Day trip to Donostia/San Sebastian from Hondarribia
 

We will be staying two nights in Hondarribia in early October. During one of the days we would like to take a trip to San Sebastian and lunch at Mugaritz. So far it looks like we have to take the I1 bus line, but the I have not found a web site that lists which bus station in Hondarribia it picks you up from, anyone know? I believe it drops you off at Plaza Guipúzcoa in San Sebastian, is this correct?
I have also not been able to figure out how long the trip is between Hondarribia and San Sebastian by this bus. Any help with that would be great.
In Maribel's guide she states the cab fare to Mugaritz is approx. 16 Euro each way from San Sebastian. Is there are particular location in the city that we should try to hail a cab from?
I was hoping to pinxto hop prior to a dinner in San Sebastian, but I read that the last bus to Hondarribia is at 9:45pm...is this correct or are there ways to get in between the two cities at a later hour? This would cut down on our dinner plans there.
We are planning to rent a car the next day, so I have considered just renting it on day early. The added cost of a day totaled to $150, plus parking in San Sebastian, and parking at the hotel overnight. Does the added convenience make it worth it to rent one day earlier?
As always, your help is greatly appreciated!!

Try this:


http://www.irun.org/down/autobusUrba...N-DONOSTIA.pdf

Hondarribia/Fuenterrabía is some 20 mins away from San Sebastián with car, 30 mins by bus. The I-1 stops at beautiful and central Plaza de Gipuzkoa. Cabs all around in marvellous San Sebastián. You should definitelt stay for a pintxos crawl, just grab a taxi at a later hour. A night out in San Sebastián would definitely be worth the extra 20-25€.

About going for pintxos in San Sebastián (check out some of the suggested routes): http://www.todopintxos.com/home/home.php?lang=en

ekscrunchy, that is the site I had been looking at, but it doesn't say the name of the stop in Hondarribia. Does it stop at the airport or at the bus station near parte viejo? Thanks for the help!

kimhe - So if I read this correctly, a cab between the Hondarribia and San Sebastian should only be 20-25 Euros? I was thinking it would be much more! Looks like we are pinxto hopping that night then. Thank you!

The bus will for sure leave from the center of small Hondarribia, and the price with taxi to/from San Sebastián would be some 25€.

About the pintxos hopping, I guess you know that you have to ask for the warm pintxos that will be brought to you directly from the kitchen. They are often the most interesting, and each bar uses to have their own specialities.

I have been reading up on pintxos hopping and it makes my mouth water just thinking about them (and it is just after breakfast here in TX!). Maribel's guides give some favorite spots and some tips on how the process works, but any additional places/advice is always good! I have made a google map of all the recommended places so that when we get hungry we can just stop at the nearest one!

My first choice route in the Parte vieja would be something like this: Goiz-Argi in C/Fermín Calbetón, 4 (fantastic shrimp-skewers, mushrooms etc.), Txepetxa in close by Pescadería, 5 (anchovies-heaven and an institution in the city), traditional La Cepa in 31 de Agosto, 7-9 for the best ham in the world (Jamón de Jabugo) and grilled green peppers, and the gourmet pintxos at Cuchara de San Telmo, just off 31 de Agosto.

Astelehena, in the corner of the main Plaza de la Constitucíon, is also a favourite. Great mix of traditional and innovative pintxos. Have also heard very good things about Zeruko, next door to Txepetxea, the anchovies place. Here is one of Zeruko's specialities, The bonfire: http://www.todopintxos.com/pintxos/p...verficha&id=86

But you would't go much wrong picking the first and best bar either. As the world's most famous chef Ferran Adrià of El Bulli said: San Sebastián is the best place to eat in the world "in terms of the average quality of the food, in terms of what you can get at any place you happen to walk into".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...rink.shopping2

I was in San Sebastian for a week in May and LOVED it. Had a great time pintxos hopping every night!

kimhe listed several of my favorite spots but the one that rose to the top for me was Cuchara de San Telmo...the foie there was absolutely incredibly delicious! Also really liked Astelena in Plaza Constitucion. And as kimhe said...definitely order the hot pintxos...even if you can't understand the language, if you see someone eating something that looks great to you, point and order that...I did that frequently and it worked out perfectly.

If you're interested in reading my trip report just click on my screen name and you will see it listed under my trip reports. I loved the Basque Country and hope you do too! :-)

LowCountryIslander - Way ahead of you :) I have already read it and marked all of the mentioned locations on my map! I wish I could have longer to explore both Paris and San Sebastian, I can't wait.

HeaAndrews, I loved your idea of creating a Google map with MAribels suggested tapas places. is there a way you could send it to me? It would save time on our upcoming trip to San Sebastian in September. If you can't, could you tell me how you did it? Thanks, Margie

We were in San Sebastian for 5 days in June and LOVED IT!!!
We did all the hikes, walked a lot, there is a lot to do around if you like to walk.

If you want to try a nice little Italian Restaurant try Little Italia in the old town behind the Church, great thin pizza and pasta for cheap, no credit cards though.

You really don't need to map out all the places from a guidebook. First off, you will miss quality places that may be new or not listed. Secondly, youwill be on this wild goose chase looking for places that are poorly marked and whatnot. Finally, you miss the whole point of just relaxingly moving from place to place. Tapas/pintxos are not an all or nothing experience like going to a restaurant - if you don't like a place or even the look of what's on offer you can just move along. Or you try something and go. No big investment. And one more thing - you are really just in a very small few block radius, you do not need a map to navigate, you are bound to fall into the places that you saw listed.

Just my tiny opinion for whatever you want to take it at.

Sorry, to the OPs question, take the bus in and a cab back to stay for tapas crawl. The bus picks up on the "main" road that passes through town between the walled old town and harbour. You cannot miss it as it runs regularly and is clearly marked that the destination is San Sebastian.

Cherrybomb- that helps a lot. Thanks.

Attached is the map. http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=
100623383796081661017.00048d057a5575a606d41 This has most of the places listed.

Cherrybomb - your advice is well taken, I usually make my maps to avoid my American instincts of walking into restaurants with English menus and end up only eating at tourist places. I believe that San Sebastian will be different than other cities in this regard so I am not planning to have to rely fully on it.

Your instinct is correct, you won't have the English menu issue on the tapas (pintxos) front. The more "innovative" places are clustered on the northern end of the Parte Vieja stretch. Though this is not to say to focus there or you will be missing out on a lot of good places.

Also, while todospintxos is a nice site to look at, you are not necessarily going to find all the offerings on hand when you are actually out in the bars. Take it with a grain of salt - it is showing the most interesting of options that were made at one point and may not be available when you are there. Just throwing that out there.

I'm sure someone will disagree with my opinion on the site, but really, I think it is far more interesting and rewarding and less likely to give you a let down if you pick and choose places once you are there rather than plan all your places in advance. If you can though, I highly reccomend a splurge lunch at one of the Michelin starred heavyweights. I thought Arzak was the best of the bunch, though others have their favorites. If you go for it, I think lunch is a better option than dinner for no other reason than preferring to have a smaller late night meal than midday when that is an option.

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