Hokke Club Oita

Spread across 10 floors, the communal spaces are functional rather than fancy including a clean, well-lit lobby. The real draw sits on the top floor: Restaurant Lotus serves a magnificent breakfast spread with views across Oita city towards Beppu Bay, whilst the separate men's and women's bathhouses use mineral-enriched Komyo Stone water that's said to ease everything from stiff shoulders to travel fatigue. There's also on-site parking, though it does fill quite quickly.

Don't expect sprawling suites; this is a hotel that prioritises sleep over square footage. Rooms are single, double or twin, and all are fitted with dark wood furnishings, blackout curtains, individual climate control and pocket-coil Simmons mattresses that almost guarantee a good night's rest. Each also has an en-suite bathroom with a bath tub, as well as an electric kettle and plenty of green tea for an in-room brew. It's tidy, it works, and after a long day of onsen-hopping across the prefecture, a good bed is really all you need.

The real action lies beyond the hotel doors. Beppu is twenty minutes away by the Sonic express train, and its eight distinct hot spring zones — from the blood-red pools of Chinoike Jigoku to the sand baths at Takegawara — could fill several days alone. Don't miss jigoku mushi, the local tradition of cooking food in natural geothermal steam. Yufuin's gentler ryokan culture and the twin-peaked Mount Yufu are an hour further on. Closer to home, the ruins of Funai Castle and the Oita Prefectural Art Museum are both within walking distance.