San Sebastian
7/26/2025
We took a bus from Bilbao about 1.5 hours east to the coastal town of San Sebastian which is very close to the French boarder.
We really wanted to love this town… we had heard and read so much about how beautiful it is and how it is an absolute must see. Except from our tour guide the day before who said it is a pretty town, but absolutely PACKED with tourists (and the locals aren’t crazy about all the tourism). Wow, he was right about it being crowded! We also arrived to pouring rain which didn’t help our opinion of the town. We sat in a café and drank coffee and read for about an hour before we could even get our day started – therefore, we had less time than originally planned.
Once the rain stopped, we did a walking tour and saw a bit of the town and learned a few tid- bits of info. Then we planned our own wine bar tour. We headed to our first stop which was in old town and attempted to get our first glass of wine, but the place was so crowded that it took Grady about 20 minutes just to push his way through the people and get to the bar. After that, we ditched the next few stops on our self-made tour and got out of old town. We found another wine bar away from the crowds where we spent the remainder of our time in San Sebastian.
The town is definitely known for their food – there are tons of restaurants, bars, and quite a few Michelin rated restaurants. The old town is beautiful, and you can see some remains of the original wall and a palace across the bay. And the beach is stunning (even on a cloudy day). The town became a popular vacation destination for Spanish royalty in the 19th century (and for literally everyone else since). It is way more expensive than other towns on the northern coast of Spain and (in our opinion) not really any better than other towns. All in all, I think it is worth seeing, but maybe avoid peak season.
Below you can add a comment: type your text in the white box and then Post Comment. If you get a second panel, you just need to enter your name and then hit ‘comment as guest’.
Be nice with your comments, we can always delete them 😊
