Gifu Itinerary, looking for some advice

Hi,

Planning to do a trip with the following itinerary with a 21 month old, hope to get some advice to see if its feasible, especially around the Gifu region. Based on what I see, it seems to be doable and not too rush.

Day 1: Night Arrival into Osaka Airport, stay in Osaka hotel
Day 2: Go to Hiroshima, Peace Museum, Miyajima and Mount Misen, back to Osaka
Day3: Check out hotel, go from Osaka to Takayama, explore Takayama old town and stay in Takayama ryokan.
Day4: Takayama to Shirakawago, (looking for other plans in afternoon)
Day5: Checkout Takayama ryokan, and go from Takayama to Nagoya, stay in Nagoya and explore downtown Nagoya
Day6: Nagoya to Kiso Valley, plan to visit Tsumago, Narai and Magome, if not possible to cover these 3 towns, 1 or 2 would be fine for me. However, I am not sure if its suitable to bring a pram for my 21 month old? Go back to Nagoya for the night as there is a morning flight the next day.
Day7: Flight back home from Nagoya in morning.

Alternatively, is it possible to be based in Nagoya and travel to Takayama, Shirakawago, Kiso Valley, giving each destination 1 day each? I am looking at buying a JR pass for this trip. The reason why I am doing this is because I want to minimize the changing of accommodation, from 3 times to 2.

Thanks for all your kind advice.

Day 2 is quite rushed, especially since you have a young child with you. Hiroshima and Miyajima should have a day each; if you do both in one day, you won't have time for Mt. Misen.

Kiso Valley is also quite rushed, unless you plan to take the bus between towns and not do the walk. I don't think a stroller would be a good idea, as the streets of the towns are cobbled.

It's not really a good idea to try to visit Takayama and Shirakawago as day trip from Nagoya. It's 2.5 hours each way to Takayama. Shirakawago is another hour long bus ride from Takayama. So you'd be traveling 5-7 hours each day.

Knowing you have a toddler, I would try to not venture too far from the hotel each day. I know that my kids at that age often needed to go back to the hotel for a break/nap mid day. So I would probably just move hotels rather than try to plan long day trips.

Days 2 and 6 seem both way too full. Specially day 2. As previous poster said, you need two days for that.
You have excluded completely Kyoto, is this because you have been there already? I feel that overall with a baby you are moving around too much. Too many hours in trains & buses everyday.

Regarding stroller, in general Japan isn�ft a very stroller friendly country. Most babies do get carried around. Specially in public transport. So I think you should bring both options.

Enjoy your trip to Japan!

YOU WROTE:
Day 6: Nagoya to Kiso Valley, plan to visit Tsumago, Narai and Magome, if not possible to cover these 3 towns, 1 or 2 would be fine for me. However, I am not sure if its suitable to bring a pram for my 21 month old? Go back to Nagoya for the night as there is a morning flight the next day.

I'd say pick the one that gives you the best train connection. No need for all three, or even for two, really.

I live and work just north of Narai, and that's my favorite of the 3 towns. I can drive to Narai, so I take guests there often. If you go by train, Narai train station is right in the town. There's no need to take a bus like there is with the other places.

Actually, how about going to Matsumoto at the end of day 5, spending the night, seeing the national treasure Matsumoto Castle (and perhaps a few other sights in town) in the morning, taking the 1:24 train from Matsumoto to Narai (arriving at Narai 2:08) on the way south? You could walk around Narai for an hour and a half -- plenty of time -- and catch the 3:56 train for Nagoya.