Egbert

annesherrod there is no place i'd rather be in the world in July than San Sebastian except maybe Martha's Vineyard, but San Sebastian has much, much better food and restaurants/bars.

mikelg

thanks weber, you´re so kind! for your next visit, I keep updating my blog on the Basque Country.

annesherrod

Egbert- I am SO excited,..I cant stand it!!

AV

I loved your trip report! I will be staying in S.S. for a couple of nights. (Our only venture from our lodging in the Dordogne!) I am not very familiar with the city except hearing how beautiful it is. Could anyone give me recommendations for hotels - we would like to stay on the beach or would welcome other ideas of areas to stay. We will be visiting in June. Thanks for any assistance!

Egbert

I would look at trip advisors hotel reviews. The good ones get booked by April. annesherrod and AV I'm excited for you and a bit jealous. With a newborn I won't going back for a couple few years. I hope to be able to visit SS and Seville every year after that.

bocaraton

Reading this page made me add SS to my already overcrowded itinerary. We are most likely going to use totallyspain for the whole trip...but need to cut costs so hope she has some slightly less expensive hotels. How hard is it to get from SS to the painted forest. The pictures look great.
We are two senior citizen crazy Americans and plan to cover a lot in just 17-18 days...using plane, ave, and train. Would it be worth using one of the two days in SS to go to painted forest. We do not care about beach. We live on the beach.
Also what is best bus transport from SS to Bilbao? How long does it take. Guess totallyspain will help me with this.. thanks. [email protected]

Revulgo2

Wonderful San Sebastián photo gallery
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...e-internet.cfm

Egbert

If you don't mind leaving the beautiful coast and beaches check out the rural countryside. It's beautiful. There is a bus "park" about a 10 min. walk from the old neighborhood. 40 min. ride to Bilbao. Very easy and nice as long as you can figure out which is the right bus to get on. Eusko tren is also a great and inexpensive way to get around the Basque country. San Sebastian deserves 3 to 5 nights so don't take any off that.

TDudette

Egbert, SS is now on my list! Very interesting report.

How about starting a separate thread about stereotypes and how people take trips instead of hijacking Egbert?

yestravel

I 2nd a visit to the beautiful countryside -- it was lovely and a nice change from the coast.

CathyM

bocaraton-
If your itinerary is overcrowded I'd seriously consider saving the Basque country for another trip. I wouldn't spend just 2 nights in San Sebastian and I definately wouldn't spend one of them visiting the painted forest (as much as I love this forest).

bocaraton

Well, I would love to have a less crowded itinerary, but we are 72 and 78 and in good shape so we want to see things while we still can. The idea of a second trip would have been good at age 40, but not now.
Still do agree with your input...maybe if we make it to 90 and dont outlive our money we can come back. Basque country sounds like just the place for us to be still and absorb our surroundings deep inside.
Have any of you used Belen at Totally Spain. We usually do all our trips ourselves, but getting a little tired.She seems very honest and forthright and responds very quickly so hope this will be a good choice. If you know about totally spain wite me at:[email protected] ...and this is not bad internet research at our age..

mikelg

you may want to take a look at my blog, www.blogseitb.us/basquetourism , on the Basque area from a local point of view

alliesun10

Great trip report! I am looking into visiting SS on my honeymoon next August. We are visiting paris for a week and then wanted to go to a nice beach town for a week as well. We were looking into spending the days on the beach, and then hitting the town for tapas and drinks. This caught my eye though:

<<Sunny days (one out of every four they say) were spent at the beach right in town, there are two of them and they're incredible.>>

Are most summer days on the beach in SS cloudy? It probably won't change my mind about going there, because it seems so lovely.. but just curious!

mikelg

yes, you are coming to NOrthern Spain, that means green lust valleys and mountains and beautiful settings...but it rains often...quite often