San Sebastian: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
In 1813 British and Portuguese troops besieged San Sebastián to drive out Napoleon’s garrison, took it, and then sacked and burned it; one street survived. The old town rebuilt on the same grid became the densest eating district in Europe — bars where the counter is covered in small things on bread, the pintxos, and you eat standing and move on. Two hours, flat, best between noon and two or after eight.
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A short history of San Sebastian
Around 1180 Sancho VI, King of Navarre, granted town rights to the fishing settlement on La Concha Bay so that his kingdom would have an outlet to the sea. In 1813, during the Napoleonic Wars, the town was almost completely burned by the British and Portuguese forces that captured it from the French, and it was rebuilt on a grid of streets. From the middle of the 19th century Queen Isabella II spent her summers here, and the town became a resort of the aristocracy. In 1953 the film festival was held here for the first time, and in 2016 it was the European Capital of Culture.
The ten best sights in San Sebastian
1La ConchaThe shell-shaped bay and town beach, with its white railing
2Isla Santa ClaraThe island in the mouth of the bay; a boat goes over in summer
3Monte IgueldoA funicular up to an old-fashioned fairground and the classic view
4Monte UrgullPaths through woods to the castle and the giant Christ on top
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5Peine del Viento
Chillida’s steel sculptures gripping the rocks where the waves hit
6Calle 31 de AgostoThe only street that survived the burning of 1813
7Santa María del CoroA baroque front facing straight down the street to the cathedral
8San Telmo MuseoaThe Basque museum in a convent, with golden murals in the church
9PortThe fishing harbour under Urgull, and the grills on the quay
10AquariumA glass tunnel under the sharks, at the end of the port
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What is an audio walk?
Tours in San Sebastian →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in San Sebastian:
Free walking tours in San Sebastian
A town that burned and ate
In 1813 British and Portuguese troops besieged San Sebastián to drive out Napoleon’s garrison, took it, and then sacked and burned it; one street survived. The old town rebuilt on the same grid became the densest eating district in Europe — bars where the counter is covered in small things on bread, the pintxos, and you eat standing and move on. Two hours, flat, best between noon and two or after eight.
- Calle 31 de Agosto · The street is named after the day in 1813 when the allied troops broke in and the fire began. The houses here, at the foot of Monte Urgull, were the only ones left standing, and the town still marks the anniversary every year with candles in the windows.
- Santa María del Coro · A baroque church whose carved façade looks straight down the main street of the old town to the cathedral at the far end of the new town — two churches built to face each other across a whole city.
- Parte Vieja · The rule is one pintxo and one drink per bar, then the next bar. Most of the counters carry cold pintxos on bread; the hot ones are ordered from a board and made to order, and that is where the bars compete. The bill is often settled on trust at the end — you tell them what you had.
- San Telmo Museoa · The museum of Basque society, in a sixteenth-century Dominican convent. The Basques speak a language unrelated to any other in Europe, and the museum tells their story from whaling and fishing to the cooperatives. The old church inside is covered by huge gold-and-sepia murals of Basque history painted by Josep Maria Sert.
- Monte Urgull · The wooded hill at the end of the old town, with the castle of La Mota on top and a giant statue of Christ above it. On its slopes is the cemetery of the English, where officers who fell in the Carlist wars of the 1830s are buried facing the sea.
- Casa Vallés · In the 1940s a regular at this bar put an olive, an anchovy and a pickled green chilli on a toothpick, and somebody said it was green, salty and a little spicy — like Rita Hayworth in the film Gilda. The pintxo has been called the Gilda ever since, and it is still served here.
The queen’s bay
In the 1880s the Spanish queen regent Maria Cristina chose San Sebastián for her summers, and the court, the aristocracy and then everyone else followed. The town that grew around the bay is belle époque — a casino, a palace, promenades and a grand hotel — and at each end of the bay a hill closes the view. An afternoon on foot, ending at the sculptures at sunset.
- City Hall · This was built in 1887 as the Gran Casino, where the summer society gambled. When gambling was banned in Spain in 1924 the casino closed, and the town moved its hall into it, which is why the city is governed from a building with a ballroom.
- La Concha · The bay is almost closed by the island of Santa Clara, so the water is calm, and the curve of the beach gave it its name, the shell. The white iron railing along the promenade, made in 1910, appears on souvenirs and wallpaper across Spain.
- Palacio de Miramar · Built for the queen in 1893 in the style of an English country house, on the rise between the two beaches. Its lawns are a public park now, and from them the whole bay lies below, with the island in its mouth.
- Monte Igueldo · A wooden funicular of 1912 climbs to an old fairground on the summit, where the roller coaster built in 1928 runs on the edge of the cliff and the cars are pushed by a brakeman who rides along. The view of the bay from here is the postcard.
- Ondarreta · The western beach, below the palace gardens, where the families of the town come; La Concha belongs to the visitors. Along it are the striped bathing tents that have stood on this beach since the days of the court.
- Peine del Viento · Eduardo Chillida, born in San Sebastián and once goalkeeper for the town’s football club, set three steel sculptures into the rocks at the end of the bay in 1977, like fingers combing the wind. On stormy days the sea shoots up through holes in the stone platform beside them.
Whalers, fishermen and Elcano
The Basques were Europe’s great whalers and sailors, and the coast on either side of San Sebastián is a string of fishing towns, each with its harbour, its grills and its story. This route goes east to the border and then west, past the sailor who finished the first voyage round the world. A full day and a car, or the coastal bus.
- Albaola · In 1565 a Basque whaling ship, the San Juan, sank in Labrador on the far side of the Atlantic, where the Basques hunted whales a century before anyone else. Its wreck was found in 1978, and in this shipyard on the inlet of Pasaia carpenters are building an exact copy by hand, with sixteenth-century tools.
- Pasai Donibane · A fishing village that is a single street squeezed between the hill and the water, crossed from the other side of the inlet by a little motorboat. Victor Hugo stayed here in 1843 and wrote about it; the house is a small museum.
- Hondarribia · A walled town on the river that is the French border, with a castle of Charles V at the top and, below the walls, a fishermen’s quarter of houses painted green, red and blue with wooden balconies of flowers. France is a five-minute ferry across the water.
- Getaria · Juan Sebastián Elcano was born in this fishing town. He sailed with Magellan in 1519, and when Magellan was killed in the Philippines it was Elcano who brought the last ship home to Spain in 1522 — the first voyage round the world. Today Getaria is famous for whole fish grilled over charcoal in the street and for txakoli, the local sparkling white.
- Balenciaga Museum · Cristóbal Balenciaga, the son of a fisherman and a seamstress, was born in Getaria in 1895 and became the couturier Christian Dior called the master of us all. The museum, in a palace and a glass extension on the hill over the harbour, shows his dresses.
- Zumaia · Below the town the cliffs are made of thin rock layers stacked like the pages of a book and tilted on end, laid down on the sea floor over millions of years. In one of them geologists can see the line left by the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, and the beach was a set for Game of Thrones.
Getting to San Sebastian and getting around
- San Sebastián Airport · A small airport at Hondarribia, half an hour away; Bilbao and Biarritz have more flights
- Donostia Station · Trains to Madrid and the coast, across the river from the centre
Cheap eats in San Sebastian
The counter is the whole point of San Sebastián: pintxos, small bites on bread or on a stick, laid out along the bar of every tavern in the old town, a couple of euro each, eaten standing with a small glass — a zurito of beer or a txakoli poured from a height. The hot pintxos made to order are where the bars show off, and the town has more Michelin stars per head than almost anywhere on earth.
- Parte Vieja · Bar to bar, one pintxo each
- Casa Vallés · The original Gilda
- Port · Grilled sardines and squid in the harbour bars
- Getaria · Turbot grilled whole in the street, and txakoli
- Tolosa · Black beans, peppers and sheep’s cheese at the Saturday market
- Hondarribia · Pintxos in the fishermen’s quarter
Museums in San Sebastian
The Basques are one of the oldest peoples in Europe, with a language unrelated to any other, and the museums around San Sebastián tell their story through the sea — whaling, fishing, shipbuilding — and through two artists from this coast, a sculptor and a couturier.
- San Telmo Museoa · Basque society, and Sert’s golden murals
- Chillida Leku · The sculptor’s farm and meadows
- Balenciaga Museum · The dresses of the master couturier
- Albaola · A whaling ship being rebuilt by hand
- Aquarium · Sharks overhead and the maritime museum
Nature and day trips near San Sebastian
The Basque coast is green and wet, with steep hills dropping to the Bay of Biscay in cliffs and coves. The big Atlantic swell makes it one of the surf coasts of Europe, and the geology at Zumaia is a record of the earth’s history laid bare.
- Zumaia · The layered cliffs at low tide
- Monte Urgull · Wooded paths over the sea in the middle of town
- Jaizkibel · A ridge road and coast walk with wild horses
- Zurriola · The surf beach in the city
- Zarautz · Long sand, dunes and surf schools
- Isla Santa Clara · A boat to the island in summer, and a swim
Things to do in San Sebastian with kids
A calm town beach, an aquarium with a shark tunnel, an old fairground on a mountain reached by a wooden funicular, and a boat to an island: San Sebastián is very easy with children, and the pintxo bars welcome them too.
- Monte Igueldo · The funicular and the old fairground
- Aquarium · The tunnel under the sharks
- La Concha · Calm water in the bay
- Peine del Viento · Sea spray shooting out of the ground
- Monte Urgull · Cannons and a castle on the hill
- Pasai Donibane · The little boat across the inlet
Holy places in San Sebastian
The Basque Country gave the Catholic Church one of its most influential figures, Ignatius of Loyola, the soldier who founded the Jesuits, and his birthplace inland is one of the great sanctuaries of Spain. In San Sebastián itself, two churches face each other across the whole length of the town.
- Sanctuary of Loyola · The Jesuit founder’s house inside a baroque basilica
- Santa María del Coro · The baroque church of the old town
- Buen Pastor Cathedral · The neo-Gothic cathedral facing it
- Monte Urgull · The giant Christ over the bay
- San Telmo Museoa · A Dominican convent and its church
Nightlife in San Sebastian
The night in San Sebastián starts with the pintxo crawl in the old town and carries on in the bars of Gros across the river. In September the film festival fills the town with stars, and in July the jazz festival with music on the beach.
- Parte Vieja · The pintxo crawl after eight
- Zurriola · The bars of Gros and the jazz festival by the Kursaal
- Hotel María Cristina · The film festival’s red carpet in September
- La Concha · The evening walk along the railing
- Biarritz · The French surf town’s nights
Frequently asked questions about San Sebastian
What is there to see in San Sebastian?
The top sights in San Sebastian are La Concha, Isla Santa Clara and Monte Igueldo. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in San Sebastian?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of San Sebastian without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in San Sebastian?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in San Sebastian, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: A town that burned and ate.
How do you get to San Sebastian and get around?
The main ways are San Sebastián Airport and Donostia Station. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in San Sebastian, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in San Sebastian that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in San Sebastian for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.