Summer in San Sebastian

I’m just going to put it right out there: I love San Sebastian

It is one of those places I knew I’d love long before I visited it. I could tell I would by the way people spoke of it. Anyone I’d asked about San Sebastian would get this longing look; that “there’s no where I’d rather be” glisten in their eyes.

And now I have the same feeling. It’s quite simply lovely, one of the few places I love even in the rain. San Sebastian is located in the Basque county, a special region of Spain located near the north, where the people like to think of themselves as Basque and not Spanish. There’s a thick layer of French chic, owed to the proximately of San Sebastian to the French border and the hoards of French tourists who visit. In some ways it feels more French than Spanish, but there’s a lovely mix of both. 
 

 

The beaches, mainly Playa de la Concha, are those you dream of when you think of European beaches. Golden sand, beautiful views but the most redeeming feature of these beaches is the fact they’re literally on San Sebastian’s doorstep.  Nowhere in the world have I seen a better beach lining a city. For this reason alone, San Sebastian is a contester as one of my favourite beaches.
 

And another one of San Sebastian’s secret gems? The food. Oh my god, the food. My love affair with Thai food may have been shattered by delicious little pinxtos. Spain is famous for it’s delicious tapas, and Basque county is known for it’s mini tapas, called pinxtos (pronounced pinchos). I was lucky enough to be taken around by my Couchsurfing host, who happened to be a chef, to some of the best places to try pinxtos. You see, it’s very common in Spain to simply go to a restaurant, stand at the “bar” and enjoy a couple of pinxtos that that particular restaurant is famous for, before moving on to the next place.
 

Want to know the proper etiquette for eating pinxtos? Lots of napkins and toothpicks, both of which you seem to throw on the ground once you’re done with them, regardless of how high-end the restaurant. While you’re enjoying some of the best food in the world, try some Basque wine called Txakoli, but be warned, for me it tasted more like vinegar than wine. The French influence in San Sebastian is most apparent in the prices – you’ll find that it can be quite an expensive place to eat, especially if you hunt out the best pinxtos.
 

You’ll notice as you wander around that San Sebastian seems to be the playground of some very wealthy people. The trophy wives have their immaculately dressed babies and Louis Vuitton bags in tow; with shopping bags dangling off the pram’s handle bars. I can’t blame them, it is a truly lovely place to holiday, but you have to search a bit harder to find that youthful groove that is blatant in other European cities.  A great escape from the masses of soccer mum’s is the walk up Monte Urgull. The views from the top are breathtakingly beautiful and it’s a very lush park, very romantic and perfect for a picnic. There’s also a free museum, located in the castle, focused around San Sebastian, I didn’t find it particularly interesting, but the panoramic views from the top are certainly the best in the city.

How many days do you need in San Sebastian? A lifetime! Honestly, I think a long weekend is perfect. Basque country is renowned for it’s temperamental weather, often flicking between sunshine and rain in a heartbeat. When it does start raining, there’s not a lot to do in San Sebastian, aside from shopping. I read the reviews of some of the museums, but none of them really appealed. You could make the trip to Bilbao, about an hour away, which is the biggest city in the Basque region. There’s a bunch of great museums there, including Guggenheim Museum which is an incredible building. If you do manage to visit San Sebastian during a patch of sunshine, be prepared to fall in love.