Itinerary - Nara, Nikko, Koyasan, or Takayama

Day trip to Shirakawa-go from Kyoto is a mistake - picking between foolish and stupid as adjective - don't! Too much wasted travel time.

OK I should edit that, I've done Miyajima with a dinner in Hiroshima multiple times as a day trip. I don't think you can sightsee Miyajima and Hiroshima, but I usually tend to just visit Miyajima.

However, I have done Kanazawa as a day trip from Kyoto and didn't have any issues. It was before I had my kid, I have day tripped with her to Takamatsu though to see the garden so.. It's not as if I won't do a 2 hour day trip.

You have a large group with lots of differing ages so you might need to make compromises to make the trip work.

Good luck!

Lazy Pious   - Thanks for replying! In regards to Nara, aside from the Todaiiji temple and have my daughter experience the deers in the garden, we have no interest going there. To be honest, we did not plan to go to Nara to begin with. I am ok with skipping it all together especially now that we are going to Miyajima island where she will get to experience the deers any way and give that half day to Kyoto instead. Would you say skip it all together or continue with our half day plan? Our accommodation is not expensive at all - we are booking a large AirBnB for the 12 of us to stay together. 

RKold - thank you again for your detailed response, I truly always appreciate your insight!! The entire group is SO relieved at staying in one place now and so am I to be honest. And best part is that both our AirBnBs in Tokyo and Kyoto have a laundry machine and dryer so now we can finally pack light! Yes we are using our JR pass - but are willing to pay for the Nozomi line if it gets us there signficiantly faster (like 1 hour faster one way). Any recommendations on how to split our time in Hiroshima and Miyajima island? We really are interested in the museum and the atomic dome - that's it.  Miyajima island looks quite magical! How did you like it?
Honestly, am thinking about letting Shirakawago go (I truly wanted to go!) - especially after reading about the loads of tourist buses. Maybe we won't enjoy it as much as I thought we would especially if we do not spend the night there. Luggage transfers I looked into and are kind of expensive otherwise we could have sent our bags to Tokyo and just take a day or two extra clothes and spend the night in Shirakawago or Kanazawa. Do you think it would be better to skip Kanazawa and Shirakawago and just visit Takayama and go to the museum to see the houses  (although this is even further no)? Or is Kanazawa a better option? If we do not go this route and miss it entirely, what is another better day trip? We could go back to Tokyo and head to Nikko but I am afraid it's also going to be loads of tourist buses and we will be "templed out" 
Sorry for being so confused!

Cheers, if your interest is only Todaiji, I wouldnt bother with the half day as it is the most crowded thing in Nara. Personally having spent several weeks in both Kyoto and Nara over the years I am happy to skip Kyoto altogether and just spend my time in Nara, but it is the kind of place that is much better if you spend overnight at than racing in to see something and then going. There will be plenty to keep you occupied in Kyoto anyway, and if you want a change of scenery Hikone is pretty close and has a good castle.

Also if you want to see a big Buddha,l there is one at Kamakura which is worth a day trip from Tokyo.

Hi!

Actually, last time I went to Nara I only spent 1/2 a day. We just did Todaiji and fed the deer. I would have liked to stay longer but it was pouring rain and my child got cranky, so we left. I do like Nara though and I've spent more time there as well as elsewhere in Nara-ken outside that trip . I think it can be really different when you travel with children and many posters here either travel solo or as a couple.

The deer in Miyajima and Nara are different. As of 2017, you could feed the deer in Nara and not in Miyajima. However, that is a double edged sword. The deer are greedy and while you could get a cute picture of your child feeding the deer, the deer do bite and could also easily knock your kid over. I got bit by the deer in 2017 several places, including on the rear much to my child's amusement. They didn't break the skin but it hurt. But in neither location do the deer have any fear and they will come right up to you.

If you're getting a JR Pass why would you pay for a Nozomi?! You need to pay the entire fare aka ~14,000 yen from Tokyo to Kyoto. It's not something you can just pay for as an upgrade from your JR Pass. Why pay ~29,000 yen for a 1 week pass and then not use and just buy single tickets. Either buy single tickets, get a discounted Nozomi ticket or use the JR Pass.

Japanese dryers tend to suck. It generally takes forever for my clothes to dry in one, even light Summer clothes. If it's not super humid hang dry can be faster. I would also just make sure your AirBnBs are in convenient locations. I've seen people book AirBnBs pretty far out and on mostly used commuter private lines. There are areas I think might be nice to actually live in, but are not where you necessarily want to stay as a tourist. Even if you only have carry ons, trying to get from say Kyoto Station to somewhere only accessible via public local bus is going to be unpleasant because there are 11 of you!

Takayama is a really far day trip from Kyoto unless the journey by train is part of the adventure for you. You would need to pay me to do it. I have done Kanazawa as a day trip and I happen to be fond of Kanazawa. I've also gone to Hikone (which @Lazy Pious adores) and really liked it though I went during the super off season. Kanazawa and Hikone are nice because neither is really about temples. Kanazawa has an amazing garden and an interesting re-constructed castle and a nice art museum. Hikone is smaller but has a lovely garden as well and an original castle. Hikone, at least when I went, had no other tourists, but it was off season and pre-2010. I went to Takayama in June 2017 and while we were staying with a bus load of mostly Dutch tourists at the Associa, outside the free shuttle to and from the hotel and the breakfast I never saw them. They didn't go in the onsen (the best reason to stay at the Associa, hands down) and I didn't see them at Hida no Sato Village. I saw them get on their tour bus and I suspect they went to Shirakawa Go or headed somewhere else. But if you want to go to Takayama, you will need to cut things from your itinerary. You can't make it work as a day trip from your itinerary.

Takayama has nearly 90,000 people. Outside of the Takayama Festivals, it can absorb a tour bus or two and depending on what you do you won't even know they are there. Shirakawa Go has under 2000 people. If a bus or two goes through, it is overwhelmed.

Good luck!

Thanks everyone
The family is convinced to take out Shirakawago completely.
We are instead thinking of adding Nikko to the plan. We have the option of adding Nikko at Day 3 (since it is best to get the Tobu railway which is not covered by JR pass any way right?) or towards end of the trip (if it is covered by JR pass). Looks like Nikko will give us the scenery that we may want

Day 1 - Arrive Tokyo at 2:45pm, evening in Tokyo (night in Tokyo)
Day 2, - Tokyo (night in Tokyo)
Day 3, - Tokyo (night in Tokyo) or Day trip to Nikko (night in Tokyo)
Day 4 - Tokyo (night in Tokyo)
Day 5- Transfer to KYOTO (2.5 hours) + NARA afternoon trip with a guide we already booked (night in Kyoto)
Day 6 - Day trip to Osaka (night in Kyoto)
Day 7 - KYOTO (night in Kyoto) - booked a photoguide to take us around
Day 8 - Day trip to Hiroshima + Miyajima Island (night in Kyoto) (night in Kyoto)
Day 9 - KYOTO (night in Kyoto) - booked with a photoguide to take us around
Day 10 - Morning in Kyoto. Transfer to TOKYO in afternoon (night in Tokyo)
Day 11 - Day trip to Nikko (night in Tokyo) or full day Tokyo if we do Nikko Day 3
Day 12 - Flight back to USA

You can go to Nikko using the JR pass. Tobu might be slightly (!!!) more convenient to some locations in Tokyo, but it�fs not that JR is inconvenient. You take the Shinkansen North and then change close to Nikko to a normal train. JR Nikko station is right beside Tobu Nikko.

So as rkold said, if you are getting the JR pass, then use it. You can�ft take Nozomi with it. So if you are seriously thinking about Nozomi (and there are good reasons for it) then you don�ft need a JR pass at all.