Do you like eating and drinking? Can you eat and drink without reprieve for hours on end? If you are willing to test your appetite endurance and alcohol tolerance then a weekend in San Sebastian is for you.
This small Basque city near the border with France is full of regional food and drink tradition and set on a beautiful little beach. I’m sure there are plenty of things to do in the city that don’t involve food, drink, and the beach, but we didn’t even look into said activities. We knew what we were coming for.
How to get to San Sebastian
Sam had been to San Sebastian twice before, once for a weekend and other time on a day trip. I had been by myself on a day trip from Biarritz seven years ago. We had been wanting to spend a weekend together in San Sebastian for a while, but the catalyst was when British Airways released a direct route from San Sebastian airport to London City Airport. The dreamiest of all routes.
San Sebastian isn’t the easiest place to get to normally. Most people get there via a bus from Santander, Bilbao, or Biarritz. The local airport only services four or five flights per day. This was the first direct route to/from the UK.
On a Friday at noon we alighted a train from Bilbao at Amara Donostia – San Sebastian’s main train station on the narrow-gauge Euskotren service which can take you all the way from the French border to Bilbao and beyond. The train was 2.5 hours and €5.50 each. If you wanted to cut down on that journey you can also take a bus for roughly the same price which only takes an hour.
We walked about 10 minutes to our hotel, Pension Garate, which was a block from the beach and less than a ten minute walk to San Sebastian old town, where we would spend most of our weekend. It was good value and well placed.
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Where to go in San Sebastian
There isn’t much point in making this a “how we spent each day” blog post, because each day was about the same. We lay down on the beach a bit, we ate and drank a lot, and we napped at siesta time around 4pm. We had 3.5 days here, which was quite greedy and bordering on body abuse. We’ll map out where we went and where you HAVE to go.
Visit a Cider House
One thing that you must do while in San Sebastian is visit a cider house. Basque cider, or Sagardoa, is one unique drink that you will find all over San Sebastian. This cider is not your average cider. Similar to lambic beer or wine, the apple juice from local apples is fermented with the natural yeasts from the skin of the fruit in barrels for months. It’s tart and funky, and isn’t force carbonated like many alcoholic ciders. Instead, the natural carbonation is set off by being poured into a large glass from a height. You usually get two to three fingers of cider poured from a 750ml bottle and the value is excellent, maybe €1.50 for a glass.
If you go to San Sebastian in the early spring, when all of the 100 or so regional cider houses are in full production, you can visit just about any of them. They will be serving a traditional menu of cod omelette or Spanish tortilla, fried cod with peppers and onion, unbelievably rare grilled steak, and cheese and quince. Plus, obviously, cider. Lots of cider.
A trip to Petritegi Cider House
When we went in August, there weren’t as many to choose from to visit. We opted for Petritegi, which is open just about all year around and easily accessible from town by a 10 minute bus and a 20 minute walk through apple orchards. Be sure to make a booking wherever you go, because there aren’t a lot of other options once you get out of town.
We were seated quickly and our table was ready to go with a 750ml bottle of house cider and a baguette. An amuse bouche of boiled chorizo was quickly brought to the table followed by the characteristic cod omelette and fried cod with peppers and onions. We finished our bottle of cider and they brought us another, more funky bottle.
¡Txotx!
When I went to the bathroom I saw that the cellar was open and people were drinking straight from the barrel. My heart skipped a beat. The menu had said that the barrels were only pouring in peak season, so we were expecting only a couple of bottles with our food. Nevertheless the cellar was packed with people lining up their glasses to a stream of cider rushing out of a large barrel.
Sam and I beelined in. We managed to try cider from four to six different barrels, each slightly different than the last, before we returned to our table for our immense steak and that funky bottle of cider. It was all so good.
After the steak we went back to the barrel room, where the tour had moved into another, colder room. After a few more ciders we went back to our table once again for a dessert of walnuts in nut, cheese and quince, and some almond cookies. We took one last trip to the last, coldest cider room before we left to catch our bus.
This was the single most expensive meal we had on this trip. It was €70 and included all you could drink cider from the barrel. It was so much fun and we would totally recommend visiting this cider house if you’re going in the off season!
The best bars and restaurants in San Sebastian
San Sebastian has a very high bar of quality for its food and drink. Even the worst things we ate were very good. And we ate many, many things. There is a pintxo culture, which means eating a very small portion of food standing at the bar. This way you can try many different things in many different places without getting completely overstuffed. Pintxos come both hot and cold. There is a big difference. The cold pintxos sit on the counter until refreshed and vary little bar to bar. The hot pintxos are ordered from menus and many bars have a house speciality that has been perfected over decades.
If you go to San Sebastian for a weekend and don’t visit these places to eat these hot pintxos, you may have missed out on some of the best snacks you will ever eat in your life.
Must Visit #1 – Bar Sport
We went to Bar Sport every day. We went so often over three days, that one evening, we actually forgot that we had already been that night, and went back two hours later.
I’m not a foie gras person, but Sam is. He says this is the best foie that he has ever eaten. He had several over these few days. For ethical reasons he limits his consumption and only eats it at Bar Sport (no joke).
Bar Sport is obviously a very special place because there is a second honourable mention dish. The burger.
When I first saw a burger on the menu, I assumed that it was for their tourist contingent. But after a couple of trips to this bar, I understood that there was zero catering to tourists. They just did what they did because it was the best. So I got the burger. And wow – this is definitely on the list of best sandwiches in the world.
This burger was just a coarsely ground high quality steak on a bun. That’s it. I loved the simplicity and the confidence of it. I don’t know why I only ate two of these on the trip.
Look for a “Pintxo Award” on the wall. Bar Sport had one for the foie but deserved one for the burger, too.
Must Visit #2 – Paco Bueno
Paco Bueno is a less premium experience than Bar Sport. It still falls into our ‘several visits on the trip’ for being so fun, casual, and having a deep fried shrimp pintxo that we ate every day. This also won a pintxo award.
Must Visit #3 – La Vina
La Vina had a cheesecake which looked and cut like a cloud. Not for me but looking at it I knew that anyone who liked cheesecake, would have to love this. Sam concurred.
Must Visit #4 – Bar Nestor
Bar Nestor is the last of the “if you don’t visit this place you’ve let yourself down” bar on the trip. It is not your typical San Sebastian bar, as rather than having a small snack you’ll have a sit down meal. There are 8 seats and room for another 8 at the bar. They are famous for Spanish tortilla and steak. You’ll want to try both and you’ll have to organise yourself to achieve this.
The Tortilla
Here’s the deal with the deal. They make two tortillas a day. 16 slices each. One appears at 1pm when they open for lunch and one at 8pm when they open after siesta. The reservations list for tortilla opens up an hour before each appearance. If you’re not at Bar Nestor at 12pm or 7pm you will likely miss out. You will also not get a seat for the steak because the line will be too big by the time they open. When you arrive at Bar Nestor you order a slice of tortilla AND reserve yourself a space in the bar. Sam and I arrived at 12:15 and missed out on the tortilla pre-order and had to wait until after the first serving to enter, which was shortly after 1pm. So learn from our mistake and just get there for 12pm. You can then return for 1pm or 8pm SHARP and wait for your name to be called from the list, before you smugly walk past the losers who arrived at 12.15pm (or 7.15pm).
The Steak
All is not lost if you miss the tortilla. Bar Nestor is also famous for their steaks, and the tomato salad and padrons you will eat whilst you wait for it. It was unreal and so fresh. I had a few txakolis, which is the local sparkling white wine. I loved drinking this wine and it looked completely different to other white wines. So pale, sparkly, and carbonated, and poured into your glass from a height, just like their local cider. I would drink this all day every day forever.
This was our second most expensive bill of the trip, and came in at €70.
The Best Of The Rest
Thanks to that pintxo culture, if you’re in San Sebastian just for a weekend you should still easily be able to visit all of the following 15 bars and restaurants. They are all worth seeking out for one reason or another.
La Cepa de Bernardo
La Cepa de Bernardo was my favourite place that didn’t make the “must go” list. We went back three times during our weekend in San Sebastian.
When you walk in, the smell of jamon hanging from the ceiling is overpowering (even for a jamon lover like myself), but give yourself a minute to adjust because the food is totally worth it.
Here over a few days we drank Txakolis, ciders, and a couple of bottles of Estrella Galicia. The most surprising dish of the trip was a plate of mushrooms served with an egg yolk. It was small and it wasn’t cheap, but it was just one of those dishes that takes you aback. I also had a jamon sandwich another day. Go here for sure.
Bar Borda Berri
Borda Berri was delicious. By the time we arrived at 11pm we were told they only had a veal cheek dish left. We had one each and it was excellent.
Despite what we were first told Sam also managed to try their signature Idiazabal risotto dish when some spares came out of the kitchen! We suspect this place could have made it to the ‘must visit’ list if we had given it more attention.
Bar Txepetxa
We visited Bar Txepetxa a couple of times, it was just such a great little bar. They are famous for their made-to-order anchovy pintxos. We had our first Keler beers here, another, more pleasing local lager, as well as a boiled chorizo. This is also where we got drinks while we waited for our seats at Bar Nestor, because who minds waiting an hour for a table when you’re just having a drink anyway.
La Cuchara de San Telmo
At La Cuchara de San Telmo we had last of our three full meals, after the ciderhouse and Bar Nestor. This little restaurant only had outdoor seating and came highly recommended by one of the owners of the business for which I work. We had a cold beet soup, a square of suckling pig with apple, and a tenderised pig’s ear smashed on the griddle.
La Espiga
La Espiga was our first stop after checking into our hotel.
We had cañas*, fried guindilla peppers, and a tortilla. Guindilla peppers are native to Basque Country. They are similar to padron peppers in flavour, but thinner and a bit more bitter. The next day we came back for the truffle tortilla. This was delicious, but not worth the threefold increase in price vs the standard tortilla.
*in the majority of Spain, a caña is a small glass of beer, usually the smallest. In Basque Country, a caña is the biggest size, and a zurito is the smallest!
Casa Gandarias
I had been to Casa Gandarias on my solo trip years earlier, and I knew I wanted to come back. I remember everyone tucking into red wines for very little money. We made it back, and while the wines were still excellent value, I wouldn’t describe them as “very little money.” Inflation, eh? Order the sirloin skewer (brocheta de chuleta), not the sirloin (solomillo) – they’re the same price and the skewer is about 15 times the size! The red wines here were excellent as well as being temperature controlled, which is a must for me.
Akerbeltz
Akerbeltz was a pleasant surprise find after visiting the Kuruko Andrew Mariaren Baslika, on our way home for a siesta. Their terrace overlooked the water and got all of the sunlight. Inside they had a selection of local craft beers, including Basqueland, where one of my former colleagues was the current head brewer. If you see any Basqueland beers, jump on them, because they are amazing. And this is coming from someone very jaded by drinking craft beers abroad, who only really drinks local lagers when traveling. This bar became our favourite places to come for one last drink before a siesta.
Bar Desy
We crossed the bridge out of the main area of San Sebastian and into the more local side – the neighbourhood of Gros. Bar Desy was our first stop on the other side, and we both loved this bar. It was old school with a modern twist. We had a couple of Basqueland beers and a delicious meatball pintxo.
Bodega Donostiarra
Bodega Donostiarra was such a fun bar, still on the other side of the bridge in Gros. We each ordered a tortilla, which was freshly made rather than coming out as a slice of a communal tortilla, and their house specialty of a meat in tomato stew. Sam also had a salmon pintxo.
Antonio Bar
Fun bar with outdoor seating leaning into a bar wrapping around the restaurant. We had some bacon wrapped shrimp and a ravioli dish which was recommended to us but which we didn’t love. Antonio Bar is definitely worth a drink though as it’s quite fun.
Basqueland Izakaia
We happened to walk past this bar, a Basqueland Brewery taproom with Japanese food, and stopped for a drink after loving their beers. Very modern and craft beer-y kind of place rather than a Spanish bar, but we enjoyed it. We didn’t order food here.
Txuleta
This was a delicious, but very slow place for pintxos. While we do recommend Txuleta please don’t go in the prime hours! We waited half an hour for a steak skewer pintxo.
Tamboril
Tamboril was a beautiful setup and while the food was very nice, it was missing the San Sebastian vibe. Not sure if it was just the crowd or if it is something inherent to the restaurant. The food was good – we had padrons and mushroom on broth – so definitely worth a trip.
La Mejillonera
La Mejillonera is a fish fry bar through and through, with shrimp tails and used napkins on the ground. We had fried calamari and a couple of zuritos.
Hollywood Disco Pub
What a great night time dive bar. We stumbled into Hollywood Disco Pub a couple of times as our last stop before going back to our hotel. The middle aged bartender would often show patrons salacious photos of her online dating life. Her teenage son was inappropriately (on so many levels) working with her behind the bar. It was great.
Other places we visited
Bartolo Taberna – I had a steak skewer pintxo and Sam had a shrimp. Not at the top of the list. We discovered here that a very popular beer on tap, the 1836, is a dark lager that we wanted nothing to do with. We regretted ordering cañas over zuritos and left most of it behind.
Fermin Calbeton – one of the more ‘high end’ / modern places that we visited. The solomillo was excellent. I also accidentally ordered some grilled lettuce when I was trying to practice my Spanish. For this, Sam made fun of me for what felt like ages, because it also took 20 minutes to come out.
Cafe IruBi – came for a couple of espressos and an almond pastry after a siesta. Good but don’t seek it out. Almond pastry was excellent.
Bar Aitona Restaurante – this was a brightly lit, old fashioned restaurant. We ordered a tomato salad made from fresh Valencian tomatoes on display and a jug of olive oil. It was amazing. We intended to come back for more food but never did. Maybe it was for the best, because that tomato salad was amazing and the restaurant had rotisserie chicken which wasn’t very San Sebastian.
Casa Alcalde – we got a beer overlooking the basilica. Expensive. Don’t bother.
La Taberna de Blas – good pit stop next to our hotel for a couple of sandwiches at a reasonable price before heading to the beach. Very busy, probably because not many places are open in the morning!
The end of a weekend in San Sebastian
Our flight home on Monday was at 17:25, and we took a 45 minute public transport bus for €3 straight to the airport. We were devastated that the airport didn’t contain a store where we could buy some cider, txakoli, or any of our other favourite foods/drinks from the trip. We had really banked on that.
San Sebastian is one of the most delicious and fun corners of the world. It is completely unique and an experience in its own right. While it isn’t the cheapest place to go or the easiest place to get to in Spain, it is 110% worth your while and still incredible value. We really cannot recommend it enough! A long weekend here in San Sebastian old town is probably enough, but the surrounding Basque Country is full of gems so an extended stay of a week or more would be worth it.
