a shinkansen to Hiroshima. If you go straight through, then you might transfer at Shin Osaka instead of Kyoto.

Kanazawa to Kyoto takes about 2 hours and Kyoto to Hiroshima takes 1 hr 40 min. Add 10 minutes to make the transfer at Kyoto and the trip takes a bit under 4 hours.

If you decide to daytrip from Kyoto then you have the 2 hours of travel from Kanazawa plus transfer time from Kyoto Station to your Kyoto lodging. Figure 30 minutes more/less for that transfer. You would then be able to choose which day to do the daytrip and have the option to skip it. The daytrip would then be ~30 minutes to get to Kyoto Station and then the 1 hr 40 min on the shinkansen to Hiroshima. Double that and it is 3 hr 20 minutes on the shinkansen that day. Add on the time it takes between leaving your lodging and shinkansen departure time (you will want to be on the platform 5 or 10 minutes before departure time) and some time on your return to Kyoto.

Thank you for all your replies. When I say 2 days I really meant 2 nights. We will do a day trip from Kyoto. It seems it is more manageable and we can decide which day out of our 4 days in Kyoto.

Oh dear. FWIW, I think Kanazawa deserves a minimum of 2 full days -- so THREE nights. I'm much less optimistic about your plan in light of this news. You might be able to take a night from Tokyo....

It would help to lay your itinerary out by nights -- that makes it much clearer how much time you will have in any particular place.

Daytrip plan for Hiroshima means you can spend more time in Kanazawa on the day you go to Kyoto.

Tokyo to Takayama will take 4.5 hours, with transfer at Nagoya
Takayama to Kanazawa will take 2 to 4 hours, with transfer at Toyama (and maybe Inotani)

Tokyo to Kanazawa would be just 2.5 hours, maybe 3 hrs. with no change of trains
Takayama to Kyoto would be 3.3 hours, change Nagoya

We did the same trip (without Hiroshima) last May. I would also consider taking a day out of Tokyo and making 6 nights in Kyoto, which would allow you to more comfortably manage a day trip from there to Hiroshima.

Could you share your itinerary? I have hotel reservations (refundable) for all the cities but I maybe able to change. It seems Tokyo to Takayama is very completed when I do google map. Can someone suggest what transportation route we need to take? I am trying to see Cherry blossom and thus want to go to Takayama. Do you think it is worth going for 2 nights (which is really ONE full day in Takayama. Please advice. Thank you.

I gave you the travel times for your route. Also gave you two more travel times if you would consider dropping Takayama or Kanazawa. You can also consider reversing the order between Takayama and Kanazawa.

Tokyo to Takayama is not complicated but it does take some time. You just take a shinkansen and then transfer to a limited express train. The second train, the Wide View Hida Limited Express, is not frequent which means there could be a half-hour of wait time (or longer). It travels between Nagoya and Toyama on the Takayama Line. There are local trains on that line that are more frequent but much slower.

There are two routes: Tokyo- Nagoya- Takayama, and Tokyo- Toyama- Takayama. The Tokaido Shinkansen stops at Nagoya on the way to Kyoto. The Hokuriku Shinkansen stops at Toyama on the way to Kanazawa.

Below is a link that shows a 4 hr 17 m travel time going via Toyama. You can try a different departure time but only choose an option that is less than 5 hours. Note the transfer time is 8 min and wait time is 31 min.

This is the transit route of the search result from Tokyo to Takayama - Japan Transit Planner | Norikae Annai

Noticed that jorudan uses Hida, not Wide View Hida, for the name of the limited express train on the Takayama Line. Also, should mention there is one Limited Express Hida train that goes directly from Takayama to Kyoto. Hida No.36 (For Osaka) departs Takayama at 3:34 and takes 3 hr 43 min to get to Kyoto.

Am thinking Kanazawa before Takayama might be best so you can minimize the travel time to and between those cities. Tokyo to Kanazawa to Takayama travel time could be around 5 hours total.

This is the transit route of the search result from Tokyo to Kanazawa - Japan Transit Planner | Norikae Annai
This is the transit route of the search result from Kanazawa to Takayama - Japan Transit Planner | Norikae Annai

Note:
The Takayama Spring Festival in 2025 will be held on April 14 and 15
(this could limit the availability of lodging and reserved seats on trains)

Sure, we spent our first night in Tokyo, since we arrived after 9:30 pm. Otherwise, we would have headed from HND to Kyoto upon arrival. From there it was:
* Train to Kyoto for five nights.
* Morning train to Takayama for two nights. As per mrwunrfl, it was via Nagoya. That was a shortish connection and I worried a bit about it since there weren't a ton of trains between Nagoya and Takayama, but it turn out to be super easy to do and the trains were precise to the minute.
* Train to Kanazawa for two nights. This was via Toyama. Lots of trains between Toyama and Kanazawa.
* Train to Tokyo for a final night before we left. Super easy straight to Tokyo station and easy to get to our hotel in Ginza.

Like pretty much every trip in a cool country, we would have loved to have more time, but life doesn't always give you that. Two days was fine in Takayama, but we could have used more time in Kyoto and Kanazawa. We gave up a planned day trip to Nara while we were there since we had so much to do in Kyoto.

BTW, if you haven't read progol's trip report here of her first time in Japan, I highly recommend it as she went to several of the same places. She's an entertaining writer and her photography is fantastic.

Hello, I am back again. My departure date to Japan is coming very close and I wanted to buy tickets before leaving USA. Here are my questions and I will really appreciate any help.

I couldn't change my hotel reservations hence I am going
Tokyo to Takayama - 2 nights
Takayama to Kanazawa - 2 nights
Kanazawa to Kyoto

I was trying to buy tickets on JR West Website and really got confused.
I really want reserved seats in Green car for longer legs of the journey. My question is does it give me an option to reserve my seats. I didn't see it. I went through couple of steps to reserve.

Would JR Takayama-Hokuriku Area Tourist pass be more economical except I can't figure out if all these trains below will be covered or not or should i just buy individual tickets for each leg.
Pass is 19,600 Yen and Tickets with Green car and reservations is 22,000 Yen

What I am seeing the routes are as follows

1. TOKYO TO TAKAYAM
Nozomi Shinkansen from Tokyo to Nagoya and then
Nagoya to Takayama on Limited Hida Express. I wasn't allowed to post URLs

2. TAKAYAMA TO KANAZAWA
[89min] Ltd. Express Hida 3(for TOYAMA)
Train originating from this Station
Shinkansen Tsurugi 23(for TSURUGA) to Kanazawa


3. KANAZAWA TO KYOTO -
Shinkansen Tsurugi 21(for TSURUGA)
Train originating from this Station
Ltd. Express Thunder-Bird 22(for OSAKA) KYOTO

I want to arrive at each new place by mid-day.

Thank you for your help.

Those are the correct routes and trains.
IDK if that pass helps. Am sure you are aware that it starts in Nagoya for you and you would buy the ticket from Tokyo.
I see the pass includes buses from Takayama which gives you nice options for a stop enroute to Kanazawa instead of JR

You could try this: Japan Rail Pass Calculator - find out whether a JR Pass pays off

The difference between the pass and alacarte is not great. Green car not really necessary.

As long as you aren't travelling to/from Takayama on/around festival dates April 14-15 then no worries about getting reserved seats, esp green car.

FWIW, for travel in late May last year we bought our train tickets in Japan and never had any issues. In the case of traveling from Takayama to Kanazawa, we just bought them at the Takayama train station the day before. (Small town, so it's not like it was much of a hassle to get to the train station.) Our Kanazawa to Tokyo train (green car) was maybe 10% full at most.

Speaking of traveling from Takayama to Kanazawa, there is also a bus you can take with the possibility of stopping in Shirakawa-go for a few hours en route. We took that bus for a day trip to Shirakawa-go and it was spectacular. In retrospect, I sort of wish we had taken the bus from Takayama to Kanazawa instead of the train since the ride was so pretty. Not to confuse you with more options this late in the game!

Japan-guide offers very good info on most of the rail passes.

For the "JR Takayama-Hokuriku Area Tourist pass" in question, just google
"JR Takayama-Hokuriku Area Tourist pass + Japan-guide",
and you'll get this page below:
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361_..._hokuriku.html

According to the map, this pass only covers Nagoya - Takayama - Kanazawa - Kyoto, and is valid for 5 days. This pass does not offer the green car option.

Therefore, you are better of buying point-to-point tickets.

You may wait to purchase all your train tickets after arriving in Tokyo. Just walk to any JR station and buy from a person in a JR travel service center or buy from a machine, with reserved seats.

>> Takayama to Kanazawa, there is also a bus
included with the pass OP is considering. Reserved seats would be necessary.
Takayama-Hokuriku Area Tourist Pass

Forgive me if this comment seems glib -- I offer it in all sincerity. Have you considered changing your plans even if it means "eating" the cost of one or more nights at a booked hotel? You are planning to spend time to go to some wonderful places, but IMO, you aren't giving yourself much time to enjoy them. Just a thought.

Good thoughts kja. The two 2-night stays involve a good bit of travel It means that for one of the stops there are two travel days for one day there.

The refundability may have changed but not necessarily from 100% to 0% on a date. I have had reservations (agoda, i think) where the cancel/refund drops to 75% and then to 50% as the stay date gets closer.

But that quote was from OP post on Mar 1 and maybe refund windows are closed, but not necessarily for all stays. I would call (agoda or other) and ask about extending one stay and cancelling another. They may be able to work something out, including getting the same rate for the extended stay dates and something less than a 100% penalty for the cancelled reservation.

I would definitely ask for what I want because I know that if I don't ask then I won't get what I want. That is my policy about everything: just ask.

Yes. I understand that we will have less time. We are planning to start early from Tokyo so we have one and a half day in Takayama. Thank you.