I am having heretical thoughts. After much thought and consideration, I don't think I really want to indulge in pintxos.
Am I crazy?

I suspect my opinion might be regarded in Basque as "Pentsamendu debekatua da" (roughly translated as "That is forbidden"). Then again, I might not be alone. I'm wondering how any of you feel.

Don't get me wrong--I want to chow down in Basque Country, both in France and in Spain. There is so much I want to taste and test everywhere for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But at 72(ish) and 81, we put thought into how we spend even our more generous "we-are-on-vacation" caloric allowances. There are so very many excellent restaurants available on all our Basque itinerary (see below) that I'd hate to arrive at any good establishment feeling so much like a stuffed turkey that I can't taste the very food I want to savor.

I was already inclined to ditch any official pintxos tour, which quite frankly, I've already decided might be on par with some random Irish pub crawl tour. Now I'm thinking about ditching them altogether, or just testing two or three lunchtime-ish bars only on one day and one-day only.

This new leaning of mine is ironic given I've always raved about food tours (a dear friend of mine ran four of them) and we've indulged in those time and time again in many cities. But now that both our caloric intakes have just naturally trimmed because we are not longer automatically cycling off a zillion calories, we eat calorically cautiously. If I err, I'd rather follow the restaurant-only trail of The Hungry Onion's Ziggy than his or anyone else's pintxos trail. And quite frankly, while I'm fabulous at fighting my way to the bar for a beer, I'm not that excited about fighting my way to the bar for bread-based food* I probably don't need or want. Well, I don't "need" the beer, but that's what I'm doing

*Another irony--I still automatically inhale Paris croissants and butter as soon as I land at CDG. The day I stop that is that day I know I'm dead.
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For your information:
We will start our Basque Country tour, sort of without a car, in Bayonne and end in Bilbao. Here is our "bare-bones" itinerary:
3 nights Bayonne (includes our arrival day), public transport to...
3 nights St Jean de Luz (hoping to do Le Petit Train de la Rhune), public transport to...
3 nights San Sebastian--3rd day includes our early transfer to Bilbao by car with the famous Mikel (poster name mikelg), spending hours sightseeing before we get to our Bilbao hotel.
4 nights Bilbao--Guggenheim and Bilbao tour by the same famous Mikel (mikelg).

So I'm interested in your thoughts regarding the much vaunted pintxos. Missing out? Sort of missing out? Point our taste buds and bellies towards the Michelin star places instead?
AZ

I did a small group 9 or10 day guided tour of the area; it included a couple hours one Sunday (I think) afternoon in San Sebastian (I think) bar hopping for pintxos. And, we supposedly went to the "special" places for the exceptional, unique to the area pintxos.

It was fine, but I I wouldn't go out of my way to do this, and there were hordes of people the day we did it.

I realize my life style inclinations aren't those of many people who post here, but my advice to you would be just wing it. Wait until you are in the midst of your trip to see if you are so inclined or not inclined.

We just came back from a month in Andalucia. We had a lot of trepidation about the caloric intake as well, because, as you know, so much of Spanish tapa food is deep fried.

Both of us have treated high blood pressure, so the struggle is real. The other thing to watch of course, is the salt intake.

So, the first few days, we ate at tapa bars, because of course, there are those things that you really miss when you're not in Spain. But we did find that our tastes have changed, and we had our fill of jamon by the time we spent a few days in Seville.

After that, we decided to adopt the Spanish mealtime custom of eating, with lunch being the main meal. So, in the morning, a healthy breakfast involving yogurt, fruit and whole wheat bread type items, with possibly some type of egg.

I had made quite a few restaurant reservations in advance. So for a late lunch, usually 2 pm-ish, we concentrated on seafood and fish, and tried to stay away from deep fried items. Then in the evening, we could make it through that time when the restaurants are still closed, and just have a few well chosen tapas after 8 pm. This also served my digestive issues well.

In the Basque country, in my humble opinion, the food is much superior to Andalucia. There are so many really good seafood options that are not available where we live with the quality of seafood from Northern Spain. So, if that suits your palette, then I would say you should not miss them. In San Sebastian and in Bilbao, we used Maribel's guide to the best pintxos, but you will be in good hands with mikelg.

As for Michelin star restaurants, we went to 4 Michelin star restaurants in Andalucia. Twice we went for lunch, and twice for supper. The alternate meal of the day was a light meal. While we enjoyed the Michelin stars, I am more and more finding they are more about the experience and the inventiveness than the deliciousness of the meal.

So my advice, yes, work in a few M* meals, but also enjoy the fresh seafood and the wonderful inventive pintxos that mikelg recommends.
And, happily my cholesterol actually went down after this trip!!

It's your trip -- eat what you want!

That said, my pintxos tour was, for me, a highlight of my time in the Basque portion of Spain. The tour I joined was hardly a pub crawl. It was with San Sebastian Food, arranged it in advance through their web-site; you may also be able to make arrangements through a shop it has at the Hotel Maria Cristin in San Sebastian (which is where my group met).
http://sansebastian.mimofood.com/en/...g-tour-dinner/

It was a splurge for me, but the tour took several hours, covered quite a few different pintxos bars, and I thought the guide put it together very nicely. I enjoyed the wine parings, but of course, one can enjoy pintxos without imbibing. Here's part of my TA review:

"We tasted a wide array of pintxos, from simple to complex and traditional to gastronomic and with appropriate transitions from appetizer-like through main-course-like to cheese and dessert options. The wine pairings were well considered and also allowed a wide sampling, from txakoli through various white and red Spanish wines to sherry. Our guide ... provided information about the foods and wines we tasted and the pintxos bars we visited, as well as the general traditions behind this cuisine, and she also gave us an introduction to San Sebastian / Donostia’s private gastronomic club traditions."

It's been a while since I was there, and mikelg has reported on some of the ways that the pintxos experience in San Sebastian has changed in recent years, so I can't attest to the current status of the tour I took. I'm sure mikelg can provide better input.

I hope that helps you decide!

Natylou, I'm curious. Which starred restaurants didi you try in Andalucia?
I have to say that I just came back from three weeks in that region and I'm not sure I ate any fried foods!! But they are very popular in that region!

I'll also confide that, despite avoiding fried things, I gained 8 pounds in one month.

Well done ekscrunchy! LOL This has happened to us before and it's such a struggle to take off the pounds after the trip. It seems a constant round of diet trip diet trip diet.

Not to hijack the thread, but we ate at Noor in Cordoba, Mantua in Jerez and Skina in Marbella. In Malaga, we had lunch at La Cosmo counter, informal and very fun to watch the food being made and served in front of us. I think it is Michelin recommended not starred, but the chef Dani Carnero has a new restaurant opening in the boutique hotel, Palacio Solecio. We will see if it becomes a Michelin star.

Back to AlessandraZoe and your question about food tours, we did our very first food tour in Sevilla with Shawn Hennessey. Sherry and tapas, and I did find the whole thing was overindulgent. In younger days, it would have been fine, but now we just are not accustomed to the richness of the food and drink.

We had to carefully plan in order to get the experiences we wanted without feeling like we were going to bed full.

In San Sebastian the pintxo bars can be very crowded, I think in a good way if you are with Spaniards enjoying the food and the good life. I am really attracted to Spain's very social way of life. Hubby on the other hand, hates the crowds...but still loves the food.

Thanks for the replies. Food for thought--and yeah, I meant the pun.

I realized I was coming here for the question when I should be pinning my husband down about it all. Those of you who know my reports know that he is pretty easy to travel with as long as I plan and as long as he can a) get a decent beer and b) walk some ridiculous amount of miles per day. He refuses to drive, but he's willing to tour any museum and use any form of public transport expect a boat. So when I told him how frustrated I was about this pintxos and pintxos tour issue, he pretty much stopped me and said, "Are YOU going to Basque country just for pintxos and another food tour?" Well, when you put it that way...

He told me to list the top reasons I wanted to visit the region right then and there. It was a short, easy list.
1. Guggenheim Bilbao
2. Guernica
3. The food and the people he had experienced there in the late 60s and loved so much.

He assured me that he and his bachelor travel pals were never scouring the city for the perfect pintxo. Instead, they were eating amazing hearty stews of all types and flavors, fresh vegetables, and wonderful grilled fish. He LOVED Basque breakfasts, and in fact, he has insisted that many of the pintxos I described were available for breakfast in the bars they visited. And wouldn't you know, I looked that up and he was right.

The husband has spoken.
No more food tours! Well, that would make sense--we counted last night, and we've probably done ten or more of those in amazing locations.
No more eating just for FOMO.
He would like good restaurant meals, Michelin star certainly not required, and if those are at midday, that's all the better since his bedtime is basically 7 pm these days. Ziggy's input from Hungry Onion appealed to him, I have Mikel and Maribel's lists, so I think we are set.

Phew!

Again, thank you all so much.
AZ

Well AZ sounds like you have it figured out!

Phew! Well done!

Natylou, you really went big time!! I spent a night in Jerez and I'd never been to MANTUA, but I was afraid it would be a long, drawn out meal and I just don't like those looong tasting menus..I get what my Nana would have called "shpilkes!!" NOOR was a long dinner but I was okay because of all the interesting commentary about the history of the food. But I generally try to avoid tasting menus,.

Yeah..Eight pounds! AlessandraZoe will have to work very hard to beat that number! Are you game, AZ??
There is a current thread on HungryOnion.org, about SS and the pinxtos; its would NOT make me want to plunge into that fracas at the "big name" bars.

We haven’t been since 2018 so it’s probably crazier than ever. I do love San Sebastián though, it’s beautiful for walking and enjoying the sea front.

Your itinerary is enviable AZ. Hope you have great weather and a wonderful trip!