Kiso Valley, Kanazawa, Takayama & Shirakawa go

[RDymond]

I'm about to take my first trip to Japan and was looking for some advice on a couple of places.

We're planning on taking a tour first of all which spends four nights in Tokyo, a night in Hakone, and 4 nights in Kyoto, so from Tokyo we would take a day trip to Nikko and from Kyoto a day trip to Hiroshima.

I was also interested in Kanazawa, Shirakawa go and Takayama, but would love some advice on them. At the moment my travel agent has pencilled in one night in each, but would it be easier to stay in one place only for three nights and do day trips to the others, and if so which would be the nicest to stay in? We would prefer to stay in only one place rather than switching hotels three times in three days.

Also, would it be worth going to the Kiso Valley if we are already going to Kanazawa, Shirakawa go and Takayama, or do you think they are all very traditional, historical towns so may be too similar?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks all.