Things to do in Donostia / San Sebastián, splurging
La Concha and Peine del Viento, Balenciaga and txakoli in Getaria, dinner at Amelia.
This is a trip built around the table, with everything else arranged in service of it. You eat seriously at lunch, eat even more seriously at dinner, and fill the hours in between with great Basque design, a Roman ruin, a couturier's birthplace, and one of the most beautiful coastal walks in Europe. It suits someone who plans a trip the way they book a restaurant: well in advance, with strong opinions.
Day 1: La Concha, Parte Vieja, Amelia
The day moves from a Belle Époque café on the beach to Chillida's steel sculptures on the headland, a long Basque lunch in the old town, and an evening held in reserve for Paulo Airaudo's tasting menu at Amelia.
- 9:30 AM
La Perla thalassotherapy spa and café
Belle Époque café on La Concha beach, start with coffee before the thermal spa crowds arrive.
Map - 10:30 AM
La Concha promenade to Peine del Viento
Walk La Concha's whole curve to Ondarreta and Chillida's steel Peine del Viento sculptures in the surf.
Map - 12:30 PM
Kokotxa
Old-town dining room cooking the day's market fish with modern Basque technique; the lunch menu is the value.
Map - 2:30 PM
San Telmo Museoa
16th-century convent turned museum answering who the Basques are, history, ethnography and art in one stunning building.
Map - 7:30 PM
Amelia by Paulo Airaudo
Paulo Airaudo's tasting menu, Argentine-Italian chef cooking Basque produce in a tiny, precise room.
Map - 10:00 PM
La Cepa
Classic Parte Vieja bar for a digestivo or txakoli nightcap after the big meal, easy walk from Amelia.
Map
Day 2: Roman Irun and the Hondarribia walls
A morning of Roman archaeology at Irun's Oiasso museum gives way to an afternoon in Hondarribia's fortified quarter, where the pintxos bars inside the walls are as good as anything back in the city.
- 10:30 AM
Oiasso Museoa
Oiasso Museoa, here for today, digs into Roman Irun with well-curated artefacts from the ancient port settlement.
Map - 12:30 PM
Day trip to Hondarribia and French Basque coast
Lunch inside the walls of Hondarribia: pintxos bars on the Plaza de Armas and the painted houses of the Marina.
Map - 7:30 PM
Alameda
The Txapartegi family's Hondarribia restaurant: Bidasoa fish and local lamb cooked with modern finesse.
Map
Day 3: Getaria, Zarautz, Balenciaga and Txakoli
The coast road west earns its keep: a photography museum in Zarautz, the Balenciaga museum in Getaria, bone-dry Txakoli poured above the fishing port, and grilled turbot for dinner as the Atlantic light drops.
- 10:00 AM
Photomuseum
Small museum of the history of photography in a Zarautz villa, from early cameras to Basque photographers.
Map - 11:00 AM
Cristóbal Balenciaga museoa
Getaria's tribute to its native son: Balenciaga gowns shown beside the Aldamar palace above the port.
Map - 12:30 PM
Txakoli wine tasting in Getaria vineyards
Family wineries terraced above Getaria's fishing port, bone-dry Txakoli with anchovies and tuna; the heart of the whole day.
Map - 7:30 PM
Kaia Kaipe
Getaria grill above the port: whole turbot cooked over coals and a wine cellar dug into the rock.
Map
Where to stay
Hotel María Cristina
The grande dame of San Sebastián hotels, a short walk from Amelia and right on the Urumea river, with the kind of lobby that makes a long dinner feel like a proper occasion.
Hotel de Londres y de Inglaterra
Sits directly on La Concha bay, so Day 1's morning walk to Peine del Viento starts from the front door, and the sea view from the upper rooms is hard to beat at any price.
Make Donostia / San Sebastián your trip
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