17-day itinerary in April 2020

I'm planning on returning for the second time in Japan in April 2020.
Last time I went (April 2018), my itinerary was mainly focused on Tokyo-Kyoto area, so it was easy to arrange dates to match with the cherry blossom period.
In 2020, I'm planning on traveling a bit more, and my itinerary is more scattered, and I'm having doubts on the best dates to chose.

I established two possible itineraries:

Option 1: April 2 to April 18

April 2: Plane arrival at Nagoya | April 3: Nagoya | April 4: Kanazawa | April 5: Shirakawa-go | April 6 Takayama | April 7: Matsumoto + Narai | April 8: Tsumago+Magome | April 9: Inuyama | April 10: Hikone + Kyoto | April 11: Kyoto | April 12: Kyoto | April 13: Uji | April 14: Ise | April 15: Iga Ueno | April 16: Osaka | April 17: Osaka, return to Nagoya in the evening | April 18: Plane departure from Nagoya

Option 2: April 7 to April 23

April 7: Plane arrival at Nagoya | April 8: Nagoya | April 9: Inuyama | April 10: Hikone | April 11: Kyoto | April 12: Kyoto | April 13: Uji | April 14: Ise | April 15: Iga Ueno | April 16: Osaka | April 17: Osaka/Nagoya | April 18: Kanazawa | April 19: Shirakawa-go | April 20: Takayama | April 21: Matsumoto + Narai | April 22: Tsumago+Magome, return to Nagoya in the evening | April 23: Plane departure from Nagoya.


Which itinerary would allow me to enjoy the most the cherry blossom?

Thank you for your help!

It's too early to tell. And by the way things have progressed with global warming, sakura seems to have been initiated earlier nowadays. It's just too hard to predict right now. You may have to wait until the prognosticators start to publish their finds.

Yes, idealistically speaking, I know it's best to wait January/February to get more tangible pronostics. Unfortunately, my job doesn't allow me to wait so long to book my dates. That's why I was hoping to get a rough opinion on those 2 itineraries.

Third itinerary also possible:

April 3: Plane arrival at Nagoya
April 4: Osaka - concert
April 5: Osaka - concert
April 6: Kyoto
April 7: Kyoto
April 8: Uji
April 9: Ise
April 10: Iga Ueno
April 11: Kyoto-Hikone
April 12: Nagoya
April 13: Inuyama
April 14: Kanazawa
April 15: Shirakawa-go
April 16: Takayama
April 17: Matsumoto+Narai
April 18: Tsumago+Magome, return to Nagoya
April 19: Departure from Nagoya.

Also, I was thinking about which passes would be more useful.
I believe the Takayama-Hokuriku Area Tourist Pass (for the visits north Nagoya) & the JR Kansai Area Pass (for the visits south Nagoya) would work for me?

Hi!

You might actually want to look at this bus pass which would cover Kanazawa to Shirakawa Go to Takayama to Matsumoto

https://option-ticket.mitsuboshi-kaidou.com/mitsuboshi-pamphlet_en.pdf

You might be better off just paying out of pocket for some of your tickets vs. getting a Takayama Hokuriku Pass since you're going from Inuyama to Kanazawa which if done the right way is a covered limited express that would otherwise run you ~7000 yen, but you're coming back to Nagoya via the Kiso Valley which is not covered at all by the pass at all, and the 7000 yen plus 5500 yen for the bus pass is less than the ~14,000 yen of the Takayama Hokuriku Pass. Otherwise with the pass you will need to pay additional to get to Matsumoto.

For some of your Kansai traveling you might want to consider a Kintetsu Pass to see if it pays off. I have errands to run so can't run the numbers right now, you also can maybe fiddle with your itinerary to make it work. I took the Kintetsu from Kyoto to Kashihara, stayed there a few days and then eventually went to Nagoya. But it's unclear, you might not really need another pass. Also don't be afraid to use buses. I remember there were a lot of buses between Iga-Ueno and Nagoya, because we thought about going there. Let me look again at your schedule I think I had a few minor tweaks to it.

For sakura dates, I would honestly just average the dates from the last 4-5 years for the various locations you want to go to. I feel like the dates for places like Tokyo and Kyoto move around (and seem to be coming earlier each year thanks to Global Warming) while dates for places in Tohoku are pretty consistent.

Good luck!