Gallery Court Ofa atu — Hotel in Kawadu

I'm not terribly picky with accommodation but for 15000 yen , you'd expect better. This place is more like a dorm than anything.

As soon as you walked in, the whole space is a mess with toys and crap everywhere in the main area. The photos on Agoda and other sites look reasonably neat but when you arrive you'll be shocked.

The hammock outside can't be used as its full of dirt. No one at the reception so have to ring.

The foreign woman was not friendly and just rattled off instructions in Japanese like a machine gun even though she sees I have a foreign name and knows I am not Japanese.

So I understood as you can use the hotsprings within 4-10pm as stated on the hotspring sign privately so we locked the door. Hotspring area is dirty, lots of mosquitoes and plants were unkept so you feel dirty. WORST thing is the water was COLD and smelly so its not like a hotspring at all. Also you have to remove the blue cover before you use it(Never have seen this before from hotspring) Imagine host was too lazy to clean the hotspring of leaves regularly so they ask guests to cover it up which is troublesome. It should not be our job.

We were in there less than 20 minutes when she starts yelling to get out and we are not allowed to use at that time. That is fine but she didn't even give us a minute to shower off and clean up and cover up the hotspring and just kept banging on the door , yelling and trying to break in. I came out less than a minute after she started yelling but she still gave me a dirty look and scolded me.After that, we felt bad so didn't even come out of our room the whole night except to use the toilet. YES ,there are no private toilets . You have to go out of your room. The rooms are like hospital dorms and we felt like sick people, small TV, bed springs were weak, had leftover items from previous guest in the fridge and thin walls so you can hear next door.

STAY HERE if you want to be disappointed and your...

I've stayed here twice as an overnight jet-lag adjustment/R&R prior to business meetings in Tokyo when traveling from USA. Simple but clean & comfortable guest rooms that have shared bathrooms located down the hall, plus two hot spring onsen that overlook a small garden. Excellent breakfasts in the dining room (mine were western style - available on request - and served as a three course meal, included in room rate.) Dining room is good for dinner too. The owners are a gracious and hardworking husband-and-wife team, and the paintings that grace the walls are those of the husband's father, a wonderful gentleman whom you might be lucky to meet also. A 15 to 20 minute walk from the Kawazu train/bus station and an easy 10 minute walk to the beach or center of town. Buy the JR's Izu Free Q Kippu, a bus/train pass, to access the Izu Peninsula...A short bus ride from the Kawazu station will get you to to the Seven Waterfalls (Nanadaru) or a short hop via train to Shimoda - so save your money and stay here, yet enjoy the sights of southeastern Izu. A great value especially for families or travelers...

On the positive side the location is really convenient (10ish min by foot of the station) and the onsen is very nice with a good view. BUT, even for a touristic time of the year at Kawazu, the price was way over the top for the quality of the establishment. The entrance / main lobby is a mess with a clutter of children toys and looks like the apartment of a compulsive hoarder. Everything is dirty with a lot of dust. The room is very small, not well furnished, with small uncomfortable beds and they lack proper window blinds. I will say it again but there was a lot of dust, so if you’re allergic or sensitive to it you’ll have a very bad time.

In a nutshell, this could’ve been okay if the price was decent, but for more than 15000¥ a 2p. room I’d expect more than a youth hostel...