Because the station serves a popular tourist area, there are many extra trains at weekends and holidays.

However, this area was rebuilt as Ekisuto Kamakura (エキスト鎌倉), a shopping facility which opened on 31 October 2007.

Besides a convenience store and a Kamakura tourist information center, the first floor consists entirely of eateries.

In the periods around New Year, Golden Week, and other busy times, a special, staggered schedule using the two lines 3 and 5.

Kamakura Station opened on 16 June 1889 as a station on a spur line from Ōfuna on the Japanese Government Railways (JGR), the pre-war predecessor to the Japan National Railways (JNR) to serve the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal and related Imperial Japanese Navy facilities at Yokosuka.

The station came under the management of JR East upon the privatization of the Japanese National Railways (JNR) on 1 April 1987.