Hello!
My husband and I are trying to plan a trip to Japan to visit Tokyo - Kanazawa - Shirakawago - Takayama - Kyoto arriving on Saturday, January 30, 2016 5pm @ Haneda and departing Sunday, February 7, 2016 6pm @ Haneda. I was originally planning the trip in this order: Tokyo - Takayama - Shirakawago - Kanazawa - Kyoto, but I looked at the map again, and was wondering if it makes more sense to do Tokyo - Kanazawa - Shirakawago - Takayama - Kyoto? We have both been to Tokyo many times (I lived in Tokyo for 1.5 years, though I did not learn to speak much Japanese during that time), so we don't need much time in Tokyo except a day perhaps to see some old friends!
This is a rough idea of what we were thinking - I would really appreciate your advice, Mari! :) And also I'm a bit confused by the different shinkansen lines and if the JR 7-day pass would allow us to travel to most of these places - I know the Nohi bus is not covered by the JR pass for example, but would the rest of the train travel in Chubu and Kansai be covered?
Day 0 Sat 1/30 Arrive @ HND
Day 1 Sun 1/31 Tokyo to Takayama
Day 2 Mon 2/1 Takayama to Shirakawago
Day 3 Tue 2/2 Shirakawago to Kanazawa
Day 4 Wed 2/3 Kanazawa
Day 5 Thu 2/4 Kanazawa to Kyoto
Day 6 Fri 2/5 Kyoto
Day 7 Sat 2/6 Kyoto - Tokyo
Day 8 Sun 2/7 Tokyo, Depart @ HND
Thank you,
Jennifer