Bilbao/San Sebastian
 

We will be in Bilbao, San Sebastion for 2 days arriving in Bilbao from Madrid by air. We want to go to the Guggenheim Museum and see San Sebastian. Do you recommend a car or bus? We are also flying out of Bilbao to Barcelona. Where do you recommend we stay for the 1 night. Also, if we do take buses, will they hold our luggage at the station for more than 24 hours. Thank you

You may want to take a look at my blog as a local, www.blogseitb.us/basquetourism, for some ideas on visits in the area.

Direct bus between Bilbao and San Sebastián in 70 mins. Very convenient. PESA bus company, leaves very frequently from the Termibus station in Bilbao.
http://www.termibus.es/index.php?idi=en

I have just spent 3 nights in San Sebastian and went to Bilbao for the day. Have now flown from San Sebastian to Madrid. I suggest the following on my experience: The buses are convenient and easy, but given your short time frame a car would be the most convienent and allow the greatest flexibility if you are comfortable driving in a foreign country and good at reading maps. The Guggenheim is a "must see," as it far exceeded my expectations. Renting the audio guide significantly increased my understanding and enjoyment of the art. Lunch in the bistro/cafeteria is lovely and menu of the day is 18Euros. It isn't a cafeteria like the ones in the US. We spent 4hours there. So, depending on your arrival and departure times at Bilbao airport you could rent a car at airport and drive directly to the Guggenheim and when done drive the hour or so to San Sebastian and spend the night. If you want a fabulous meal we went to Miramon Anbeleritz, a Michelin one star. Had a terrific 6 course seasonal menu for 65Euros -about 100 Euros less than a 3 star. This would be much more relaxing than going to tapa bars after flying, visiting the museum and driving to SS. Or you could drive directly to SS from Bilbao and then it would make more sense to do the tapa crawl. You could then go to the Guggenheim before flight to Bareclona if it is late in afternoon. Tapa bars we really liked were: Munto for foie gras on toast ( de la plancha), Casa Garderitas (not positive of spelling or exact name) it is on 31 augusto st for the best brochette of pork (lomo) and cod crepe. la cuchara de San Telmo for excellent veal cheeks and stuffed goat cheese and Fuego Negro for cod and risotto.

Hope this helps.

Thank you for your suggestions. Still debating the car. We booked a hotel in San Sebastian. I think we will go to the Guggenheim when we arrive and then go to San Sebastian. Also, heard leaving luggage in the car at the museum is not a great idea. We are thinking of checking it at the bus staion overnight, if that is doable, and just taking a small bag that we can check at the museum. I appreciate your response and the restaurant and tapa suggestions.
ejs

We did the same trip last month, only in reverse, without a car.We flew to Bilbao from chicago, spent 3 nights in San Sebastian. Then flew (had a late flight) from Bilbao to Seville. On the day of our flight to Seville, we took an early morning bus from SS to Bilbao train station, stored our luggages at the train station then took the tram from the station to the Guggenheim.