Kyoto and visit Kanazawa and Hida Takayama

We definitely want to leave Tokyo on from 12/2 and return by 21/2 so have 10 days to visit Kyoto, Kanazawa and if possible Hida Takayama.

What do you recommend as a route and how long in each place?

Hi! Kanazawa has its charms but I think that it can be overshadowed by Kyoto. So personally I would go to Kanazawa before I went to Kyoto. Takayama is different to both, so no drama with that. I would spend 2 nights in Kanazawa and 2 in Takayama, and leave the rest for Kyoto (actually I would spend more time in Takayama, but that is because I like to chill there, for most people 2 would be enough).

The prettiest route would involve going Nagoya to Takayama by the wideview Hida which for some reason is nicer going up than coming back in my experience (and it might be exactly the same), so I would go Tokyo to Nagoya, wideview Hida to Takayama, bus to Kanazawa (spending a couple of hours at Shirakawa on the way) then the Thunderbird from Kanzawa to Kyoto. But maybe a more circular route would be shinkansen to Kanazawa, bus to Takayama via Shirakawa, then wideview Hida to Nagoya and shinkansen to Kyoto.