Z LAND Enoshima by Tranova

I liked the privacy of the dorm, and the mattress was nicely soft, the kind that makes you want to stay in bed longer. The house closes at 10 pm, at least for women, as far as I know. The lounge and dining area was somewhere I wanted to spend time. You can do laundry and read there, and they make a point of keeping chatting and loud noise down so other guests aren’t disturbed.

The location is superb, close to the train, beach, several surf schools, and Enoshima island, which is maybe a 10-minute walk away. I came on a Wednesday in summer, and there were only one or two other people in my room, which was really nice. The price is great, too, so this nearly gets five stars. The room has what you really need: a comfortable bed, bathroom and shower, AC, and somewhere to sit. The beds were clean and comfortable, and the room was nicely cooled, maybe to 25°C, when we arrived. They’re capsule-hotel style, enclosed on the sides with a curtain at the entrance, so there’s a lot of privacy. Free showers come with shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. Towels cost 200 yen. I didn’t see any drinking water, so you may want to bring your own. Check-in was a rough start because we never got an email and sat outside until the owner found us and helped. The owner was kind and explained the facilities, but didn’t show us the downstairs common area, so I only found out about it later. I also noticed a little sand on the floors and would have liked slippers, though they weren’t essential.

I’ve camped and wild camped for multiple nights, and I’m not especially picky, but this was probably the worst stay of my two months traveling around Japan. The dorm was cramped and smelled bad. Dust had been left in the corners of the beds and room, and there was a lot of mold hidden behind the window curtains. There was also a drunk man sleeping in our room, using the floor to store his things. The bed cubicles were divided by very cheap wood panels, which didn’t seem suitable for living spaces because such materials can contain harmful chemicals. It all felt very uncomfortable. The basement common area was nice, but the kitchen wasn’t available. To get water, you had to reach behind the “staff area,” and there were no plates or cutlery. Given the cramped rooms and lack of cleaning, it came across as a place focused on making as much money as possible without caring who stayed there.

The location was great, with a short walk to the beach, train station, restaurants, and island. The guesthouse itself was our worst experience in Japan. Our twin room smelled musty, and the floors and walls were dirty. We expected to use a kitchen sink, toaster, and dishes as we had at other guesthouses, but staff kept us out of the kitchen and generally made us uncomfortable in the lounge. We’d been used to returning to our guesthouse for a midday nap, but that wasn’t possible here. The midday “cleaning” went on for a long time and involved very loud, percussive banging, like a wooden bat hitting wood. Earplugs didn’t help. I’d rather have seen staff scrub the dirty walls and corners than bang on the steps.