Trains arrive from many parts of [wiki=907eba32d950bfab68227fd7ea22999b]Spain[/wiki], [wiki=ea71b362e3ea9969db085abfccdeb10d]Portugal[/wiki] and [wiki=0309a6c666a7a803fdb9db95de71cf01]France[/wiki], including overnight services from [wiki=e20d37a5d7fcc4c35be6fc18a8e71bfa]Paris[/wiki] and [wiki=260b4e591e03de9750f965a30087ed5f]Lisbon[/wiki]. Take care when booking from France as there is also a town named [wiki=6ff8baeb2c80670b3ea5cc07276b5b9b]Saint Sébastien[/wiki] in France.
There are two train stations in San Sebastian: the RENFE [url=http://www.renfe.es]]station for national and local trains (at the east end of Puente de Maria Cristina), and the Euskotren [http://www.euskotren.es[/url] station for the local network (Plaza Easo). However as you are travelling from Spain to France, there is not a single train from San Sebastian to Biarritz, nor is the service between the two linked. You may therefore be stuck half way waiting for hours for a connecting train. Most likely better option is to go to Hendaye with Euskotren (Metro Donostialdea) and change there to train. Euskotren station in Hendaye is right next to the train station.
If coming in by train via Renfe in Barcelona, it is better to buy a turista class ticket rather than a preferente ticket. In the first 2.5 hours of your journey you are on a high speed train, then you switch to a commuter rail which has free for all seating. This train routing is as of jan 2014.
There are no luggage storage facilities in either the RENFE or Euskotren stations.
San Sebastian is well served by airports:
* San Sebastian [url=http://www.aena-aeropuertos.es/csee/Satellite/Aeropuerto-San-Sebastian/en/Home.html],]a small airport 20km from the town centre, next to [[Hondarribia[/url]].
:* Bus to the airport: i2 (€2) departs from Plaza Gipuzkoa nearly once a hour and rides about 30 mins, making maximum 4 stops (typically less). If going from San Sebastián to the airport the cost is 2.30 euros one way. The time from city center to the airport is 45 minutes.
:* Cafes in the departures area are limited to a single cafe on the ground floor, plus posh restaurant on the 2nd floor.
:* Shopping in departures area is limited to a single souvenir small shop; no duty free shops available.
:* Electronic check-in is available only for Iberia and Spanair. It doesn't work for Iberia e-tickets printed from an e-mail, however.
:* Wifi network is not available.
* [wiki=1727a2d933d817a65127c8e02cebeb43]Biarritz[/wiki] (in France), 50km away with bus and train connections to San Sebastian [url=http://www.biarritz.aeroport.fr/indexen.html].]Take a French SNCF[url=http://www.sncf-voyages.com[/url]]train to Hendaye, change to the nearby Euskotren station (located just outside the SNCF station) and take a Euskotren [url=http://www.euskotren.com[/url]]to San Sebastian. Each train ride is between 30-40 minutes, with the total train trip cost less than €10. A coach service also exists between Biarritz airport and the Hendaye train station, via Saint-Jean-De-Luz (change buses there). The coach ride is less than one hour and costs about €4. For an airport transfer, taxi, bus or coach from Biarritz Airport to San Sebastian check Sea-Lifts Airport Transfer [url=http://www.sea-lifts.com/[/url]]or Biarritz Airport Transfers [http://www.biarritzairporttransfers.com/Biarritz-to-San-Sebastian.html[/url]
* [wiki=9be25805ebcf935fbc1129717940de03]Bilbao[/wiki] [url=http://www.aena.es/csee/Satellite?cid=1047658432525&pagename=subHome&SiteName=BIO&c=Page&Language=EN_GB]](sometimes called Aeropuerto - Loiu after the village it's located in), 100km away with good bus connections, about one an hour during the day. The trip takes about 70min, and costs around €16.50. The bus company is called PESA. Tickets for the journey from Bilbao to San Sebastian can be purchased on board the bus, however for the trip from San Sebastian to Bilbao, tickets must be purchased from the PESA office around the corner from the bus station.
* [[Vitoria-Gasteiz[/url]] [url=http://www.aena.es/csee/Satellite?cid=1048858933108&pagename=subHome&Language=EN_GB&SiteName=VIT&c=Page],]114km from San Sebastian with good bus connections. A bus from the airport will take you to the central bus station, from where you can take a bus (companies Pesa [url=http://www.pesa.com[/url]]or La Burundesa [url=http://www.laburundesa.com/idefault.asp[/url])]to San Sebastian for around €7.50.
* Santander Airport is served by Ryanair, Volotea and other low-cost air carriers. Buses from the airport leave to the city of Santander every 30 minutes, and buses every 2 hours leave Santander to San Sebastian. This route is served by Alsa [http://www.alsa.es[/url], it takes around 2 hours and a half and costs approximately €14 (as of October 2013). The same company has 2 direct buses every day from the airport to San Sebastian, at 12:10 and 19:10, for €13,38.
The Basque Country is generally easier to get around by bus than by train. Buses arrive and depart at the San Sebastian bus station, at Plaza de Pio XII in Amara Nuevo. A number of bus companies operate services to San Sebastian, including:
* Pesa [http://www.pesa.net/pesa/horariosBD/ctrl_horarios.php]
* La Burundesa [http://www.laburundesa.com/idefault.asp]
* Alsa [http://www.alsa.es]
* ATCRB
* Roncalesa (for connection with Pamplona).
Buses are the only way to get to some areas of the Basque region, and often run more often (and cheaper!) than trains. [wiki=a96cb0f346cd7b23a71eabadf16fcefe]Vitoria-Gasteiz[/wiki], capital of the Basque Country, is a 2-hour ride away. [wiki=9be25805ebcf935fbc1129717940de03]Bilbao[/wiki], the travel hub and biggest city in the region (1-hour ride), and [wiki=81eb14a12756f9ed2d84f85442b18df0]Pamplona[/wiki] (1-hour ride) are other popular destinations, but longer-range buses do overnights to [wiki=6314044c3803213e9fd3f3ecf8c90d65]Madrid[/wiki], [wiki=437d461430ecc08e2d51abbcf5ce9b3c]Milan[/wiki] and even [wiki=550d05ab240ec337038af814ff0de287]Barcelona[/wiki].
In the downtown, parking is costly (roughly €20/day); most parking spots are underground, and finding a way to get there can be nerve-wracking. Left turns are more rare than rights (and are unpredictable). Having a driving map is essential. The biggest underground parkings are located in the city center, so the easiest way to find a place without wasting time is to go through the road that goes by the river and follow the signals.
There are some free parking lots in the west of the city: on the tourist maps by SanSebastianTurismo available in some guesthouses, the area is marked with a blue dotted line "Controlled parking zone".
San Sebastian is known as a stylish city and an image-conscious one, so it is stuffed with high-end shops. Peruse La Parte Vieja (the old part of town) for cool boutiques filled with quirky designer gear. There are fantastic shoe stores--I remember one in particular whose rainbow of amazing women's shoes in the window changed daily--and sources for that inimitable bold Spanish fashion.
Designer clothes for men are much more difficult to find than for women.
Most shops are freestanding, but there is an enclosed shopping mall (La Bretxa) that has the cineplex (as well as the city's lone McDonald's) as well as a collection of high street shops in the modern Nuevo Mercardo San Martin complex [http://www.msanmartin.es].
Some of the designer shops worthwhile visiting are:
*
* Women wear and Party dresses.
* Try for gorgeous, one-of-a-kind women's shoes and accessories (bags and jewelry). Its tiny shop, and its displays are stunning, with walls lined in delicate shoes and silk scarves arranged by color.
* Women-only wear.
*
*
*Original Spanish designer accessories at affordable prices.
*
See [wiki=907eba32d950bfab68227fd7ea22999b#Buy]Buy section in Spain[/wiki]
Healthy breakfast (even omelet) is hard to find in cafes: typically sandwiches or breakfast variety of pintxos are offered.
* Quite a touristy place. Terrace has a surcharge, indoor is stifling and too dark for a breakfast.
* Not evident from outside, this lounge-style cafe is popular place for breakfast among locals. Selection of potato-based pies, croissants with variety of meats. Good selection of infusion teas which are hard to find elsewhere in the city.
* La Vida C/San Marcial 37, [http://www.barlavida.es], hours open from 9am closes at midnight, this new stylish venue offers great value breakfast from €6-8, great selection of daily baked muffins, seed bars, croissants, English breakfast, Mediterranean breakfast and more. email - lavida@barlavide.es - tel. 943 244 150.
* Cafe Kantoi Fermin Calbeton 41 esq. Calle Mayor 1 o, Alde Zaharra 2003, Donostia / San Sebastian, seems a favorite among locals and one of the few places in Parte Vieja that's open early. For 3.50 euros you get a juice, tea or coffee and a pastry/muffin/croissant. - tel. 943 44 19 68.
The way to eat pintxos, (tapas in the Basque Country whether speaking Spanish or Basque) in San Sebastian is quite different from other cities in Spain. There are two kinds of tapas: cold and hot ones.
Don't attempt to eat pintxos if you're starving; you'll treat it like a buffet and prices will easily rack up as everything seems more appealing. Only get a couple of pintxos at a time, as sometimes what looks really appealing has been sitting on the bar the whole day, and is past its use by date. Test the waters.
Cold ones are displayed on the bar. Just ask the barman for your drink and pick the pintxos yourself. If you need a plate, just ask.
Hot ones must be ordered from the barman and they take a short time to be cooked. There is always a hot tapas menu hanging from the wall.
When you are done eating your tapas and have finished your drink you ask the barman for the bill, and you have to tell him what you have eaten. It is very important to be honest, as it is a long tradition. Locals will be upset if they find people eating and not paying. Normally you don't eat many pintxos at one bar but move from bar to bar, drinking a beer (caña) or wine and eating one or two tapas, then you move to another bar. Traditionally, residents would have one or two pintxos in the early evening to stave off any hunger before a later sit-down meal, rather than making a meal out of a large number of pintxos.
On Thursday evening, the bars have a kind of happy hour called pintxo-pote which starts from afterwork to just before midnight. For this, you get a pintxo from a pintxo-pote list often seen behind the bar, and a small drink for 1 EUR. The streets turn into a kind of organised, well behaved chaos, with plastic skiffs of drinks and plates stacked up on any horizontal surface.
Generally, if the barman asks you to show your plate to them before you start eating, you know the bar markets towards tourists and is sub par and more expensive that it should be. A good bar will ask you what you've eaten as you pay, and you should see a chef working out the back.
Most pintxo bars are to be found in the old town, particularly on the streets running parallel to Boulevard. Generally a pintxo will cost €2-3. At some bars the pintxos are all priced the same, at others the price depends on the pintxo.
Pintxos (tapas) bars are thick in the Parte Vieja (Old Town), but there are masses of other places nearby in the Gros and Centro areas. Most bars charge by the toothpick or plate from €1-5.
The Jamon Iberico (usually seen hanging from the ceiling in whole leg portions) is ubiquitous, and equally good virtually everywhere.
The calamari seems to be the same at every bar, don't order it again at a different pintxo bar if you didn't like it the first time.
The Kalimotxo (pronounced "calimotcho") is a local drink that is made with 50% wine (normally an inexpensive red wine) and 50% Coca-Cola. You will see a very large proportion of young people drink this near the harbour at playa La Concha and later on, in bars or clubs. It is definitely something to try out while you are there.
Coffee is espresso, not brewed, even in the on-the-beach cafes.
* Great place for coffee; Cafe Con Leche - that is, coffee with milk - is particularly good.
A purely Guipuzcoan experience, sidrerias dot the countryside and offer all you can drink sidra (a mildly alcoholic apple flavored cider) shooting straight from the barrel. Sidrerias usually offer a traditional set menu of cod omelette, cod with peppers, txuleta (really thick steak), and then for dessert: cheese, walnuts and membrillo (quince paste). The cider house season runs from the end of January to the end of May, but a couple of traditional sidrerias that are open all year (you'll need to get a car, bus or taxi from town) are:
* Close by San Sebastian, in the midst of nature.
*
Bataplán is definitely the hottest club in San Sebastian. Be careful not to arrive too early; usually there is no party before 1 AM. People normally start arriving at 2AM, and the club closes around 6 or 7 AM. The entry fee is normally 15 euros (including one drink) but you can get in for free before 3AM if you ask for a VIP pass at a bar beforehand (Bar Tas Tas is a good place for that). This club has an amazing terrace out back to relax after you've had one drink too many (drinks cost around 8 euros a pop, by the way, 5 euros for a beer). All year round, the club is filled with local people, tourists and exchange students.
Camping Igueldo [url=http://www.campingigueldo.com]]open all year Paseo Padre Orkolaga 69. Igeldo (San Sebastián), Phone: 943-280490, Fax: 943-280411. You must book at peak times. Very international with its own bar, shop and a couple of restaurants nearby, and a bus directly to the beach and centre.
* One of the popular hostels in town
* Hostel Aida [http://www.pensionesconencanto.com/in/datos_generales.php?id=1[/url] 9 Iztueta st. 1º floor,("Gros" Quarter), Phone: 943-327800 Fax: 943-326707
* An international hostel 1 minute walk from the beach. Clean rooms, free internet. Friendly staff.
* A newly built, international hostel with high quality and cheap prizes. Located 4 km from the city center with a good connection to public transport. Free WiFi, a friendly staff, a kitchen and a neighbouring restaurant.
Pension Goiko [url=http://www.pensiongoiko.com]]Calle Puerto 6 (Parte Vieja-Centro), Tel: 943 431 114 €30-55.
A great Pension / Hostel in the center of San Sebastian. Close to the beaches and all the bars and restaurants.
* Hotel Anoeta, 60 Anoeta Avenue (Amara), Phone: 943-451499 Fax: 943-452036. €80-100.
* Hotel Avenida, 55 Road to Igeldo (Igeldo), Phone: 943-212022, Fax: 943-212887. Prices from €78-125.
* Rooms are all in the same design, but vary in size (#5 Donostia is much smaller than #4 Kursaal or #1). Some rooms have no view (eg. #5). Shared bathroom, unoccupied most of the time even in high season. No breakfasts; no shared guestroom to spend time with fellow travelers. Helpful staff. The whole pension is less than 10 rooms.
* Hotel Europa, 55 San Martín st.(Centre). €100-160. Phone: 943-470880 Fax: 943-471730
* Pension Ira Flor[url=http://www.pensioniraflor.com/[/url],]13 San Jeronimo (Old town), Phone/Fax: (+34) 943 428602. €25-50 depending on season and room size. Very clean and friendly.
* "Pensión San Juan" [http://www.pensionsanjuan.net[/url] - C/San Juan nº 13 - 3 floor - Phone (+34)943-426345. It´s located in the Old Town. Double and group rooms (15€ - 65€) .
* Hospedaje Irune San Jerónimo 17-1º Derecha (Old town) ,Phone: 943425743-626625110. Rooms with en-suite bathroom €25-47 depending on season. Clean and friendly.
*
* Next to the Ondarreta beach
* Clean and friendly. Her sister runs the nearby Urkia. Rooms with en-suite bathroom.
* Clean and friendly. Her sister runs the nearby La Perla. Rooms with en-suite bathroom
Hotel Mercure Monte Igueldo Pº del Faro 134(Igeldo), tel: 943-210211 Fax: 943-215028, ([mailto:hotel@monteigueldo.com]) Prices range from 96-130 Euros. The Hotel sits on top of Mountain Igeldo and has scenic view over San Sebastian and the best beach in San Sebastian "La Concha" Phone:
* Hotel Maria Cristina, a Luxury Collection Hotel. A luxury belle epoque hotel, it is the choice of many actors during the world-famous cinema festival. The hotel has recently been fully renovated and is living up to its 5 star rating.
WiFi zones can be seen in a cafe on the Ondarreta beach; in many bars in the Old City. It's unclear whether they are paid or free of charge.
* Splash, C/Sanchez Toca, 7. In the Centro neighborhood, right behind the Buen Pastor Cathedral. Offers free wifi with purchase of food, drink, etc.
* Kite, C/Ijentea, 4. In Parte Vieja, towards the end of the Boulevard, going towards the Kontxa. Offers free wifi with the purchase of food, drink, etc.
There are many WiFi points throughout the city and indicated by a white WiFi symbol on street-posts. These are free to access.
As there are no facilities for luggage storage at either the train station or bus station, your hotel or hostel may hold your luggage, either for free or for an hourly fee. If they are unable to hold your luggage, the following internet cafe (situated opposite the Hotel Londres) will hold it for 1 EUR per piece of luggage, per hour.
*