7 days Gifu

Hello.
I am planning to visit Japan in december, and I wanted to visit Takayama and Shirakawago. I will be leaving Kyoto on the 15th and we have a reservation in Tokyo from the 21st. I believe 7 days is too much for only Takayama and Shirakawago, considering some things are closed in winter like Kamikochi.

Do you have any advice on how I can spend this time? Preferrably in places where I can easily access by public transport. Maybe Nagano? And where are the best places to stay in a ryokan?

Thank you in advance!!

One possibility would be to pass through Ishikawa before Takayama. Kaga Onsen would be a good place to stay in a ryokan. Then spend a night or two in Kanazawa, stop in Shirakawago for a few hours enroute to Takayama, and spend one or two nights in Takayama. There are ryokans there, or you could stay in one in Furukawa, which is nearby. (I can recommend Yatsusankan in Furukawa, although it has been a few years since I stayed there.) After that Nagano or maybe Matsumoto or maybe Nozawa Onsen (ryokan) or maybe Karuizawa. If you didn't already stay in a ryokan, there are some onsens between Nagano and Tokyo. Bessho is nice (I can recommend Tamaya Ryokan there), and Kusatsu is a little out of the way but not out of the question. All of these places are accessible by public transit but some of them take longer to get to than others. Of course you wouldn't go to all of them but those are some possibilities.

If that seems like too much moving around, maybe spend two nights each in Kanazawa, Takayama, and a third place of your choice. If you travel to Tokyo via limited express to Nagoya and then shinkansen to Tokyo, Shizuoka is a nice place to spend a night or two. Not so much a ryokan place, though.

I agree with Kim.
Maybe add to her list also Shiba onsen, where the snow monkeys are. (Although maybe no snow yet, kind of just about the start of the snow season)

Alternatively you could also stay in a ryokan in Izu peninsula (Shuzenji for example) after Takayama and before Tokyo.

I will keep all these in mind, thank you very much.
Another option we also thought is:

15th kyoto-> Takayama
16th Takayama <-> Shirakawago
17th Takayama - Tokyo -> flight to Hokkaido. Back to Tokyo on the 21st.

Is it worth it?

I wouldn’t do that myself. It’s kind of an off time to go to Hokkaido, and a fairly expensive side trip. If it were summer I would say skip Takayama and Shiragawago and head straight for Hokkaido :). But that’s just me…

What do you want to do in Hokkaido in mid December? Skiing?
You can probably do that in Hakuba or shiba kogen .
You can easily search on this page past snow reports
https://www.snowjapan.com/japan-ski-resorts/nagano/hakuba/hakuba-happo...

If you don’t want snow, maybe Kyushu instead (ie skio the entire Takayama leg, go to Kyushu and then fly from Kyushu to Tokyo is an alternative

Hokkaido is on the more expensive side indeed, and we don't really do snow sports haha so we'll go there on another time.

Then I will do Takayama, Shirakawago, Nagano. Is Kusatsu a good place to stay at a ryokan? I booked one in Nagano, but as it is getting closer to the date, good places are getting scarce and more expensive ( I have a bit of trouble planning, so that's on me). Are there nice places to visit a bit on the northern side? I heard about Nikko in Tochigi.

I also can`t stress enough on how helpful you have been, to all who replied here. Thank you a lot!

I would say that Kusatsu is a good place to stay at a ryokan. It is a classic onsen town, and very atmospheric. There are numerous traditional ryokans there as well as Japanese-style hotels (which might not be traditional in terms of architecture, but offer Japanese-style rooms and meals). If price is a consideration for you, don’t try to book something on a weekend.

Kusatsu is a little out of the way but worth the trouble getting there, in my opinion. If you have tattoos, just check the policy of any ryokan or hotel before you book, though.

Nikko is a good day trip or overnight trip from Tokyo, although I don’t think December is a particularly good time to go there. At that time of year I would probably limit it to a day trip to see Toshogu. A popular onsen town near Nikko is Kinugawa, which is definitely not everybody’s cup of tea, but you might be able to get an attractive price on a ryokan hotel with good meals, midweek. I have stayed in plenty of reinforced-concrete Japanese-style hotels over the years, and most of them have been good to excellent by my own standards. But I’ve never been to Kinugawa Onsen.
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3800.html
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3875.html