Discussion
Hi,
Has anyone been to San Sebastian in Spain and have any recommendations/tips/advice? Flights and accommodation seem quite expensive but think food/drink may be more reasonable.
Thinking of going for a long weekend in June for my wife's birthday - she is a foodie and will love the pintxos!
Thanks!
Has anyone been to San Sebastian in Spain and have any recommendations/tips/advice? Flights and accommodation seem quite expensive but think food/drink may be more reasonable.
Thinking of going for a long weekend in June for my wife's birthday - she is a foodie and will love the pintxos!
Thanks!
jjcd said:
Hi,
Has anyone been to San Sebastian in Spain and have any recommendations/tips/advice? Flights and accommodation seem quite expensive but think food/drink may be more reasonable.
Thinking of going for a long weekend in June for my wife's birthday - she is a foodie and will love the pintxos!
Thanks!
Yes - definitely.Has anyone been to San Sebastian in Spain and have any recommendations/tips/advice? Flights and accommodation seem quite expensive but think food/drink may be more reasonable.
Thinking of going for a long weekend in June for my wife's birthday - she is a foodie and will love the pintxos!
Thanks!
Go - JUST GO.
It's fantastic.
Hotel wise, I can recommend Lasala Plaza or Sansebay - both have pretty much the perfect location and they're both really nice hotels. Ideally you want a room with a bay view. The Lasala Plaza is a bit nicer, but the Sansebay is still nice.
I've always driven there, so can't comment on flying.
As for the Pintxos, you really can't go wrong. Bar Nestor is worth a visit - you need to go ahead of time to get your name on the list to Tortilla - and it is worth doing. The hotels all have lists of the bars that they recommend. Borda Berri is definitely worth a visit - there are some offally dishes, but the pasta "risotto" is outstanding, as is the pork rib. My absolute favourite is "Bar Sport" - mainly for the atmosphere and we've had a couple of brilliant evenings in there. Don't forget to finish up the evening in La Vina with the cheesecake - once you're back I'll share my recipe if you like - I think I've got it pretty close.
Even though it has 17 Michellin Stars, we've never had a sit down meal - Pintxos are all you need. We were there 3 weeks ago and we're back in September. Prices are a bit higher than they were pre-covid, but wine is still €2 / glass and Pintxos are around €2.5 - €4 each.
I have family there, been a few times, most recently just before Covid began. Love it. Food is tremendous, especially if you can find someone local to prevent you getting ripped off at the more tourist orientated pintxos bars. I’ve driven the last few times, we flew Manchester to Bilbao before that, but I don’t think that route still runs. I understand from my relatives out there that the most cost effective flight these days is to get a connection via Germany.
omniflow said:
Yes - definitely.
Go - JUST GO.
It's fantastic.
Hotel wise, I can recommend Lasala Plaza or Sansebay - both have pretty much the perfect location and they're both really nice hotels. Ideally you want a room with a bay view. The Lasala Plaza is a bit nicer, but the Sansebay is still nice.
I've always driven there, so can't comment on flying.
As for the Pintxos, you really can't go wrong. Bar Nestor is worth a visit - you need to go ahead of time to get your name on the list to Tortilla - and it is worth doing. The hotels all have lists of the bars that they recommend. Borda Berri is definitely worth a visit - there are some offally dishes, but the pasta "risotto" is outstanding, as is the pork rib. My absolute favourite is "Bar Sport" - mainly for the atmosphere and we've had a couple of brilliant evenings in there. Don't forget to finish up the evening in La Vina with the cheesecake - once you're back I'll share my recipe if you like - I think I've got it pretty close.
Even though it has 17 Michellin Stars, we've never had a sit down meal - Pintxos are all you need. We were there 3 weeks ago and we're back in September. Prices are a bit higher than they were pre-covid, but wine is still €2 / glass and Pintxos are around €2.5 - €4 each.
This is a great help - thanks!! Funnily I was actually looking at The Lasala Plaza and Sansebay - I've booked the Sansebay (booked room with bay view!) as The Lasala Plaza was over 2x price!Go - JUST GO.
It's fantastic.
Hotel wise, I can recommend Lasala Plaza or Sansebay - both have pretty much the perfect location and they're both really nice hotels. Ideally you want a room with a bay view. The Lasala Plaza is a bit nicer, but the Sansebay is still nice.
I've always driven there, so can't comment on flying.
As for the Pintxos, you really can't go wrong. Bar Nestor is worth a visit - you need to go ahead of time to get your name on the list to Tortilla - and it is worth doing. The hotels all have lists of the bars that they recommend. Borda Berri is definitely worth a visit - there are some offally dishes, but the pasta "risotto" is outstanding, as is the pork rib. My absolute favourite is "Bar Sport" - mainly for the atmosphere and we've had a couple of brilliant evenings in there. Don't forget to finish up the evening in La Vina with the cheesecake - once you're back I'll share my recipe if you like - I think I've got it pretty close.
Even though it has 17 Michellin Stars, we've never had a sit down meal - Pintxos are all you need. We were there 3 weeks ago and we're back in September. Prices are a bit higher than they were pre-covid, but wine is still €2 / glass and Pintxos are around €2.5 - €4 each.
Thanks for the Pinxtos advice too - will check those out.
Interesting about never having a sit down meal - I was going to book Arzak for the experience (been to lots of Michellin star restaurants in the UK, but never 3 star!) but will have a think about that...
Our honeymoon was two weeks of fine dining through France and Spain - including numerous michelin star restaurants...
The best food we ate, and the best value was in San Sebastian at Bodegon Alejandro:
http://www.bodegonalejandro.com/en/home/
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187...
The tasting menu was 54 euros each, you enter through a simple door on one of the old town streets and descend to a couple of basement rooms - it is where a lot of the locals eat, and doesn't have the same touristy feel as other places...
It is run under the auspices of 3 michelin star restaurateur Martin Berasategui (of the eponymous 3 star restaurant): https://www.martinberasategui.com/en/inicio but doesn't itself have any michelin stars - its approach seems to be the same quality of food without the fuss (or price!) It was his parents' restaurant and where he initially trained / learned to cook...
Also, being in Old Town, it is easy to walk to rather than having to drive out of town to visit the bigger names / 3 star locations.
The best food we ate, and the best value was in San Sebastian at Bodegon Alejandro:
http://www.bodegonalejandro.com/en/home/
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187...
The tasting menu was 54 euros each, you enter through a simple door on one of the old town streets and descend to a couple of basement rooms - it is where a lot of the locals eat, and doesn't have the same touristy feel as other places...
It is run under the auspices of 3 michelin star restaurateur Martin Berasategui (of the eponymous 3 star restaurant): https://www.martinberasategui.com/en/inicio but doesn't itself have any michelin stars - its approach seems to be the same quality of food without the fuss (or price!) It was his parents' restaurant and where he initially trained / learned to cook...
Also, being in Old Town, it is easy to walk to rather than having to drive out of town to visit the bigger names / 3 star locations.
akirk said:
Our honeymoon was two weeks of fine dining through France and Spain - including numerous michelin star restaurants...
The best food we ate, and the best value was in San Sebastian at Bodegon Alejandro:
http://www.bodegonalejandro.com/en/home/
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187...
The tasting menu was 54 euros each, you enter through a simple door on one of the old town streets and descend to a couple of basement rooms - it is where a lot of the locals eat, and doesn't have the same touristy feel as other places...
It is run under the auspices of 3 michelin star restaurateur Martin Berasategui (of the eponymous 3 star restaurant): https://www.martinberasategui.com/en/inicio but doesn't itself have any michelin stars - its approach seems to be the same quality of food without the fuss (or price!) It was his parents' restaurant and where he initially trained / learned to cook...
Also, being in Old Town, it is easy to walk to rather than having to drive out of town to visit the bigger names / 3 star locations.
We ate there once , got to town a little later than usual so kept off the tapas and managed to get a walk in table , we literally stumbled across it as they were opening the doors for evening service . The food was amazing for what they charged for the taster menu . The best food we ate, and the best value was in San Sebastian at Bodegon Alejandro:
http://www.bodegonalejandro.com/en/home/
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187...
The tasting menu was 54 euros each, you enter through a simple door on one of the old town streets and descend to a couple of basement rooms - it is where a lot of the locals eat, and doesn't have the same touristy feel as other places...
It is run under the auspices of 3 michelin star restaurateur Martin Berasategui (of the eponymous 3 star restaurant): https://www.martinberasategui.com/en/inicio but doesn't itself have any michelin stars - its approach seems to be the same quality of food without the fuss (or price!) It was his parents' restaurant and where he initially trained / learned to cook...
Also, being in Old Town, it is easy to walk to rather than having to drive out of town to visit the bigger names / 3 star locations.
jjcd said:
This is a great help - thanks!! Funnily I was actually looking at The Lasala Plaza and Sansebay - I've booked the Sansebay (booked room with bay view!) as The Lasala Plaza was over 2x price!
Thanks for the Pinxtos advice too - will check those out.
Interesting about never having a sit down meal - I was going to book Arzak for the experience (been to lots of Michellin star restaurants in the UK, but never 3 star!) but will have a think about that...
I looked into booking Akelarre, but then I costed it out. Tasting menu for 2 + wine flight = ~€900. That's just for Dinner. As has also been said, you'd need to get a taxi there and back.Thanks for the Pinxtos advice too - will check those out.
Interesting about never having a sit down meal - I was going to book Arzak for the experience (been to lots of Michellin star restaurants in the UK, but never 3 star!) but will have a think about that...
The bay is lovely - great beach, nice for a swim. However there's another beach the other side of the river and this has big waves and lots of people surfing. Most of the action is in the streets of the old town, but there are quite a few bars a few streets south of the surfing beach. I feel like I've only just scratched the surface of the place and both me and my wife are really looking forward to returning in September (we're doing 2 nights in Barcelona, 2 nights in Logrono and then 2 nights in San Sebastian).
Personally, I just follow my nose. If you end up in a dud bar (and there are a couple) just finish your drink, eat your Pinxto and move on. The overpriced touristy places are very obvious when you walk into them - although there a couple of these on the lists that both Sansebay and Lasala Plaza hand out.
blueST said:
I have family there, been a few times, most recently just before Covid began. Love it. Food is tremendous, especially if you can find someone local to prevent you getting ripped off at the more tourist orientated pintxos bars. I’ve driven the last few times, we flew Manchester to Bilbao before that, but I don’t think that route still runs. I understand from my relatives out there that the most cost effective flight these days is to get a connection via Germany.
The Manchester - Bilbao route does still run. We are going to San Sebastian for a week in August - can't wait. Booked the damn thing nearly 3 years ago...
omniflow said:
I looked into booking Akelarre, but then I costed it out. Tasting menu for 2 + wine flight = ~€900. That's just for Dinner. As has also been said, you'd need to get a taxi there and back.
The bay is lovely - great beach, nice for a swim. However there's another beach the other side of the river and this has big waves and lots of people surfing. Most of the action is in the streets of the old town, but there are quite a few bars a few streets south of the surfing beach. I feel like I've only just scratched the surface of the place and both me and my wife are really looking forward to returning in September (we're doing 2 nights in Barcelona, 2 nights in Logrono and then 2 nights in San Sebastian).
Personally, I just follow my nose. If you end up in a dud bar (and there are a couple) just finish your drink, eat your Pinxto and move on. The overpriced touristy places are very obvious when you walk into them - although there a couple of these on the lists that both Sansebay and Lasala Plaza hand out.
Very helpful, thanks. I've found similar when looking into Arzak - their isnt going to be much change from €1,000... that buys a lot of Pinxtos!The bay is lovely - great beach, nice for a swim. However there's another beach the other side of the river and this has big waves and lots of people surfing. Most of the action is in the streets of the old town, but there are quite a few bars a few streets south of the surfing beach. I feel like I've only just scratched the surface of the place and both me and my wife are really looking forward to returning in September (we're doing 2 nights in Barcelona, 2 nights in Logrono and then 2 nights in San Sebastian).
Personally, I just follow my nose. If you end up in a dud bar (and there are a couple) just finish your drink, eat your Pinxto and move on. The overpriced touristy places are very obvious when you walk into them - although there a couple of these on the lists that both Sansebay and Lasala Plaza hand out.
jjcd said:
akirk said:
Our honeymoon was two weeks of fine dining through France and Spain - including numerous michelin star restaurants...
The best food we ate, and the best value was in San Sebastian at Bodegon Alejandro:
.
Thanks for the recommendation - looks amazing, will definitely visit!The best food we ate, and the best value was in San Sebastian at Bodegon Alejandro:
.
It was interesting spending two weeks eating across a range of restaurants, our conclusion was that beyond one star, the extra Michelin stars seemed to reflect increasing ponciness in service / atmosphere / etc. and increased price - however it didn't really seem to reflect in increased quality of food, the food at one star already being amazing... so finding a restaurant like this where the food gave the quality we wanted but at the unbelievable price of 54 euros a person for a tasting menu was a welcome alternative...
omniflow said:
I looked into booking Akelarre, but then I costed it out. Tasting menu for 2 + wine flight = ~€900. That's just for Dinner. As has also been said, you'd need to get a taxi there and back.
The bay is lovely - great beach, nice for a swim. However there's another beach the other side of the river and this has big waves and lots of people surfing. Most of the action is in the streets of the old town, but there are quite a few bars a few streets south of the surfing beach. I feel like I've only just scratched the surface of the place and both me and my wife are really looking forward to returning in September (we're doing 2 nights in Barcelona, 2 nights in Logrono and then 2 nights in San Sebastian).
Personally, I just follow my nose. If you end up in a dud bar (and there are a couple) just finish your drink, eat your Pinxto and move on. The overpriced touristy places are very obvious when you walk into them - although there a couple of these on the lists that both Sansebay and Lasala Plaza hand out.
If you’ve not done logrono before I can highly recommend the marques de muiretti , wrong spelling , wine tour with tasting and tapas , it was 90 euros per person when we did it . I started to suspect it was a tourist rip off half way through but after being seating in the private dining room watching the estate chef prepping our food with his sous chef in the glass walled kitchen then to be confronted with the pick of the wines , guided though them and told we can drink as much as we wanted of the 5 bottles I changed my mind ! I actually only had 2 extra glasses of my 2 favourites. It’s a 15 minute taxi ride from logrono.The bay is lovely - great beach, nice for a swim. However there's another beach the other side of the river and this has big waves and lots of people surfing. Most of the action is in the streets of the old town, but there are quite a few bars a few streets south of the surfing beach. I feel like I've only just scratched the surface of the place and both me and my wife are really looking forward to returning in September (we're doing 2 nights in Barcelona, 2 nights in Logrono and then 2 nights in San Sebastian).
Personally, I just follow my nose. If you end up in a dud bar (and there are a couple) just finish your drink, eat your Pinxto and move on. The overpriced touristy places are very obvious when you walk into them - although there a couple of these on the lists that both Sansebay and Lasala Plaza hand out.
Logrono is a nice town , Laurel Avenue is party street but there’s loads of nice places dotted around the town square .
Been a few times over the years. Have always flown to Bilbao then got a bus to San Seb (just over an hour) then a 20 mins walk from the bus station to rented apartments in the middle of the old town. I can recommend this option if on a budget, you won't spend much time inside your accommodation anyway so location does it for me.
A long weekend is the right length of time to stay. I've personally never bothered with the Michelin star places mainly due to cost but also the tapas is good enough to not bother with proper restaurants. The beaches are good and there are a few decent walks along the coast for when you've seen enough tapas bars. Up the hill the other end of the main beach gets some good views over the bay.
I've never hired a car there (too much wine drinking to do) but I've heard that parking is not that convenient.
A long weekend is the right length of time to stay. I've personally never bothered with the Michelin star places mainly due to cost but also the tapas is good enough to not bother with proper restaurants. The beaches are good and there are a few decent walks along the coast for when you've seen enough tapas bars. Up the hill the other end of the main beach gets some good views over the bay.
I've never hired a car there (too much wine drinking to do) but I've heard that parking is not that convenient.
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