lindatx

Hey all - Thanks in advance for any guidance! We are staying in San Sebastian for 3 - 4 nights during Thanksgiving week, definitely realize it is off season. Trying to determine where to stay. There are a couple of "old surfers" in our group, and I think they would love being on Zurriola Beach. We will not have a car, will this still be a good location for exploring Parte Vieja and all the other good stuff to do? Looking for the ideal location without a car. Any other tips are also welcome Thanks!

yorkshire

Absolutely, it is a short walk to everywhere, and Gros has plenty of restaurants.
If you get out and about, on the coastal hike from Zumaia to Deba, we observed a "secret" surf site, and Bermeo is known for surfing as well.

kimhe

As yorkshire says, the Zurriola beach is a five mins walk to the Parte Vieja, and many of the best pintxos bars in town are also in the Gros district just inland from the Zurriola beach.
https://tourism.euskadi.eus/en/bar-t...aa30-12375/en/
https://theboywhoatetheworld.com/201...gros-district/

kimhe

<Any other tips are also welcome>

Here I could go on for ages about my favourite city on the planet, but here are three things.

1. Casa Urola is my favourite restaurant in town since 1987. No Michelin stars, but the major regional newspaper El Diario Vasco voted it best restaurant in Guipuzkoa two years ago (Premio Más Gastronomía 2015), ahead of all the Michelin star restaurants. http://www.casaurolajatetxea.es/es/b...a-2015_11.html

I always go to Urola on my first night in town, and this is the kind of place locals take vistors to show what the San Sebastián food culture is all about. And on the ground floor, you have what is now perhaps the best pintxos bar in town: http://allaboutfoodmag.com/de_pintxos-en-casa-urola/

2. Great and varied nightlife in San Sebastián. Many fine and great atmosphere music clubs/bars such as Be Bop (just across the Zurriola beach) and Etxekalte, and San Sebastián is a jazz city (the 52th edition of the famous Jazzaldia starts in a couple of days, one of the best in Europe). When I turned about thirty, I started to go more and more to the many and excellent late night music bars in the area in and around C/Reyes Católicos, just behind the cathedral. http://www.timeout.com/barcelona/tra...-san-sebastian
http://www.sansebastianturismo.com/en/to-do/nightlife

3. Wonderful walks in and around town. The evening paseo along La Concha is a classic, the walk along Paseo Nuevo could be a huge experience when the weather is a little rough, as it very often is (take care here), but first and foremost I recommend a walk along the coast over the Ulía hill to have lunch in one of the fabulous seafront restaurants in picturesque Donibane (and you can take the bus back ;-) Have done this many times, always a very good idea!
https://www.spain-holiday.com/San-Se...resque-pasajes

lindatx

You guys are great - I LOVE THIS FORUM! Thanks a bunch, it is a bucket list city for me, I can't wait Any other tips are more than welcome!

IMDonehere

I saw guys walking around town with their boards under their arms. Maybe they were just lost.

As stated above, it is small and easy to walk town.

kimhe

Here come three more ;-)

1. Visit Palacio Aiete just inland from La Concha beach, here Franco spent his summer months and held his cabinet meetings during the dictatorship. Now the palace houses a peace center, there are beautiful gardens and a café here. https://tourism.euskadi.eus/en/cultu...aa30-12375/en/

2. Explore Calle 31. de Agosto in depth, the only street standing in the Parte Vieja after the Napoleonic War fire here on August 31. 1813. Every now and then you can hear the magnificent city choir Orfeón Donostiarra in the 18th century Santa María del Coro church in the western end of the street. Plenty of fantastic pintxos bars and restaurants here, and NYT has listed it as one of the coolest streets in Europe: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...e-streets.html

3. And if and when you get enough of the gourmet hype, go to no fuss emblemastic places like Alustiza/San Marcial and Casa Valles outside the most beaten track for fabulous, no fuss food and the best atmosphere.

Casa Valles was the home of the famous Gilda pintxo, named after Rita Hayworth's charachter with the same name in the star movie of the 1946 San Sebastián film festival.
http://www.barvalles.com/
About the famous Gilda pintxo, now in bars all around town, a must try! http://farfromordinary.ca/region/basque-country/gilda/

And you find no better atmosphere anywhere than down in the Alustiza/San Marcial basement at lunch-time and early in the evening: http://www.todopintxos.com/bares/bar...9&do=vista_bar

kja

I stayed just blocks from the Zurriola Beach, and it worked well for me.

kimhe

And you must of course do a pintxos-tour, the Basque way of eating world class food with friends while moving around and having great fun. I recommend to have one-two pintxos and a glass or two in each place, and at least visit three-four places. There are suggested routes and even guided tours, but the most fun is just going with a group of friends and play it by ear, almost all pintxos bars in town are no less than great. http://www.todopintxos.com/home/home.php

Here's a fun video intro to how to do a pintxos-crawl, about halfway into this last episode of an excellent documentary about the Basque food culture. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwmBAvqa_0U&t=311s

Robert2016

Just stay away from the pintxos mills. There are several in the Parte Vieja and now some of our old favorites are open from 11:00 to midnight during the summer months to accommodate tourists (bad). I would say that there are only a handfull of pintxos bars worth stopping by in the Parte Vieja plus a few more in Gros.

There are very few decent pintxos bars open Monday during the day, and even fewer Monday evening.

The last few days the city has been overwhelmed with tourist. Thankfully it is not yet a cruseship port, but there has been some discussion of using Pasaia as a port in the near future. And now you can see signs of "Tourist Go Home", not unlike Barcelona.

Robert2016

The should be "overwhelmed with tourists"!

lindatx

Again, thanks so much!! This is so helpful!

Side note: kimhe, kja & robert2016 - you may not remember this but your advice on our first trip to Spain last Thanksgiving was invaluable - it was a fabulous trip and the expert guidance helped so much! So excited to go back. Last year it was Seville, Granada, Madrid - this time we will split 11 days between San Sebastian and Porto so I'm sure I'll be asking Porto questions on the Portugal forum. Our daughter who was studying in Seville last Fall is now about to move to Cadiz for a year to teach English. So excited for her and to visit again

Robert2016

Enjoy! And make reservations at Urola for lunch...

kja

I’m glad you found my comments helpful! I’m certainly not in kimhe’s or robert’s league, but I’ve been happy to be able to share some of my delightful experiences in Spain.

kimhe

Just glad to help, and even though I understand what Robert says about pintxos mills in the Parte vieja, there are still dozens of fabulous pintxos bars here, you'll find great places almost on any corner. Just from the top of my head and my last visit in October I could still strongly recommend Goiz-Argi, Txepetxa, my old hang-out Txalupa, La Cepa, Ganbara, Gandarias, Cuchara de San Telmo and of course Urola.

And have a GT at la Gintonería close to the Zurriola beach, some 60-70 gins to choose from, a couple of dozen tonics, and a GT menu as long as a Basque surname. https://www.facebook.com/LaGintoneriaDonostiarra/
https://www.afar.com/places/la-gintoneria-san-sebastian

Robert2016

Rumor has it that the original La Gintonería Donostiarra will be closing. The new space across the street will now be the center of activity.

lindatx

Ah the Spanish G&T!! I've always liked them, but now I have a hard time ordering them in America. "What's this dried up lime?? Don't I get to determine the amount of gin and add my own tonic? Where's my table side service???"

Had one in a teeny cafe in Seville just outside our apartment - the most elaborate presentation and best tasting drink ever! Can't wait to see the Basque interpretation

kimhe

Thanks, Robert, I'll check that out next time!

And lidatx, the Spanish have gone totally overboard when it comes to GT the last few years. Started when the best chefs in the world, in restaurants like Arzak and El Bulli, some years ago began to make GT experiments towards the end of the night, and often they brought with them tonights GT-creation when they said hello to the guests by the end of the meal. The GT thing exploded in the middle of the financial and social crisis in 2012-2013, and I guess it has become a sort of a symbol of beeing cutting edge, innovative and "on the winning team" during an extremely difficult time for a huge number of Spaniards.

So now you find bars almost all around the country with 50+ gin types in the shelves, for example in Gin Tonic Bar ten meters from where we use to stay in Málaga ;-) http://gintonicbar.es/?lang=en

Robert2016

GTs are also very popular mid-day, following lunch.

kimhe

<GTs are also very popular mid-day, following lunch.>

Hehe, have never seen so many GTs around than at Saturday lunchtime in the Atarazanas market in Málaga, jam packed with gruoups of friends and families and the best atmosphere in the world ;-) https://eastofmalaga.net/2014/07/25/...ry-perception/

Cafe Bar Mercado Atarazanas is a classic in town, people would have their oysters and conchas finas here along with GTs... http://azahar-spain.com/azahartapas/...do-atarazanas/