San Sebastián Things to Do

Charming museum in the old town. The former Dominican convent of San Telmo, the museum was moved there in 1932. It had also been used as an artillery barracks. The museum exhibits fine arts, archeology, ethnography and history. Of particular interest is the replica of a Basque farmhouse complete with cows in the kitchen. In the fine art section there were paintings of El Greco and Rubens. There is also a section of local artists from different time periods. And it is free.

After lots of controversy, San Sebastian finally completed their new auditorium and congress hall in 1999. Designed by Pritzker award winner Rafael Moneo, the Kursaal Center is one of the current cornerstones of the city cultural scene. The center is shaped out of sea-green glass in curved panels that appear to float above the Bay of Biscay. It has two auditoriums, a gargantuan banquet hall, meeting rooms, exhibition space, and a sibling set of terraces across the estuary. Martín Berasategui, chef at the Guggenheim Bilbao and director of his own restaurant in nearby Lasarte, oversees the dining room. Guided tours daily at 11:30, 12:30, and 1:30.

2 more images

La Bretxa is the main market in the centre of Donostia. It actually consists of two separate shopping areas: one, towards La Concha, that contains what you would traditionally expect from a market in a Spanish or Basque city; and another one, closer to the Teatro Victoria Eugenia, that is essentially a shopping mall. The market building and structure is all quite interesting, as it is fairly odd and well preserved, but, given that it is still a functioning commercial venue, don’t expect it to be too touristy or filled with various unique Basque traditions. The shopping mall side of La Bretxa holds absolutely no surprises, but it is a good place to go if there is something that you desperately need and don’t want to waste hours and hours looking for the right shop.

4 more images

The Ensanche Cortazar is one of the two extensions that San Sebastian underwent in the latter part of the 19th century. The other one is now called Gros, after the architect who designed it, and is located on the opposite side of the Urumea. It was intended to incorporate many of the same sorts of Modernist characteristics that have made Barcelona so famous, and are also found in the Ensanche in Bilbao. Today, the Ensanche is a chic shopping and residential area with a good number of pensions and hotels, as well as more modern stores. Indeed, it is likely in this area, rather than in the older areas, that you are to feel truly immersed in the Belle Époque splendor for which San Sebastian is so famous.

4 more images

In some pictures, especially those destined for tourist consumption, the Plaza de Guipuzcoa is made to look airy and larger than it actually is – as if it were not smack in the middle of the orderly Ensanche. It is bordered by Martzial and Arrasate in the part of the Ensanche closest to the Avenida de la Libertad, so it shouldn’t be too difficult for anyone to find if they are walking through this area (it is about a block east of Urbieta). It has a bit of a Plaza Mayor feel to it, but it is not the city’s Plaza Mayor (that function is fulfilled, rather, by the Plaza de la Constitución in the Parte Vieja). One reason why it is not the Plaza Mayor is that there is a pretty little garden in the centre of the square, replete with fountain and gazebo. This is frequented largely by children with their parents and the noise from the surrounding pedestrian mall makes it even harder to pretend as if this were a place were you could sit and relax away from the hustle of the urban setting. That, of course, you can do at one of the many cafés that ring the square. Although three sides of the Plaza have various shops and cafés, the fourth side is an official building housing the province’s Diputación, or governing council. Again, this isn’t an official tourist site, just another place where you can enjoy the city’s leisurely attitude.

1 more image

The Naval Museum is probably not high on your list of potential attractions, unless of course you are particularly keen on maritime history and the great navies. I am not, and so I didn’t visit the museum. After all, I’ve spent limited time on ships, and most of that time has been spent on canoes, which I don’t think would be represented in a Naval Museum in Donostia. That’s, in part, why this tip is so short: I don’t know what the Museum contains or whether it is any good, but it’s definitely something you should consider visiting if you’re really into this topic. Otherwise it might be better to just admire the Port.

2 more images

To be truthful, this park is a bit odd. It’s not that it is filled with exotic flora or that it has a number of weird and wonderful sculptures, but rather its positioning is rather odd. It is located at the eastern edge of the Calle de Zubieta, right before you get to the Udaletxe (Town Hall), and there isn’t a whole lot of transition from the paved Belle Époque promenade into the greenery and gardens of the park. In fact, it almost seems as if the trees and greenery are springing from the pavements themselves, rather than from planned and maintained flowerbeds. The park has a playground, so it’s a favourite of families that come to promenade along the bay, and there are also a number of benches, so it attracts the elderly looking to sit, chat and relax in true Iberian style. In all, it isn’t a very large park, and it sort of inconveniently masks your view of the beautiful neo-Renaissance town hall. I guess you could say that, in a way, I’m not much a fan of the park, but it’s more that I’m convinced that it might have been better placed elsewhere.

2 more images

The Calle de Zubieta is the pretty walkway along the upper rim of the beach and the bay. It is done entirely in the sort of Belle Époque neo-Renaissance style for which San Sebastian is so famous, and promenading up and down the Calle is one of the favourite passtimes of both tourists and locals alike. It's true that after a while you begin to regard it as nothing more than a continuous stretch of walkway that makes your life easier (since you don't have to navigate the way the rest of the city curls around the bay), but it's hard not to be taken in by the beauty of the bay every time you pass by.