Originally Posted by
Gradfly
If you're not set on going to Kanazawa first, you could go to Takayama first and then to Kanazawa. From Kanazawa you can take the JR Thunderbird Ltd. Express directly to Kyoto. Going from Takayama to Kyoto will involve switching trains in Nagoya.
There is one direct Hida train a day between Takayama and Kyoto.
Originally Posted by
mtimmer
We could do Kanazawa-Takayama-Kyoto in either order. Any benefit to which direction is best? For example, is Kyoto even more crowded on a weekend?
Does the number of nights in each place make sense? We could add to Kanazawa and Takayama, most likely taking time away from Kyoto.
Assuming you are coming from the US (given the UA status), I would suggest doing Kyoto first (and I do mean
first, don't even waste time in Tokyo "adjusting" as that is in some ways counterproductive). Getting an early start is the best way of beating the crowds in Kyoto, and this pattern of early to rise + early to bed is super easy to achieve with a US jetlag. After Kyoto, do Kanazawa/Takayama in either order, then Tokyo.
Number of nights makes sense for the preferences you describe.