What is better to stay Takayama/Nagoya

Hello guys,

I'm traveling with my wife and daughter 2.5 years old to Japan in November.

We're planning to stay for about 15 days and Tokyo airport will be our arrival/dep.

We will stay for about 6 days in Tokyo region and 6 for Kyoto region.

And between these two regions will be visiting Shirakawa-go and Takayama (Kanazawa maybe) for 3 days.

However, as we will be carring huge luggages and my daughter will have her stroller so we don't prefer to stay in too many places. So we prefer to stay in one place (one hotel) and do day trips.

My question is which would be better to stay in for three nights between Tokyo and Kyoto? Takayama? Or Nagoya?

Thank you

I�fd pick Takayama – the other places you want to visit are closer from there than from Nagoya so it would save you travel time.

Also, I haven�ft stayed in Takayama myself but I have stayed in Nagoya, which was nice enough as a convenient transport HUB but, to me, wasn�ft that special compared to the other cities we visited such as Tokyo and Kyoto. I think Takayama would be a much more atmospheric place to stay.

Thanks Ronda,
I was searching for a place in Takayama but the options are very limit and prices are high unlike Nagoya.

Do you think if I wait some more options will appear? I'm using Booking.com and Agooda.

While Nagoya might be cheaper than other options you've looked at. It isn't in a suitable location for those towns you wish to visit.

If you wanna day trip to Kanazawa, Shirakawago and Takayama, also try Toyama for hotel prices.

agreed with the above though Toyama looks a little industrial (I've never stayed there so maybe it is nicer away from the station).

I really like Takayama. The prices at Hotel Associa are good but I think it might be closed part of the year. Also staying at Kanazawa might be a less convenient option, but it is an option. Hotel Hakuchoro there is really nice, with big rooms.

We stayed at Gero onsen for 2 nights and realy loved this Place, so quiet and pittoresk. We stayed at ryokan Mutsumikan close to station. 40 minutes by train to Takayama. Booked thru booking.com. A lot of onsen in thisl little town. Very good food too.

Thank you guys that's really helpful.
I found some cheap and good hotels in Toyama close to the station (which i always prefer). But the problem with Toyama is the location! It seems that it's too up to the north which make it far from Tokyo (the coming from station) and far from Kyoto (the next going to).

Gero might be better as a location than Toyama but still see Takayama the best as it will save me traveling between these cities.

Takayama for sure.

You can take the Shinkansen Tokyo-Toyama-Takayama
You can take bus Takayama-Kanazawa-Takayama or Train Takayama-Toyama-Kanazawa-Toyama-Takayama
You can take train Takayama-Nagoya-Kyoto

I would also suggest swapping out Kanazawa for Shirakawago as that would be closer and you could also do this tour http://tour.j-hoppers.com/

I have stayed at J hoppers Takayama. It is pretty basic room but does the job.

Hope this helps!

I would avoid Toyama. Having Just gotten back from a trip to Japan that included a leg from Takayama to Toyama. The train trip is quite pretty but it's very infrequent. Toyama station is quite clean and modern but has few places to grab something. There are a lot more trains from Nagaoya to Takayama, though it's still only about 1 an hour.

I booked the Associa through Rakuten. The price was about $40 a night cheaper than through Booking. (I used Booking for some of my other reservations though.) A bunch of other hotels I was considering on Booking did drop in price as well closer to my departure time. The main issue was a lot of them included half board (aka breakfast and dinner) but I'm a picky eater and didn't want to pay for dinner. I almost switched to one of the other hotels when they dropped in price from not requiring half board, but I love the onsen at the Associa. The Associa does get a lot of tour groups, during our stay it was a Dutch one, but all the people were super friendly. You can also check out JapanIcan. Sometimes they have good prices as well. It helps to check as many hotel booking sites as possible.

In comparing hotels between Nagoya and Takayama you need to make sure you are comparing apples to apples. If you're comparing a tiny business hotel to a hotel with onsen and 1/2 board, I'd hope the business hotel is cheaper.