Marugame Guest house Wellkame

The owner really made the place for me. When I first arrived, he even offered me his lawn to camp on for free and included a free shower. He was super nice. The rooms themselves weren't that great, though, and the family lives upstairs, so you should expect some stomping. It wouldn't suit a light sleeper.

I didn't find this place comfortable, especially for what felt like an average price. The mattress was so thin it was almost like sleeping on the floor, and the wooden floor creaked a lot. The doors were paper thin, so they did nothing to block sound, and there wasn't really a lock on the door. Even the soap by the toilet sink had been watered down. I'd spend the same money somewhere else.

The owner was welcoming and helped me get my bearings for the 88 temples pilgrimage. We even shared a beer at a local yakitori bar. It was a great place to stay. Please support small businesses like this, since they're among those hit hardest by the corona economic downturn.

We'd missed the last train and had nowhere else to sleep, so we paid anyway, but the whole booking situation felt very fishy. I understand Japanese and have lived here long enough to know how the rules work for hostels and guesthouses. Instead of asking for the reservation code, as other places do, the owner asked to use my phone to cancel the booking manually. It seemed intended to leave no record that two of us had stayed. He also charged us 4,000 yen each instead of the 3,200 yen shown in the app. I felt he was avoiding taxes, and the money we paid seemed to be tax-free.