Autumn leaves in (very) early October

We will be in Japan until October 5.
Which places would you recommend to see autumn leaves?
We will not be on Hokkaido because it's too away from our main journey plan (Tokyo+Kyoto+relatively near sites), currently we plan to be in Nikko on 3-4.10 and hope that we will see something there.

May be there are some other places which we can reach from Tokyo/Kyoto without 17 hours of train journey to see the leaves?

If you go to Nikko, note that you will have to go deep into the back of the Okunikko region to see the colors. The Irohazaka Slope probably is still mostly green, but further back around Ryuzu Falls and Yumoto might be colorful already:
http://www.japan-guide.com/blog/koyo09/091005.html

Other possibilities are:

Oze, where it is the grass that is turning yellow/red more than the trees that starts to provide autumn colors:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e7440.html
http://www.japan-guide.com/blog/koyo09/090924.html

Tateyama-Kurobe Alpen Route, where the bushes around Murodo have started to change colors. It is possible but expensive as a day trip from Tokyo:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e7550.html
http://www.japan-guide.com/blog/koyo/081003.html

I think Nikko is the easiest option. Avoid weekends.

Thank you for the previous answer!
I have an additional question regarding alpine route.
Do you know if it is also should be avoided at weekends?
By the way, is there a problem with train availability or overload on weekends?

Do you know if it is also should be avoided at weekends?

Yes, I recommend to avoid weekends for the Alpen Route during the autumn leaf season.

By the way, is there a problem with train availability or overload on weekends?

Usually nothing serious. Seat reservations can usually be made for most trains if you reserve a few days ahead. Often even on the day itself. Furthermore, most trains have unreserved seating that can be used by anybody. Details depend on on the route and time of the year.

Thanks for your help, one last (but most important) question, based on your answers and what we seen on this site we have made our itinerary, wanted to know what do you think about it?

From Sep 19 to Oct 05:
Sep 19 (Sunday): Tokyo
Sep 20: Tokyo
Sep 21: Kamakura
Sep 22: Hakone
Sep 23: Kyoto
Sep 24: Nara+Igo Ueno
Sep 25 (Sat): Kyoto
Sep 26 (Sun): Kyoto
Sep 27: Osaka
Sep 28: Kyoto
Sep 29: Mount Koya
Sep 30: Takayama (+mb Kanazawa)
Oct 1: Alpine route
Oct 2: (Sat): Tokyo
Oct 3: (Sun): Tokyo
Oct 4: Nikko

Mount Koya is recommended as overnight trip. For Takayama I recommend to allocate at least 24 hours in the city (not including travel time to get there). That makes the schedule around September 29-30 rather packed. Especially adding Kanazawa would be out of question. Be aware of the travel times between locations. For example, it takes about half a day to travel from Koyasan to Takayama.

Thought about it.
Would it be a problem to go to Koya on Sep 23?
It is a holiday - will it be overloaded?
In case it is possible we will change first day in Kyoto to Koya and vice versa.
So, it will be less time to get to Takayama/Kanazawa since it will be from Kyoto and not Koya.
Since it looks we will not be able to be in Takayama and Kanazawa which one of them would you recommend to visit?

Would it be a problem to go to Koya on Sep 23?

No, I don't think so.

It is a holiday - will it be overloaded?

No, I have never seen Koyasan overloaded.

Since it looks we will not be able to be in Takayama and Kanazawa which one of them would you recommend to visit?

Considering the rest of your itinerary, I think Takayama would offer more variety than Kanazawa, which is somewhat similar to Kyoto. Takayama, however, has a more different atmosphere.

But in case you have a particular interest in one or more of Kanazawa's attractions, e.g. Kenrokuen, Kanazawa might be more worthwhile.

Thanks to you we have looked with more care on travel times and updated the itinerary.

From Sep 19 to Oct 05:
Sep 19 (Sunday): Tokyo
Sep 20: Tokyo
Sep 21: Tokyo (so we would be able to use JR pass until departure on 05.10)
Sep 22: Koya
Sep 23: Kyoto (mb Osaka when going from Koya in case we will enough time when we arrive to Osaka)
Sep 24: Kyoto
Sep 25 (Sat): Nara
Sep 26 (Sun): Kyoto
Sep 27: Osaka (Igo Ueno in case we would be in Osaka on 23.09)
Sep 28: Kyoto
Sep 29: Takayama (Night at Shirakawa-go)
Sep 30: Kanazawa
Oct 1: Alpine route
Oct 2: (Sat): Tokyo (mb Hakone)
Oct 3: (Sun): Kamakura
Oct 4: Nikko
Oct 5: Departure from Narita

The question is still regarding Takayama/Kanazawa - we though to sleep in Shirakawa-go but we found only 1 hotel at Japanican and almost nothing in other reservation sites.
Do you where can we find it?
And at all how much do you recommend the experience?
Also may be another thoughts regarding the itinerary (mostly regarding side trips since we already booked most of the hotels excluding 29.10 and 30.10) ?


Thanks in advance

Additional information about Shirakawa-go accommodation:
http://www.shirakawa-go.gr.jp/search/?m=1
http://www.shirakawa-go.org/english/e_hotel.html
http://www.japaneseguesthouses.com/db/shirakawago/index.htm
http://travel.rakuten.co.jp/group/tiku_en/03japangihugujo.html

Thanks for the links especially that one:
http://www.shirakawa-go.gr.jp/search/?m=1
All the rest provide only 1 ryokan which doesn't look so good.

The only problem with that link is that the page is in Japanese, but there is an option to see pictures and part of the ryokan's have their own sites (part of them even have English pages).

Anyway now we can see what we can expect from this accommodation.

Did someone experienced this, would you recommend it?
From the look on the pictures it doesn't look SO special, when for the same price there is an option to reserve not bad onsen in Takayama..

Have you looked at their link!? They have more than 1 offering.

An overnight stay in Shirakawa-go is an experience. We greatly enjoyed our stay in the rustic environment and loved the quietness of the village in the evening and early morning. The gassho farm houses are very basic, most are without in-house onsen, and cost at ard 10K yen per person.

The question of staying at Shirakawa-go or Takayama depends on yr travel times. Have a look at the Nohi time-table between Takayama-Shirakawa-go-kanazawa here:
http://www.nouhibus.co.jp/english/index.html

Check the travel time from Kyoto to Takayama, and then onto to Shirakawa-go. And yr return time back to Takayama, if u decide to stay there. And see how much time u have left to explore Shirakawa-go and Takayama. If u rush through both these places, u will be missing a lot.

Indeed!
For some reason I considered only Shirakawago-Shimizu to be in Shirakawago :)

Thanks again! :)

Thanks for the link with the buses, I'm going to save it..

Also thanks for the experience description and your opinion, I think we will be going there.

We will depart from Kyoto early morning and will have something like 4-5 hours to explore Takayama - I think it will be enough for us since mostly we want to walk in the old town, it is looking very nice.
Then we will spend evening and morning in Shirakawa-go (until 10-11) and will go to Kanazawa when we will have half day.

The problem is that we don't have time to stay in the region for 1 more day and in case we will be only in Takayama or Kanazawa we will miss or old town or kenrouken and we want to see them both :)

As a summary - there will be no much time to sleep at these days ;)

Just wanted to thank everyone who helped us to make our itinerary, your advices were very useful to us!