Beppu Onsen (Ekimae and Kitahama)

Beppu Onsen proper - the central district clustered around JR Beppu Station and stretching to the Kitahama waterfront - is the busy, everyday heart of the city and one of the eight quarters of Beppu Hatto. Unlike the steam-wreathed hillside of Kannawa or the sulphur huts of Myoban, this is an urban district of shopping arcades, retro bathhouses, izakaya-lined backstreets and a breezy seafront, the place where most visitors arrive and where the city's contemporary life is most concentrated.

Its landmark is Takegawara Onsen, a magnificent public bathhouse whose current temple-like wooden building dates from 1938. Beneath its grand roof are both a traditional hot-spring bath and one of Beppu's celebrated indoor sand baths, where attendants bury bathers in geothermally heated sand. Takegawara has anchored the district since the Meiji era and remains an affordable, atmospheric soak just minutes from the station - an essential Beppu experience.

Around it, the Ekimae ("station front") backstreets form a warren of small restaurants, standing bars, retro cafes and tiny neighbourhood bathhouses, some charging as little as 100 yen for entry. This is the best area in Beppu for eating and drinking after dark: local specialities include toriten (battered fried chicken), Beppu cold noodles (reimen), fugu, and fresh seafood from the bay, washed down in cramped, convivial izakaya. Covered shopping arcades such as Yayoi Tengoku and the surrounding lanes give the district a nostalgic Showa-era feel, with faded signage and long-running family shops.

Toward the sea, the Kitahama waterfront opens the district to Beppu Bay, with hotels, a park and views back toward the mountains. Here you will also find modern onsen facilities and the towering Beppu Tower on the skyline. The contrast between the retro backstreets and the open, contemporary seafront gives central Beppu a lively, layered character.

Because everything sits within a short walk of the station, this district is the natural base for a Beppu stay and an easy place to spend an evening. A visit of around 90 minutes covers a soak at Takegawara, a wander through the arcades and a meal in the backstreets, though it is just as easy to linger for a full night out. The area is flat and highly accessible, well served by buses fanning out to the other Beppu Hatto districts and the hells.

As the central member of Beppu Hatto, Beppu Onsen shows the city's modern, sociable face - onsen woven into ordinary urban life rather than set apart as spectacle. Between a historic bathhouse, cheap local baths, hearty regional food and a seafront skyline, it is where the practical, everyday pleasure of living in a hot-spring city comes most vividly to life.