San Sebastián and Bilbao was a fantastic getaway from the Barcelona heat. We started at the food capital of Spain, San Sebastián. Then we took a bus to Bilbao to visit “Dragonstone” the well known show Game of Thrones and the famous Guggenheim Museum. The basque language is quite interesting because no one really knows where it originated from, though I got by fine just speaking English and Spanish.

Tip WHAT TO DO IN SAN SEBASTIÁN

Seems like half of the restaurants I went to didn’t accept credit cards, therefore you will need small bills/change for the bus/metro rides around town. We went at the beginning of August and if you didn’t already know, many of the locals go on vacation and shut the stores/restaurants for the entire month.

Travel Cost Breakdown

Flight from Barcelona (BCN) –> San Sebastián (EAS) on Vueling Airlines: 45€ Total
Hotel – Pensión Riberas del Urumea – $154 USD – I used a voucher for $115 USD from hotels.com = $39 USD
1st Stop: San Sebastián

I  almost didn’t make the flight due to the Barcelona Taxi Strike. I was okay getting to the airport with public transportation however, the taxis literally blocked the road to the airport by parking their vehicles on the road. Not only that, they were attacking Uber and Cabify drivers and that made me so mad I told myself I would never take a taxi here in Barcelona ever again.

How To Get From the Airport To City Center

• Taxi – around 40€
• Bus – use your google maps for this. You’ll have to exit the airport and walk along a busy highway for around 11 minutes (kinda scary but there is shoulder room). Cross the street and it’s bus E#21 for 2.65€ – Cash only!

Need Luggage Storage?

Locker Dimensions

There is the main train/bus station where you can store your belongings for 24 hours for just 5€.
Hours:
Weekdays 7:00 am – 9:45 pm
Weekends 9:00 am – 9:00 pm.

Where To Eat:

We all came here to eat right? I loved San Sebastián so much that I cane back and wrote an Ultimate San Sebastián Food Guide. Expect to eat a ton of yummy cheap pintxos for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Here are the places I checked out during my first trip here:

Bar Sport – One of the few pintxos place that opens at 10:00 am. Great variety of affordable pintxos.

Borda Berri – this place gets packed so I recommend coming here when they open at 12:30 pm and again at 7:30 pm.
Here are some of my recommendations: pork kebab, risotto, veal cheek, gazpacho, squid ink ravioli, and pig ear. We got all this and 3 glasses of wine for under 30€.

Gandarias Jatetxea – Opens at 11:00 am until midnight

La Cuchara – Opens at 12:30 pm and then again at 6:00 pm. Get the beef cheeks, foi gras (very very generous portion), and ugly tomato salad.

What To See

Besides stuffing our faces with food, we did hang at the famous La Concha Beach. Then we did the Hop On & Off City Tour Bus for 12€. Definitely was not worth it because there is only one bus at a time so if you hop off anywhere along the route then you have to wait for an hour for the next bus to come. You’re better off doing the city train ride for 5€.

2 full days here and then we were onto the next city, Bilbao, which is a 1 hour and 15 minutes bus ride and the cost –  6.65€.

I highly suggest visiting Bilbao after which is a short bus ride away. There you can visit the famous Game Of Thrones Dagonstone, check out the Guggenheim Museum and of course enjoy great food. Don’t forget to read about my 2nd trip back to San Sebastián and  check out the my Ultimate San Sebastián Food Guide.

Happy traveling!