Name: Hotel Kamakura Mori
Address: 1-5-21 Komachi, Kamakura, Kamakura, Kamakura, 248-0006, Japan
Rating: 8

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Zaimokuza Beach

Haneda Airport

Tokyo Tower

Meiji Jingu Shrine

Tsukiji Fish Market

Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden

Tokyo Imperial Palace

Tokyo Disneyland

Ueno Zoo

Tokyo National Museum

Sensoji Temple

Tokyo Sky Tree

Hotel Kamakura Mori

Kamakura

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This hotel is right around the corner from the Kamakura station, where you can easily catch a train or bus. It's a very safe area with lots of foot traffic. The hotel itself is decent, with options for a Japanese or Western breakfast. The restaurant is located in the basement of the hotel, so we opted to walk five minutes to get McDonald's and Starbucks. (Also, there are numerous cafes next to the train station, and plenty of restaurants in walking distance where you can get noodles, sushi, or even Chinese food.) One minor inconvenience: It was difficult to figure out how to use the air conditioner, and though we could open the window, there is a fair amount of street noise. Overall, though, this is a great hotel with a fantastic location. Don't forget to buy rice crackers in the kiosk if you get a chance!

Small, clean hotel near Kamakura train station

It is not easy to find a hotel closed to the railway station in Kamakura, as usually there are many more daytrip visitors, and with hotels closer to the beach. With luggages to carry, it was very easy to walk to the hotel. It is also closed to the pedestrian only street with a lot of shops and restaurants. The hotel is unusual, located in a business building, with two floors of rooms, and a dining room in the basement. We had excellent breakfast, with a choice of Chinese, Japanese and Western style and very affordable. The staff were friendly and helpful. The hotel has a website, but reservation can only be made by telephone.

Small and friendly hotel with very convenient location

Surprisingly large room by Japanese standards - feels like 4-star standard. The hotel is very near the station, which is roughly equidistant between the coast the main hilltop shrine. A choice of Japanese, Chinese or Western breakfast which you're asked to pre-order at reception the day before. We had the Japanese breakfast, which was excellent. 
Plenty of restaurants nearby where you can try the local speciality, Shirasu (baby white anchovy) - a must for foodies.

Excellent Japanese breakfast

The location is perfect, just a block straight out of the station and turn left. Even with luggage, it is close enough to walk, maybe three blocks total.  It is on the main street leading to the shrine and one block from the pedestrian shopping and restaurant street behind it.

The hotel is in an office building, so you take a somewhat dingy elevator up a few floors to the lobby.  The staff speaks enough English to do their job, but don't ask any complicated questions.  This is a small place and everyone is very friendly.  The housekeeper even asked us if it was OK to clean our room as we were going out for the day.  You turn in your key at the front desk when going out. 

Our room faced the street so it was a bit noisy with the traffic during the day.  But, the air conditioning worked, so it wasn't necessary to leave the window open.  When I booked, there was no option of a non-smoking room, but the room we got had a sign saying "No smoking", so perhaps the rules have changed.  The room did smell vaguely of smoke, but it was coming from the air conditioner so maybe they just need to change the filter.  There was a built-in air purifier on the wall separate from the A/C unit.

The decor is dated (pink everything), but it was clean and everything worked properly.  This room has a balcony that overlooks the street, but there isn't any furniture on it.  But, it was nice to be able to go outside to check the weather before going out for the day.  The room had a small refrigerator and there was tea making equipment and a couple of sweets left every day.  That is typical of a Japanese style hotel, but I wasn't expecting it here, so it was a nice touch.  The bathroom is the usual modular unit, but it was sufficient.  There is no electrical outlet in the bathroom, so the hairdryer can only be used out in the room.

Breakfast is a choice of three set meals:  Japanese, Western or Chinese.  It is served in the Chinese restaurant in the basement of the same building.  We had the Japanese meal both mornings.  It was always set out on a tray waiting for us, so everything was cold (which is typical in Japan).  The waitress brought a bowl of rice and miso soup after we sat down.  I saw the Chinese and Western breakfast.  I'd stick with the Japanese version if you can handle it, but everything looked edible.  The front desk asked us each day which breakfast we wanted  the following morning, so you can choose a different one each day with no problem.

I agree with other reviewers that this place is a bit overpriced for what it is, but there aren't any other decent options for a Western-style hotel right in town like this one is.  I'd stay here again.  There are numerous restaurants nearby, but don't go out too late for dinner because almost everything is closed up tight by 8:00 PM.  If you run out of options, there is a McDonald's in front of the train station.

Kamakura is EXTREMELY crowded, so don't expect to visit any of the sights without dodging thousands of other tourists and school groups.  The electric train to the daibutsu was standing room only in the middle of the week (FYI, it is not owned by JR, so the rail pass is not valid).

Nice, friendly small hotel.

A block and a half walk from the JR Station made Hotel Kamakura Mori a better choice for us on our return visit to Kamakura.  On our previous visit we stayed at Hotel Ajisai which was a goodly hike from the station. See: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g303156-d2032715-Reviews-Classical_Hotel_Ajisai-Kamakura_Kanagawa_Prefecture_Kanto.html

Kamakura Mori occupies the third and fourth floors of a mixed use building - there is a drug store on the first floor and a dental office shares the third floor.  There is an elevator to the lobby, but from the lobby one is obliged to use the stairs to get to the fourth floor  where the more private rooms are.  The staff will move your luggage for you.  The third floor rooms all open to the lobby which, however, is very quiet.  There are only about 8 rooms per floor.

The staff had enough English to deal with our needs and were very pleasant and accommodating.  We were able to leave our luggage with them when we arrived early in the morning; check-in didn’t begin until later in the afternoon.  

Nothing special about the room - it was indeed pink, as mentioned by others.  There were two twin beds which in other hotels we have pushed together to make one king - here there was a sign asking us to contact them if we wanted to move the beds: we left well enough alone rather than try to do same.  The room faced the road, as (we were told) did all of the twin rooms.  We booked through Japanican which describes the room as having a mountain view - this is a bit of a stretch.  The room is on the front side of the building and looks out over a busy street and a parking lot - in the distance there is a hill.  We were not disturbed by road noise and it is something that we are sensitive to. There was a balcony with an emergency escape ladder to the balcony below.  Ours was the only of the four balconies facing the road that had that escape ladder - the four balconies were connected and separated by privacy panels.  

Other reviews mention that everything in Kamakura closes at 8 PM.  That may have been true a while back when we were here first in 2008 but we did not find this to be the case on our December 2014 visit.  Several restaurants and the supermarket remained open although many shops on the tourist street were closed.  Union Supermarket just down the street had a fair amount of imported items, which we were not interested in, in addition to Japanese items but it is much smaller and had many fewer options than the large Tokyu Supermarket near the JR station where we shopped. 

A nice touch is that they have printed in English the rules of the hotel and directions for operating the heater/AC.  We were given a modem to plug into the wall for internet which was fine for our needs. We did find other networks available but did not know anything about their source.  Included in the rules was the fact that the building is locked up after midnight - a bit of a worry if one should need to exit in case of fire.

Small hotel, fine for a stay of a few nights in Kamakura

The rooms are spacious, the location is central (2mn walking from the JR station) and we slept very well. That said, Kamakura is not a very nice city, very touristic with an awful beach (Ibiza-like). Since it can be reached in ~45mn from Tokyo, I would highly recommend not sleeping there !

Hotel Kamakura Mori

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