---
title: "Top 10 Things To Do in San Sebastián, Spain | Wimup"
description: "The 10 best things to do in San Sebastián, ranked: the pintxo counters of the Parte Vieja, La Concha, the 1912 Igueldo funicular and the Peine del Viento."
url: https://wimup.com/city/san-sebastian
type: City guide
updated: 2026-08-23
publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com)
---

# Top 10 Things To Do in San Sebastián

San Sebastián, Spain · Europe · By Wimup Editorial, 15 min read

San Sebastián is Donostia in Basque, a city of 188,000 wrapped around a shell-shaped bay on the Bay of Biscay. It burned almost completely in 1813 and was rebuilt as a royal summer resort, which is why a working Basque port carries Belle Époque railings and a bathing beach in the middle of it.

## Quick answer

The best things to do in San Sebastián are a pintxo crawl through the Parte Vieja, the full arc of La Concha, the 1912 funicular up Monte Igueldo, the climb to the Castillo de la Mota on Urgull, and Chillida's Peine del Viento at the end of Ondarreta. Three days is the right length: one for the old town and the bay, one for the beaches and the hills, one for the coast road or a starred table.

## Quick facts

- **Best months:** May · Jun · Sep
- **Ideal length:** 3 days
- **Budget per day:** €110–180
- **Language:** Basque and Spanish
- **Getting around:** On foot across the centre, Dbus city buses and Euskotren beyond
- **Tourism board:** [↗ Website](https://sansebastianturismoa.eus/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## The 10 best things to do in San Sebastián

### 1. Crawl the pintxo bars of Calle 31 de Agosto

Food · 31 de Agosto Kalea, Parte Vieja, 20003 Donostia

The reason most people come, and it works as a route rather than a meal: one pintxo and one small glass per bar, then on. Some bars trade on what is laid along the counter, others cook to order from a board, and the second kind eats better. Start around 8pm, allow four or five bars, and pay as you go.

- **Time:** 3 hrs
- **Cost:** Pay per pintxo
- **Best at:** Early evening
- **Tip:** Order one thing at a time. A plate piled with pintxos from four bars is a tourist tell, and the hot ones arrive cold.

### 2. Walk the full arc of La Concha

Beach · Paseo de La Concha, 20007 Donostia

La Concha is the shell the city is named for, closed by Urgull on one side, Igueldo on the other and Santa Clara island in the mouth. The walk that matters is the promenade above the sand, with its white railing and Belle Époque lamps, about 40 minutes end to end. The tide changes the beach completely.

- **Time:** 1 hr
- **Cost:** Free
- **Best at:** Sunset
- **Tip:** Check the tide table before planning a swim. The difference between high and low water here is large enough to remove most of the beach.

### 3. Ride the 1912 funicular up Monte Igueldo

Viewpoint · Plaza del Funicular 4, 20008 Donostia

The postcard view of San Sebastián is taken from the top of Igueldo: the whole bay, the island in the middle and the old town stacked under Urgull. The funicular opened in 1912 under Queen María Cristina and still runs wooden cars. At the summit is an old-fashioned amusement park and the terrace that is the point.

- **Time:** 1 hr 30
- **Cost:** Ticketed
- **Best at:** Late afternoon
- **Tip:** Buy a return on the funicular and stay for the light. Dbus line 16 runs to Igeldo if the funicular is closed for maintenance.

### 4. Climb Monte Urgull to the Castillo de la Mota

Fortress · Monte Urgull, Parte Vieja, 20003 Donostia

Urgull is the wooded hill behind the old town, and the paths up start beside the aquarium or at Santa María. Twenty minutes of switchbacks reaches the Castillo de la Mota, with gun batteries scattered down the slopes. The castle holds the Casa de la Historia, and a 12-metre Christ stands above it. Free.

- **Time:** 2 hrs
- **Cost:** Free
- **Best at:** Morning
- **Tip:** Come down the seaward side onto the Paseo Nuevo, the sea wall that rings the base of the hill, rather than back the way you came.

Links: [Website](https://www.santelmomuseoa.eus/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 5. Stand at Chillida’s Peine del Viento

Sculpture · Paseo Eduardo Chillida, 20008 Donostia

Three rusted steel claws bolted into the rocks where Ondarreta runs out, set in 1977 by Eduardo Chillida. The setting is Peña Ganchegui's: a terrace of stone steps with blowholes cut into it, so a rough sea forces spray up through the paving under your feet. That is when to come. In flat calm it is metal on a rock.

- **Time:** 30 min
- **Cost:** Free
- **Best at:** High tide in a westerly swell
- **Tip:** The blowholes fire hardest at high tide with an onshore wind. Stand back from the vents and expect to get wet.

### 6. Take in Basque history at San Telmo Museoa

Museum · Zuloaga Plaza 1, Parte Vieja, 20003 Donostia

The oldest museum in the Basque Country, in a sixteenth-century Dominican convent with a perforated extension bolted on in 2011. The old half earns the ticket: the church nave is lined with eleven vast sepia and gold canvases by Josep Maria Sert. The collection runs from prehistoric stelae to industrial Gipuzkoa.

- **Time:** 2 hrs
- **Cost:** Ticketed
- **Best at:** Late morning
- **Tip:** The museum also runs the Casa de la Historia in the castle on Urgull, so it is worth pairing the two in one morning.

Links: [Website](https://www.santelmomuseoa.eus/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 7. Get in the water at Zurriola

Beach · Zurriola Hondartza, Gros, 20002 Donostia

Across the Urumea from the centre, Zurriola faces open ocean rather than the sheltered bay, which makes it the surf beach and the young one. Schools and board hire line the sand, and the swell picks up through autumn. Swimming here is a different proposition from the bay, with real waves and rips, so read the flags.

- **Time:** 2 hrs
- **Cost:** Free
- **Best at:** Autumn for the swell
- **Tip:** Gros, the neighbourhood behind the beach, has as good a pintxo scene as the old town and about a third of the queue.

### 8. See the Kursaal, then time a trip for the film festival

Architecture · Avenida de Zurriola 1, Gros, 20002 Donostia

Two translucent glass cubes stand where the Urumea meets Zurriola beach, designed by Rafael Moneo and opened in 1999. He called them two beached rocks, and they read that way from the sand: opaque by day, lit from within after dark. Every September the building hosts the festival that awards the Concha de Oro.

- **Time:** 45 min
- **Cost:** Free outside
- **Best at:** After dark
- **Tip:** Festival tickets go on public sale before the September dates and the popular screenings clear quickly. Book accommodation for that week months out.

Links: [Website](https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 9. Visit the Aquarium in the Palacio del Mar

Aquarium · Plaza Carlos Blasco de Imaz 1, 20003 Donostia

At the end of the harbour quay under Urgull, in a building that has been a museum of the sea since 1928. Two things at once: a naval and fishing collection upstairs, complete with a whale skeleton, and a modern aquarium below with a walk-through tunnel. The Cantabrian tanks hold most of what is on the pintxo counters.

- **Time:** 2 hrs
- **Cost:** Ticketed
- **Best at:** A rainy afternoon
- **Tip:** The harbour quay it stands on is also the best place in the city to eat grilled fish outdoors at lunch.

Links: [Website](https://aquariumss.com/en/english/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 10. Boat out to Santa Clara island

Island · Puerto de Donostia, Parte Vieja, 20003 Donostia

The island in the mouth of the bay is a ten-minute motorboat ride from the harbour and a genuine change of register: no cars, a small beach that appears at low tide, a lighthouse and a path to a viewpoint. Boats run through the summer and stop out of it, so this is a June to September plan.

- **Time:** 2 hrs
- **Cost:** Ticketed
- **Best at:** Summer, low tide
- **Tip:** The boat runs in the summer season only. Out of season the island is visible from everywhere and reachable by nobody.

## Best pintxo bars in San Sebastián

Ten counters across the Parte Vieja, the Centro and Gros. One pintxo and one small glass at each, then move on.

1. **Bar Néstor** (Tortilla and txuleta · Parte Vieja): A tiny room that makes exactly two tortillas a day and writes down names half an hour before each. The other order is a txuleta.
2. **La Cuchara de San Telmo** (Cooked to order · Parte Vieja): No counter display at all. Everything is cooked to order from a board, and the braised veal cheek is what the room is built on.
3. **Ganbara** (Wild mushrooms · Parte Vieja): The mushroom pintxo is the one: wild fungi seared on the plancha with an egg yolk on top. A full restaurant downstairs, and the bar fills fast.
4. **Borda Berri** (Chalkboard only · Parte Vieja): A narrow bar with the menu chalked on the wall and nothing on the counter. Order the veal-cheek kebab and the Idiazabal risotto.
5. **Bar Txepetxa** (Anchovies · Parte Vieja): Anchovies about a dozen ways on bread: with sea urchin, with crab, with papaya. A single-subject bar with no real competition.
6. **Casa Vallés** (The original gilda · Centro): The bar credited with inventing the gilda around 1947, the skewer of olive, guindilla and anchovy. Out of the old town, and the better for it. [Website](https://www.barvalles.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
7. **La Viña** (Burnt cheesecake · Parte Vieja): Santiago Rivera created the burnt Basque cheesecake here in 1990. The wheels sit on the bar all day, scorched outside and barely set in the middle.
8. **Atari Gastroteka** (Late and modern · Parte Vieja): Opposite the Santa María basilica, with tables in the square. The newer style of pintxo bar, where the cocktails get the same attention as the food.
9. **Bar Bergara** (Constructed pintxos · Gros): Across the river in Gros, and one of the bars that made the constructed pintxo its own thing. The txalupa is the house piece. [Website](https://pinchosbergara.es/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
10. **Bodega Donostiarra** (Old-school bodega · Gros): A neighbourhood bodega in Gros with tiled walls and marble tables: tortilla, anchovies, tinned seafood, Idiazabal. The antidote to tweezers. [Website](https://www.bodegadonostiarra.com/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best restaurants in San Sebastián

Seven kitchens, three of them holding three Michelin stars, and one that is a pintxo bar downstairs.

1. **Arzak** (Three stars · Alto de Miracruz): Three Michelin stars, held by Juan Mari Arzak and his daughter Elena in the family house east of the city. The kitchen that started New Basque Cuisine. [Website](https://www.arzak.info/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Akelarre** (Three stars · Igeldo): Pedro Subijana's dining room on the Igueldo hillside, with the Cantabrian Sea filling one wall. Three stars, and the one where the view is part of it. [Website](https://akelarre.net/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Martín Berasategui** (Three stars · Lasarte-Oria): Three stars in Lasarte-Oria, twenty minutes southwest. The most classically precise of the three, and the training ground for the region's chefs.
4. **Mugaritz** (Two stars · Errenteria): Andoni Luis Aduriz's two-star kitchen in a farmhouse at Errenteria, closed for months each year to develop the next menu. Provocative rather than comfortable.
5. **Kokotxa** (One star · Parte Vieja): One star, in a lane in the old town, and the easiest of the starred rooms to get into at short notice. Built on the same Cantabrian fish.
6. **Amelia by Paulo Airaudo** (Tasting menu · Centro): A small, sharply modern tasting-menu room in the Centro from an Argentine-Italian chef. Counter seats face the pass.
7. **Casa Urola** (Bar and dining room · Parte Vieja): A pintxo bar at street level and a proper dining room upstairs, both in the Michelin selection. The best answer to a night with no plan. [Website](https://casaurolajatetxea.es/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best beaches in San Sebastián

Four beaches inside the city, each with a different job.

1. **La Concha** (Sheltered swimming · Centro): The bay beach and the postcard: shallow, sheltered by the island, backed by the Belle Époque promenade. Best for a swim in flat water and a long walk at low tide.
2. **Ondarreta** (Families · Antiguo): The western continuation of the same bay, past the Miramar Palace and under Igueldo. Wider, quieter, more families, and the Peine del Viento at the far end of it.
3. **Zurriola** (Surf · Gros): Open ocean across the river in Gros. Surf schools along the back of the sand, real waves and rips, and the youngest crowd of the three city beaches.
4. **Santa Clara** (Summer boat only · The bay): A pocket of sand on the island in the bay that shows at low tide, reached by motorboat in summer. No cars, and a path to the lighthouse.

## Best museums in San Sebastián

Six museums, from Basque history in a Dominican cloister to a museum of the sea that opened in 1928.

1. **San Telmo Museoa** (Basque history and art · Parte Vieja): The oldest museum in the Basque Country, in a sixteenth-century convent with a 2011 extension. Sert’s eleven canvases in the church nave are the single best thing in it. [Website](https://www.santelmomuseoa.eus/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Aquarium Donostia** (Aquarium · Parte Vieja): A museum of the sea since 1928 at the end of the harbour quay, half naval history with a whale skeleton, half aquarium with a walk-through shark tunnel. [Website](https://aquariumss.com/en/english/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Tabakalera** (Contemporary culture · Egia): The old state tobacco factory in Egia, now a centre for contemporary culture: exhibitions, a film archive, a library floor and a rooftop terrace. [Website](https://www.tabakalera.eus/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Eureka! Zientzia Museoa** (Science, with kids · Miramón): The Basque interactive science museum at Miramón, with hands-on rooms and a planetarium. The strongest wet-day plan with children. [Website](https://www.eurekamuseoa.eus/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Untzi Museoa** (Maritime history · Parte Vieja): The Basque maritime museum in the eighteenth-century Consulado tower on the quay. Small, free, and precise on whaling and shipbuilding.
6. **Casa de la Historia** (City history · Monte Urgull): Inside the Castillo de la Mota at the top of Monte Urgull. Models and objects covering the charter, the sieges, the 1813 fire and the rebuilding. [Website](https://www.santelmomuseoa.eus/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best viewpoints & hikes in San Sebastián

Six climbs and lookouts, one of them served by a funicular that has run since 1912.

1. **Monte Igueldo** (Funicular · Igeldo): The classic view of the bay, from the terrace at the top of the 1912 funicular. An old-fashioned amusement park shares the summit.
2. **Monte Urgull** (Free, 20 min climb · Parte Vieja): Twenty minutes of switchbacks from the old town to the Castillo de la Mota and the statue of Christ. Free, wooded, and the closest big view.
3. **Peine del Viento** (Sculpture and sea · Antiguo): Chillida's three steel forms in the rocks at the end of Ondarreta. Come at high tide with a swell running and the paving blows spray at you.
4. **Paseo Nuevo** (Sea wall walk · Parte Vieja): The sea wall around the base of Monte Urgull, joining the harbour to the Zurriola side. In heavy weather the waves come clean over it.
5. **Monte Ulia** (Quiet hill paths · Gros): The wooded hill east of Zurriola, laced with paths and old mirador terraces, and quiet in a way the other two hills never are. The climb starts from the top end of Gros.
6. **Coast path to Pasai Donibane** (3 hrs one way · East of the city): The Camino del Norte leaves the city over Ulia and drops to the fishing village on its harbour channel, about three hours on foot. Bus back.

## Best neighborhoods in San Sebastián

Six quarters, from the rebuilt old town to the surf side of the river.

1. **Parte Vieja** (Pintxos and noise · Old town): The old town under Urgull: a grid of narrow streets rebuilt after 1813, and the densest concentration of pintxo bars anywhere. Loud until late, and priced accordingly.
2. **Gros** (Surf and bars · East bank): Across the Urumea behind Zurriola beach. Surf shops, a bar scene as good as the old town with shorter queues, and the neighbourhood most locals send you to for dinner.
3. **Centro** (Belle Époque grid · City centre): The nineteenth-century grid laid out when the walls came down: wide streets, the Buen Pastor cathedral, the shopping, and the shortest walk to La Concha.
4. **Antiguo** (Quiet, better value · West end): The western end, behind Ondarreta and under Igueldo. Residential, calmer, better value for a stay, and a 25-minute walk or a short bus ride from the old town.
5. **Amara** (Local and central · South): South of the centre along the river, around the Reale Arena and the stations. Almost no visitors, ordinary prices, convenient if you arrive by rail.
6. **Egia** (Culture and park · Southeast): The hillside quarter behind the Renfe station, anchored by Tabakalera and Cristina Enea park. The least polished of the six and the one changing fastest.

## Best day trips in San Sebastián

Eight trips along the coast and inland, seven of them doable without a car.

1. **Bilbao** (1 hr 15 by bus · Bizkaia): An hour and a quarter west by bus, or longer on the scenic Euskotren line. The Guggenheim and a very different Basque city, industrial not resort.
2. **Getaria** (Grilled fish and Txakoli · Gipuzkoa coast): A fishing village on a headland 25 km west, where whole turbot is grilled over coals in the street and Txakoli is made above. Balenciaga's birthplace.
3. **Zarautz** (20 min by train · Gipuzkoa coast): The long surf beach 20 minutes west on the Euskotren line, and the easiest escape from a crowded La Concha in August.
4. **Hondarribia** (Walled border town · Bidasoa): A walled town on the French border with a hilltop castle, a fishing quarter of painted balconies and its own pintxo street. Buses run all day.
5. **Chillida Leku** (Sculpture park · Hernani): The sculptor's own museum at Hernani: a sixteenth-century farmhouse for the small work and a meadow of oaks for the monumental pieces. [Website](https://www.eduardochillida.com/en/chillida-leku?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
6. **Pasai Donibane** (Bus, then ferry · Pasaia): A single street of houses on stilts along a harbour channel east of the city, reached by bus and a small ferry. Victor Hugo lodged here.
7. **Saint-Jean-de-Luz and Biarritz** (Across the border · France): The French Basque coast starts 20 km east. Euskotren’s Topo runs to the border at Hendaye and French trains carry on from there, so both towns are a morning trip.
8. **Rioja Alavesa** (Wine country · Álava): The Basque slice of Rioja, ninety minutes south, with Laguardia's walled centre and cellars by Gehry and Calatrava. This one wants a car.

## Festivals & annual events in San Sebastián (2026)

- **Tamborrada** (20 Jan): The patron saint day and the loudest 24 hours here: a hundred companies of drummers march the streets from midnight to midnight.
- **Caldereros** (Feb): Carnival opens with a parade of townspeople dressed as Hungarian tinkers, banging hammers on cauldrons in early February.
- **Jazzaldia** (Jul): Spain's oldest jazz festival, running since 1966 in late July. Paying concerts at the Kursaal, free stages on Zurriola beach.
- **Quincena Musical** (Aug): A month of classical music and dance through August, in the Kursaal and the old town churches. The oldest festival in Spain.
- **Aste Nagusia** (Aug): The city's big week in mid-August, built around the fireworks competition fired from a barge in the bay after dark.
- **Euskal Jaiak** (Sep): The Basque festivals through early September: bertsolari verse duels, stone-lifting, wood-chopping and dance.
- **Regatas de La Concha** (Sep): Trainera rowing crews race in the bay on the first two Sundays of September, a contest held since 1879.
- **Zinemaldia** (Sep): The film festival, in the last full week of September and the biggest in the Spanish-speaking world. The city books out.

## Must-try dishes in San Sebastián, Spain

- **Gilda**: A skewer of olive, pickled guindilla and Cantabrian anchovy, invented around 1947. Salty, sour and hot.
- **Txuleta**: A thick chop from an old dairy cow, salted and grilled over embers, served rare and carved at the table.
- **Kokotxas**: The soft triangles from under a hake's jaw, cooked in olive oil and garlic until the sauce turns creamy.
- **Bacalao al pil-pil**: Salt cod poached slowly in olive oil and garlic, then swirled until its gelatine emulsifies the oil.
- **Txangurro a la donostiarra**: Spider crab picked and cooked back into its shell with onion, leek, tomato and brandy, then browned.
- **Marmitako**: A fisherman's stew of bonito, potato, onion and choricero pepper, made aboard the boats in tuna season.
- **Idiazabal**: Smoked hard cheese from raw sheep's milk, made in the mountain pastures inland. Served with quince paste.
- **Burnt Basque cheesecake**: Created at La Viña in 1990: baked hot enough to scorch the top and collapse the middle, with no base.

## San Sebastián transport & airports

- **San Sebastián Airport** (EAS): The city airport is at Hondarribia on the French border, 22 km east, and handles mostly domestic routes. Buses reach the centre in 20 to 35 minutes. [Website](https://www.aena.es/en/san-sebastian/getting-there/bus.html?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) · [Website](https://lurraldebus.eus/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **Bilbao Airport** (BIO): Most international arrivals come through Bilbao, 100 km west. Pesa runs a direct coach to San Sebastián in roughly 75 minutes, hourly, without entering Bilbao. [Website](https://www.aena.es/en/bilbao.html?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **Trains and long-distance buses** (Rail): Renfe's Estación del Norte runs to Madrid, Barcelona and the border. Euskotren's narrow gauge is the useful local one: the Topo east to Hendaye, the coast line west to Bilbao. [Website](https://www.renfe.com/es/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) · [Website](https://www.euskotren.eus/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **City buses and walking** (Local): There is no metro. Dbus runs the city buses, including line 16 up to Igeldo. The centre, the old town, both bay beaches and Gros are within a 30-minute walk of each other. [Website](https://dbus.eus/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## San Sebastián at a glance

- **Country:** Spain
- **Region:** Basque Country, province of Gipuzkoa
- **Population:** About 188,000 in the city, the capital of Gipuzkoa
- **Basque name:** Donostia, used interchangeably with San Sebastián
- **Founded:** Chartered as a town by Sancho VI of Navarre around 1180
- **Language:** Basque and Spanish are both official. Around 47% of residents spoke Basque in 2021 (Eustat)
- **Currency:** Euro (€)
- **Time zone:** CET (UTC+1), CEST from late March to late October
- **Calling code:** +34, area code 943
- **Airports:** San Sebastián (EAS) at Hondarribia about 22 km east, Bilbao (BIO) about 100 km west
- **Power:** Type C and F sockets, 230V, 50Hz
- **Emergency:** 112

## Interesting facts

- The city burned on 31 August 1813, when Anglo-Portuguese troops sacked it. One street survived: Calle 31 de Agosto.
- San Sebastián became Spain's summer capital because Queen María Cristina spent her seasons here from the 1880s. The court followed.
- The gilda, a skewer of olive, guindilla and anchovy, was created at Casa Vallés around 1947 and named after the Rita Hayworth film.
- The burnt Basque cheesecake was made up at La Viña on Calle 31 de Agosto by Santiago Rivera in 1990.
- A city of 188,000 holds three restaurants with three Michelin stars: Akelarre, Arzak and Martín Berasategui.

## Watch

[San Sebastián Travel Guide](https://wimup.com/watch/san-sebastian.md), 6:13

## San Sebastián travel FAQ

### How many days do you need in San Sebastián?

Three. One for the Parte Vieja, San Telmo and a pintxo crawl, one for La Concha, Igueldo and Urgull, and one for the coast, either west to Getaria and Zarautz or east to Hondarribia and the French border. Two works if you skip the day trip.

### What is San Sebastián known for?

Pintxos, La Concha bay, and an unusual concentration of Michelin stars for a city of 188,000 people. It also hosts Spain’s biggest film festival every September and its oldest jazz festival every July, and Zurriola is one of the better surf beaches in northern Spain.

### When is the best time to visit San Sebastián?

Late May to June, or September. July and August are warm and busy and the city is full for Semana Grande and the film festival. This is the wet end of Spain, with around 1,500 mm of rain a year and no truly dry month, so pack for showers whenever you come.

### How do you eat pintxos without looking lost?

One bar, one pintxo, one small glass, then leave. Order the hot ones from the board rather than taking cold ones off the counter, keep your own tally and pay at the end of each stop, and do not build a plate. Bars keep count on trust, and standing is normal.

### How do you get to San Sebastián from Bilbao?

Pesa runs a direct coach from Bilbao airport in about 75 minutes and from central Bilbao in about the same. Euskotren’s coastal narrow-gauge line is far slower but runs through the fishing towns, which makes it a trip rather than a transfer.

## Nearby guides

- [Bordeaux](https://wimup.com/city/bordeaux.md): France · 10 picks
- [Andorra la Vella](https://wimup.com/city/andorra-la-vella.md): Andorra · 10 picks
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- [All of Europe →](https://wimup.com/europe): 156 cities

Part of the [Spain guide](https://wimup.com/country/spain.md) · [Europe](https://wimup.com/europe.md)

## Sources

- [San Sebastián tourism board](https://sansebastianturismoa.eus/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Climb Monte Urgull to the Castillo de la Mota (official site)](https://www.santelmomuseoa.eus/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [See the Kursaal, then time a trip for the film festival (official site)](https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Visit the Aquarium in the Palacio del Mar (official site)](https://aquariumss.com/en/english/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Casa Vallés (official site)](https://www.barvalles.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Bar Bergara (official site)](https://pinchosbergara.es/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Bodega Donostiarra (official site)](https://www.bodegadonostiarra.com/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Arzak (official site)](https://www.arzak.info/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Akelarre (official site)](https://akelarre.net/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Casa Urola (official site)](https://casaurolajatetxea.es/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Tabakalera (official site)](https://www.tabakalera.eus/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Eureka! Zientzia Museoa (official site)](https://www.eurekamuseoa.eus/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Chillida Leku (official site)](https://www.eduardochillida.com/en/chillida-leku?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [San Sebastián Airport (official site)](https://www.aena.es/en/san-sebastian/getting-there/bus.html?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [San Sebastián Airport (official site)](https://lurraldebus.eus/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Bilbao Airport (official site)](https://www.aena.es/en/bilbao.html?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Trains and long-distance buses (official site)](https://www.renfe.com/es/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Trains and long-distance buses (official site)](https://www.euskotren.eus/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [City buses and walking (official site)](https://dbus.eus/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.