Should we visit Northern Honshu

Planning a trip in April and after 5 days in Tokyo & surrounding wards & nikko, we are considering overnighting and spending one day in Northern Honshu at a yet to be determined location, possibly Hida-Takayama.

After a overnight stay we would then take a train down to Kyoto. We noticed that most of the pictures we see of northern Honshu are in the winter and it is beautiful but we would be there in early April. We were wanting to know some of the more scenic towns (not large cities) in northern Honshu and if we should add a day in northern Honshu.

We will probably see plenty of cherry blossoms in Tokyo & Kyoto so we are looking for something different that is very scenic and very much worth a first time visitor seeing and is easy to get too by Shinkansen/limited express trains.

Hida-Takayama is not northern Honshu. It is in central Honshu. The Tohoku Region is northern Honshu:
https://www.japan-guide.com/list/e1102.html

By early April most or all of the snow has usually gone from the Takayama area, so I don't recommend it as a place to see snow landscapes anymore.

I strongly recommend to leave the city and spend some time in the countryside. You have a wide variety of possible destinations, including small towns, hot spring resorts, mountains, rural peninsulas and more. I recommend to pick based on personal interest. Here are some ideas for central Japan (or what you understood to be "Northern Honshu"):
https://www.japan-guide.com/list/e1104.html

Yeah, Takayama is not Northern Honshu but actually in central Japan

It�fs an option but there are definitely others as well. Two areas that pop to my mind: Lake Biwa or Inner Nara Prefecture

I love both.
Shiga Prefecture:
http://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.com/search/label/Shiga
Nara : http://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.com/search/label/Nara

Here some recent reads from a fellow forum poster:
https://www.japan-guide.com/community/mfedley/

Enjoy your trip to Japan!

As said, way north of Tokyo is northern Honshu.
But if you are going in April, then you are in for a feast for your eyes. Beyond the cherry blossoms, especially the 2nd half of the month has some extraordinary sights, like the tulips at the Showa Kinen Park, the azaleas at the Shiofune Kannonji, the nemophila at the Hitachi Seaside Park, the shibazakura at Mt Fuji and Chichibu, and the wisteria at the Ashikaga Flower Park in Tochigi, etc.

@Ken tulips at the Showa Kinen Park - one of the downside of travelling all the time is I miss the beautiful cherry blossom in my Tachikawa neighbourhood, and now I know I miss tulips at Showa :( It is a really great park - I wish I had more time to enjoy it as it is so close/local - I go a few times a year.

I certainly would not say Takayama is a "northern" destination - it is slightly north from my house in Tokyo, (between 100-200km - not much). Takayama is pretty good if you ignore the day-trippers/bus crowds. There are uncrowded gems in the tourist areas as well. There might be a few dirty piles of melting snow that you would see on the trip to the city, but nothing I would consider worth a "snap", not even a photo. (While the "town is a 20-minute walk side-to-side, Takayama is 90,000 people and outside the tourist areas much like many other places I have visited.)

However, even a short trip north takes you to Sendai which is nice and the Matsushima Bay has some worthy sites if you take the time to find them. Ogawara is a nice place for cherry blossom (not snow) in the first half of April.

Well we would consider being there on the 7th of April, not later in the month. I only mentioned Takayama because it was interesting but I am looking for ideas North of Takayama since it is considered central. We need suggested places to be accessible by the shinkansen and maybe a short regional train ride maximum. Looking for ideas but most of all Should We consider visiting the Northern part of the Island considering we only have 13 days and 5 will be in Tokyo and 3 will be in Kyoto with a overnight also in Kinosaki to experience their unique town/onsens as I hear it is beautiful. The northern part of the island looks a little out of the way to me but that is why I am asking.

I'd consider going from Tokyo to Bessho Onsen (just off Ueda) or Karuizawa and Kusatsu Onsen (busride from Karuizawa). Then if you had a few days you could get back on the Shinkansen and go to Kanazawa before Kyoto, or stop at Toyama and catch the train to Takayama.

You could obviously go North , Sendai, Yamagata... but knowing that you�fll be in Kyoto and Tokyo I would more seriously look into Shiga, Nara or Wakayama prefectures as mentioned above. Right on your way and some great rural destinations.

Thank you. The train line between Ueda and Bessho Onsen was damaged by typhoon #19 in October 2019. Restoration works are expected to last until around spring 2021. I really dont want to ride buses in place of the train. I will look at the other suggested areas. I want to add some rural places to the big cities of Tokyo & Kyoto so we get a good reflection of scenic natural beauty of Japan. As for Onsen towns, Kinosaki just looks pretty amazing especially at night which is why we have selected it. We are looking for other things than temples & shrines and Northern Honshu and the alps look very beautiful.

Hi!

I think when most people think Northern Honshu, they're thinking Aomori-ken, Akita-ken, Iwate-ken, Yamagata-ken, Miyagi-ken, and Fukushima-ken. You keep referencing the Japanese Alps which are all in Chubu. Even areas "north" of Takayama like Shirakawa Go and Kanazawa are still part of Chubu.

You might consider Matsumoto and then taking the bus to Takayama. It's quite scenic and while I know you prefer trains, the train from Toyama to Takayama is not all that often and the bus is a more convenient way to get to Takayama unless you are coming from Nagoya. Shirakawa go is only accessible by bus.

In the case of Bessho onsen, I believe that the bridge over the Chikuma River (which is right after Ueda on the way to Bessho) fell into the river, so the bus literally just uses another bridge to take you to the first station on the Bessho line right after Ueda.

If you're interested in Nagano you could also look at Yudanaka and Shibu onsen. Shiga Kogen is still open for skiing, even in early April, so you can see some snowy landscapes as well.

Nagano is easy to reach from Tokyo. I like Matsumoto and Kanazawa as well, both are cities but are close to some natural areas, though again, you will need to use buses. Kenrokuen is lovely.

Good luck!