best place to be based near Hiroshima

Hi,

I am planning to spend a few days around Hiroshima, Himeji and Miyajima, and possibly Kobe.

At which location is it best to base myself? I will be coming from Hakone and wish to spend a night at Miyajima as the last thing before leaving for Kyushu.

Is it worth staying at Himeji, or better at a larger city like Hiroshima and just visit Himeji as a day trip?

Note that Himeji and Kobe are best conbined with Osaka or Kyoto(they are in the same region). But I'd recommend Hiroshima if you definitely need to choose Hiroshima or Himeji as a base.

Since I will be coming in and leaving through Kansai, I wanted to avoid staying at Osaka or Kyoto twice.

The plan so far is:

Kyoto
Koyasan
Kanazawa
Takayama
Tokyo
Hakone
Hiroshima/Himeji
Miyajima
Nagasaki
[some other places in Kyushu still to finalise]
Ishigaki
Osaka

I don't wish to put Osaka again in the middle.

Why don't you do Himeji as a stopover from Hakone to Hiroshima then? If you start early in the morning it wouldn't be a problem at all. The shinkansen only takes 1 hour from Himeji to Hiroshima.

If you prefer doing a sidetrip from Hiroshima, you could probably do Kobe on the same day, depending on your travel pace. But Kobe is also an easy sidetrip from Osaka or Kyoto.

Well, actually it's up to you. I would prefer to stay in Hiroshima, because I wouldn't want to travel every day. Considering that you travel from Hakone to Himeji in 5 hours, one additional hour wouldn't really count. But you don't need to travel again the next day.

We considered Okayama as a base as Hiroshima is not far away, there is Kurashiki, Bizen (at Inbe station) and Himeji is also not far. We prefer to have our luggage at a hotel rather than trying to find lockers etc for a brief stopover, so tend to stay for a few days in one place and do day trips.

Kyoto is a nice place as a hub. It is clean, green, and safe. Transportation is easy to navigate. But if you are going during busy season, make sure you book your hotels.

actually what i had in mind is to base in Hiroshima for 2 days and day-trip to Himeji and Kobe in one day.