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San Sebastián guide
Things to do in San Sebastián
The table, the bay and the coast of San Sebastián, each planned around your days.
By Ramin Jafari · Facts checked
In San Sebastián, the table comes first: a pintxo route through the Parte Vieja, a three-star tasting menu, a market morning and a cooking class. Then the bay under sail, the Belle Époque city with a historian, an afternoon at La Perla and the festivals, and beyond the city a day in Getaria and another in La Rioja. For each, here is what it involves, how long to give it, and what we can arrange.
At a glance
- Time in the city
- Three or four nights, or a week with days along the coast
- We reserve first
- The three-star tables, as soon as your dates are set
- Getting around
- On foot; taxis from a rank or by telephone, not hailed in the street
- Days out
- Getaria, 25 km west; the Rioja Alavesa, about 140 km south
At the table
Three ways into the city’s food, from the pintxo bar to the three-star dining room.
The Parte Vieja
A pintxo route
- Allow
- About 3 hours
Going out for pintxos is the city’s own tradition: several bars, one or two pintxos at each, and whatever is on the counter or the blackboard. A food guide takes you through the Parte Vieja’s bars with a glass of txakoli, and knows which pintxo to ask for where. Private, on request and subject to availability.
In and around the city
A three-star table
- Allow
- 3 to 4 hours
- Three stars
- Arzak, Akelarre and Martín Berasategui (2026)
The tourist board counts 19 MICHELIN stars within 25 kilometres of the City Hall, and three restaurants hold three in the 2026 Guide: Arzak, in the city, in the house the family built in 1897; Akelarre, Pedro Subijana’s dining room on Monte Igeldo over the Bay of Biscay; and Martín Berasategui at Lasarte-Oria, looking over the countryside. We reserve the table as early as we can, and a private car there and back.
La Bretxa, then the kitchen
The market and a cooking class
- Allow
- 4 to 5 hours
A morning at La Bretxa, the old town’s market, where the city’s chefs buy their produce alongside its residents, then a private class with a professional chef, Basque dishes such as bacalao al pil pil, the txuleta or the burnt cheesecake, and lunch on what you have cooked. On request, subject to availability.
Or lunch in one of the city’s gastronomic societies, the members’ kitchens of the old town: the tourist board’s own experience opens one to a small party for three hours, cooking with the members or watching from the table, and we can arrange it for you.
The city and the bay
The bay from the water, the Belle Époque city on foot, an afternoon at the sea’s edge, and the festivals.
Between Monte Urgull and Monte Igeldo
Santa Clara island, La Concha Bay La Concha Bay under sail
- Allow
- 2 to 3 hours
A private yacht with a skipper takes you out on the bay that Monte Urgull and Monte Igeldo close between them, past the island of Santa Clara and its lighthouse, at sunset if the weather allows. The city’s tourist board lists skippered sailing boats for private hire, and we book one for your party, on request and subject to the sea.
The centre, and along La Concha
The Miramar Palace The Belle Époque city with a historian
- Allow
- About 2½ hours
When the walls came down, San Sebastián built a new centre in the manner of the Belle Époque. A historian walks you from the City Hall, built as a casino in 1887, past the Victoria Eugenia Theatre and the Hotel María Cristina, both of 1912, along the Avenida de la Libertad and over the María Cristina bridge, with its kiosks after the Pont Alexandre III in Paris; then along La Concha to the Miramar Palace, built in 1893 for Queen María Cristina’s summers, its gardens open above the bay.
On La Concha beach
An afternoon at La Perla
- Allow
- 2 to 3 hours
- Built
- 1912
The thalassotherapy centre on La Concha, built in 1912 and, in the tourist board’s words, one of the most beautiful of its time, runs a seawater circuit, treatments and massages, with a restaurant and terraces over the sand. We book the circuit or a treatment for your afternoon. Of our two featured hotels, Akelarre has a spa of its own, for adults.
Through the year
Fireworks over La Concha Bay The festivals
- Allow
- Varies
The Film Festival fills the Kursaal every September, and the Jazzaldia the city’s stages in the second half of July, from 21 to 25 July in 2027; the Quincena Musical brings classical music through August, and the Semana Grande ends each night of its week with fireworks over the bay. We reserve seats for the screenings and concerts where they are available. For the year’s dates, see our best time to visit San Sebastián, and for the rest of the country, the best time to visit Spain.
Beyond the city
Two days out: the fishing town of Getaria on the coast, and the vineyards of La Rioja to the south.
25 km west along the coast
Getaria and Monte San Antón Getaria
- Allow
- 5 to 6 hours
A walled medieval fishing town on a hillside, birthplace of Juan Sebastián Elcano, who brought the first voyage around the world home in 1522, and of Cristóbal Balenciaga, whose museum stands beside the Aldamar palace in the old quarter. Its harbour’s fish has long been cooked over the grill, and its vineyards make the txakoli of the Getariako Txakolina. A private tasting at a family winery, a walk round the harbour under Monte San Antón, the headland the town calls the Mouse, and lunch at the grill, with a private car from San Sebastián, all on request.
About 140 km south by road
La Rioja
- Allow
- A full day, 8 to 10 hours
Since 1991, Spain’s first Qualified Designation of Origin. Its Basque side, the Rioja Alavesa, lies north of the Ebro, with Laguardia, a walled town on a hill with cellars beneath its streets, and the wineries Santiago Calatrava and Frank Gehry built at Laguardia and Elciego; across the river, Haro’s bodegas stand around its railway station. A day of tastings at the wineries that receive guests, which we reserve ahead, with a private driver; or a night or two among the vineyards. See also wine tasting in Rioja and Spain’s wine regions.
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San Sebastián guides
- San Sebastián travel guide
When to go, where to stay, the food, the sights and three days in the city.
- San Sebastián food and cuisine
The Basque table, where to eat, and the market, the txakoli and the cider.
- Four days in San Sebastián
Four days, day by day: the bay, the market and the old town, Getaria, and San Telmo.
- Best time to visit San Sebastián
Season by season and month by month, with the festivals, the crowds and the rain to plan around.
Further afield in Spain: Spain’s castles and palaces, the most beautiful coastal towns and Spain’s national parks.
Plan your San Sebastián trip
Tell us your dates and who is travelling. Everything else we can work out together.
Plan your San Sebastián trip Our San Sebastián page
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