Golden Week Takayama and Kanazawa

We will be in Japan the last week of April & the first 2 weeks of May. Hotels are booked. Now I'm trying to figure out how to navigate the dreaded Golden Week. We will be taking a train from Tokyo to Takayama on Sun. April 28. Do I need to make reservations? I have yet to figure out which train(s) to take for the entire trip. We will be picking up a rental car in Takayama with plans to see the mountain villages like Shirakawa-go, Gokoyama and places like Kamikochi ( I know we have to park and take a bus into the park). Does anyone know how bad traffic might be? We will leave Takayama on May 3 by train to go to Kanazawa. Do I need to make reservations for the train? While there we plan to visit Kenroku-en gardens. Any suggestions as to what else to see in that area would be appreciated. We leave Kanazawa on May 6 by train (do I need to make reservations) for Hiroshima for 3 nights and from there we will be in Kyoto for the last 5 nights. We will take the train to the airport in Tokyo from Kyoto to fly home late in the day. This route seemed to make the most sense for traveling time. I was hoping the mountain areas wouldn't be as busy this time of year, but I could be completely wrong...Am I missing something?

The Nozomi type of shinkansen will only have reserved seats during golden week, so yes, you might want to make reservations in advance. But that is not absolutely mandatory either, because you can also take slower trains which have both reserved and unreserved seats.

Between Takayama and Kanazawa, I think the best way to travel is by bus (takes as long as the train and is cheaper). For this one, I would definitely book in advance.

The crowds of GW are totally blown out of perspective. It�fs not like the entire country gets totally overrun by internal tourists.

But yes, Nozomi will be reserved only. And yes for peace of mind, why not reserve a few other trains as well. You know when you want to go where so not too complicated toreseve a few trains.

If you do with smartEx you can even change online until a few minutes before departure.