15 days in October – itinerary feedback for first timers

Dear JapanTravel Community,

Can you please give us your feedback for this draft itinerary from 13 to 29 October 2022?

Me and my girlfriend are planning our first trip to Japan, we are in our 30s, and we’d love to hear your recommendations.

In general we’d like not to rush too much. And we’d like avoid too many check-in and check-out for one night only.

Here is what we put together so far.

Thanks!

13 Oct Day 1: Tokyo, arrival early morning.
Purchasing a sim card or wifi.
Check in at hotel in Shinjuku. Some rest. Dinner in the surroundings of the hotel.

14Oct Day 2: Tokyo, visiting Shibuja and Akihabara.

15 Oct Day 3: Tokyo, day trip to Hakone

16 Oct Day 4: Tokyo, day trip to Nikko

17 Oct Day 5: Tokyo – Short trip to see the Gundam statue, more visits to the Tokyo districts

18 Oct Day 6: Tokyo, Ghibli museum (if it’s possible to get tickets).
Preparing to leave Tokyo, packing some of the baggage and ship it to Kyoto.

19 Oct Day 7: Arrival in Takayama, stay at nice ryonkan with onsen (any recs on which one to choose?)

20 Oct Day 8: Day trip to Shirakawa-go from Takayama. We tried looking into booking a gassho-zukuri but it seems a bit difficult. So at the moment the option is going back for the night to the ryonkan in Takayama.

21 Oct Day 9:  Arrival in Kanazawa, check in to a hotel. Walking around gardens and districts. Dinner and rest.

22 Oct Day 10: Kanazawa (is it worth staying two nights in Kanazawa our should we add an extra night in Kyoto?)
Visit to the Kentouken garden and Higashi Chaya.

23 Oct Day 11: Arrival in Kyoto. We don’t have the hotel yet, any area in particular is recommended to book the hotel?

24 Oct Day 12: Kyoto, visit to Higashiyama district and temples. Ginkaku-ji.
In the evening Ninen-zaka and Sannen-zaka

25 Oct Day 13: Day trip to Nara

26 Oct Day 14: Kyoto (any other day trip recommended from Kyoto? Is it possible to go to Mt. Koya from Kyoto?)

27 Oct Day 15: Kyoto, walking in search of the colors of autumn leaves and visit to Gion district.

28 Oct Day 16: Return to Tokyo, shopping for some souvenirs and last visit to something that we left out.

29 Oct Day 17: Departure from Tokyo mid-morning

If we had more days we would have loved to also visit Osaka and Mt. Koya with stay at a temple. Not sure if this can be done from Kyoto instead?

Do you think it’s worth taking the JRP for 14 days?