I stopped here on the second night of my Shikoku Pilgrimage Road Trip. I needed a hotel close to the Awa Odori Kaikan, because I wanted to see their evening Awa Odori performance. I also wanted a hot spring bath, and this hotel was the only place in the vicinity to have natural mineral water.
The most challenging thing about staying there was parking. Since I’m not a resident of Japan (and I never drove there when I was), I’m not used to Japanese road facilities. My biggest nemesis is the locking plate type of coin parking lots, where you get into the space and then the steel bar goes up to block you from leaving until you pay. I’m just not good at getting into that space over a metal bump, and it always makes me terribly nervous when I have to park like this.
As Hotel Sunroute Tokushima is located right across from JR Tokushima Station, all roads around it are busy with traffic most of the time, and the only parking is of the locking plate type. When I was trying to squeeze into the slot, I was so nervous that I somehow went over not only the steel locking bump, but also the concrete wheel stopper. But I couldn’t really do anything about it with the block already in place, so my poor rental car was parked like that until morning. It must have been a funny sight for passers-by.
Perhaps the most pleasant part of my stay was that upon check-in they unexpectedly upgraded me from my single room reservation to a large twin room with a nice view over the station square, so I was willing to forget about my terrible parking experience. The bath and breakfast were also nice. There are plenty of dining options around Tokushima Station, and the hotel is only a ten-minute walk from the Awa Odori hall.
By the way, there is a separate fee for parking of 800 yen per night; the parking is actually not owned by the hotel, but the hotel then gives you a discount voucher.
