4 days in San Sebastian

Pintxos, cheap wine galore, long walks on the beach and a day trip to France.

How the hell do I start? Let’s keep it simple. I could live in San Sebastián. Makes sense because of course it would be the most expensive city in Spain. Mark my words, though, I will live in Spain at some point even if it’s in retirement. The wine is cheap (like 2 euro a glass cheap), the food is good, the people are cool. It’s walkable. The ocean is nearby — and if it’s not the ocean, it’s vineyards. I’ll take either or. Preferably both.

Spent my birthday in the beautiful seaside village of San Sebastian. It’s a favorite to so many and now I know why. It’s got a ton of Michelin-starred restaurants, but we skipped the whole white tablecloth experience here (because it’s upwards of $400 per person literally everywhere and takes months to get a reservation) and instead went for pintxos, pintxos and more pintxos. Don’t regret a thing.

Warning: If you’re not a meat and cheese and wine lover, this post is probably not for you. If you are, keep reading. :) Also stay tuned for the next few posts — will be sharing all my faves in Bilbao and La Rioja, too.

A quick note: You can get by speaking Spanish in San Sebastián and lots of restaurant workers speak English, too. Basque is a super hard language and we learned that the grammatical structure is similar to Japanese, so of course it would be nice to learn a few words, but you likely won’t need it.

Eat & Drink

Breakfast and coffee options: Kafe Botanika (has a cute little garden and juice/coffee/pastry options), Old Town Coffee (kind of cool that it’s owned by Brazilians), OhBaba (minimalist Scandinavian design, plant-based coffee shop).

Ganbara - An Anthony Bourdain favorite. Go for the peppers, the tomatoes, the foie gras, the mushrooms. Pretty much everything on the menu is great. This is one of the few pintxos spots where you may have to wait in line outside.

Visited Casa Urola THREE TIMES. Three. First time for a sit down dinner reservation upstairs. The lobster salad was divine. Next two times we did the pintxos thing downstairs and please, please, please I beg you go early and get a Gilda. It’s the first pintxo ever made in SS (anchovies, guindilla pepper and olives — you have to eat it in one bite) and they were sold out the last night we were there). Also get the scallop in ajoblanco sauce.

We made an American friend in Bilbao who told us he went to Bar Sport every day while in SS. We kind of disregarded it and then when we went, we understood. Get the txistorra sausage. Wash it down with txakoli from Getaria.

Go to Atari (by Santa María Church) for cocktails. Here, you can sit outside across the restaurant on the church steps and people watch. I love the honor system here; you order, grab your food/drinks, sit where you want and then go back to the bar and pay before you leave. Didn’t get to try these, but we were told that the white asparagus with Romesco sauce, foie gras with white chocolate and brioche bread with corn salt are amazing.

Txepetxa (Pescadería street) is known for making the best anchovy pintxos. Get the anchovy with spider crab and Basque cider to drink. If you’re traveling with someone who isn’t a seafood lover, make them try these things anyway! And then you can have the leftovers. ;)

Txuleta (off 31 de Agosto street) - Get the pintxo de txuleta (in Spanish, it’s chuleta and in English it’s just a good ol’ t-bone steak on a pintxo — this comes with fries soaked in steak juice YUM), the croquetas de txuleta and a glass of Ribera del Duero (red wine).

Stop at Borda Berri for risotto de Idiazabal (sheep milk cheese) and a txakoli.

La Gintoneria - It’s in a neighborhood called Gros just walking distance from Old Town SS and Zurriola Beach. Gin + Tonics so big and so good my friend converted to a gin drinker on this trip. They are like 7x the price of a glass of wine, though (so more or less the price of a normal cocktail in the US, lol).

You’ll find the absolute best Basque cheesecake at La Viña. I loved it so much I learned how to make it. The recipe is easy and I’m hooked. To drink with your cheesecake, have a glass of sweet sherry (Pedro Ximenez) or pour it on top.

Some recs we didn’t get to (hours are weird in San Sebastián, so if you can loosely map out where you’re eating each day and what time the restaurants and bars open/close, even better): Arenales, La Cuchara de San Telmo and Gandarias.

Didn’t make it to Elkano, either. This is in Getaria. Also a Bourdain fave. Basically, we called and they said they were overbooked and couldn’t accommodate us even as walk-ins. Make your reservations months in advance. If you go here, you need to go to the Balenciaga Museum which is right down the street. Make a day out of it. Planning a year ahead so I can do this next time.

Sleep

Nuun Rentals are luxury apartments in the heart of the city. We stayed in the beautiful Garden Room and I never want to stay anywhere else. We had a kitchen, living room, bedroom and one bathroom with a shower and Ritual bath products. Super spacious and cute with an elevator and stairs to get to your floor/unit. I believe they require a minimum three-night stay here. I could’ve stayed for three weeks. Nuun also has a property in Saint-Emilion, France, near Bordeaux. Would love to check this out one day, too.

Another option if you want more of a traditional, classic hotel (or if you’re fancy): Hotel Maria Cristina, a Luxury Collection Hotel (my grandma said she stayed here decades ago and loved it, and another friend recommended it, as well).

Do/See

Book a pintxos (lunchtime) tour with Mimo. Cannot say enough good things about the experience or our guide, Veronica. We did this on my birthday and had the absolute best time. Go hungry and thirsty because you will stop at five restaurants/bars and eat and drink at every single one. Food and drinks are all included in the tour which is around $100 USD per person.

Didn't have time to do this, but a couple friends recommended making a reservation at the spa at La Perla Thalassotherapy Donostia. We did stop at their little outdoor restaurant on a walk back from the beach for a glass of wine and a snack.

Walk along all three beaches (Zurriola beach, Playa la Concha, playa de Onndarreta) toward the funicular and then get tickets to ride it up to Monte Igueldo. It’s a fun, old little tram, but what’s waiting for you at the top is truly spectacular. Incredible views of the city and ocean from above AND there’s an entire theme park up there with bars and bumper cars.

We didn’t visit any churches or museums here. Mostly just saw them from the outside, bit I’d definitely make time for that on my next trip.

Shop

La Oveja Latxa - Ask for Macarena (or just look for her name tag). This is the cutest shop where you can buy foie gras in a can to bring home with you. She will sell you three bottles of txakoli for the price of two. We stopped in here almost every day just to say hi and sample wines, cheeses and foie. Loved the atmosphere and Macarena’s attitude.

Lance & Malone Art Shop - Bought a couple cool prints here. Met Lance. He gave us a map of the city and also made us a list of places we had to go that included a few restaurants and the funicular (so worth it). Again, loved the laid-back vibes here and the way Basque people are so kind and helpful.

San Sebastián Duck Store - Why were we so tickled by this shop?! IDK, but they have every little rubber duck you could possibly imagine. Think Elvis Ducks and Influencer Ducks, DJ Ducks and Bruno Mars Ducks, Bat Ducks and Sheep Ducks. Got a good laugh here and bought some overpriced duck souvenirs as gifts. 10/10 would shop here again.

Transportation

Within SS, you’ll mostly be walking. Pack comfy shoes. This is not a cute-heels-kind-of-town. It’s really not even a flat sandals kind of town unless it’s a beautiful sunny day and you’re headed to the beach. I’d pack sneakers and rain boots, an umbrella and/or a raincoat.

It’s easy to get a taxi here, but we loved this driver we met named Hector. He took us to multiple hospitals and clinics until we found a place to get our Covid tests (which are necessary to return to the US and harder to find than you’d think) and then he took us to France. If you send him a message on WhatsApp, tell him Allison and Carolina sent you (+34-677-250159). <3

Want to rent a car? Get your international driver’s license or you won’t be able to. You can do this at any AAA or apply by mail. Once you have it you can use Expedia or whichever app you prefer to book a car (make sure it’s automatic unless manual is your thing).

From SS, you can take a bus or train back to Bilbao. The bus will leave you at a central location in the city and from there you’ll still have to Uber to the airport.

If you do France for the day, you can also take a bus to Bayonne or Biarritz. It’s much more affordable than a taxi — just make sure to check on bus times and don’t go on a Sunday when most things are closed. A couple friends recommended Saint-Jean-de-Luz, but Hector suggested Biarritz so we went there for a day. Got drinks, laid out at the beach for a bit, walked around and found a cute little patisserie, a bookstore that was open, a natural wine shop with soaps and other cute, gifty things and then had to settle for lunch at an English pub because all the French spots were closed. It was fun, but again would’ve love to do this with our own car.