Food Tours · Tour

Ninety Minutes, Twelve Euros, One Pintxo at the End

The cheapest way into San Sebastián on this list, and it works as an orientation rather than a meal: an hour and a half of walking with a licensed local guide, finished with one pintxo and a drink. You meet at the tourism office beside the town hall and start in the nineteenth-century city. San Sebastián became what it is because Queen María Cristina chose to spend her summers here, and the aristocracy followed: the boulevards, the theatres and the grand hotels all date from that decision. You see the town hall, which was the casino until gambling was banned, La Concha bay, and the Cathedral of the Buen Pastor, which holds one of the largest organs in Europe. Across the María Cristina bridge, modelled on the Alexandre III in Paris, the Hotel María Cristina still carries damage from the Civil War on its facade, and the Victoria Eugenia theatre next door hosts the film festival. The second half goes into the Old Town: the Bretxa market, shops that have been trading for more than a hundred and ninety years, the Gothic church of San Vicente with a relic older than the city itself, the Plaza de la Constitución and its secrets, and the Baroque facade of Santa María del Coro. On Calle 31 de Agosto the guide invites you to choose a pintxo and a drink, which is included on the small-group option and not on the bilingual one. Wheelchair accessible, suitable for all fitness levels, and it runs in any weather. Guided in English or Spanish. Two adults are needed for the tour to run, four for the bilingual version, and you are told at least two days ahead if the numbers are not there. Non-alcoholic, vegetarian and gluten-free options on the small-group version.