Our Guide To San Sebastián

We went to Gerald's Bar for the first time in 2021 and fell in love with it. It is the first restaurant we book on every visit to San Sebastian. It's a small restaurant with a daily 3-course menu that is superb value. The dishes are just a few quality local ingredients cooked with skill. On our last visit in 2023 they had really improved their, now amazing, wine list. Go!

One of the best pintxos bars. Try the omelette and the prawns on a plancha. It is quite small so best to get there early.

Visiting Arzak, the famous and influential restaurant run by father and daughter team Juan-Mari and Elena Arzak, is always a great experience. The food, wine and the service are first-class and consistently faultless. We have been countless times. Last time we brought our two young daughters and they were made feel very welcome.

A really special fish restaurant. Get a whole fish roasted on their grill served simply with potatoes; it is pure heaven. The fish will be whatever was fresh off the boats that day. An excellent wine list too.

Bell's Bar is a tiny restaurant and bar in the old town. The menu is small, but everything is very well executed and extremely delicious. It is very easy to order too much and leave very full - we did!

Zazpi is in the San Telmo Museum in the old town of the city. It has a good value and delicious tasting menu as well as à la carte, with a very well selected wine list and very nice surroundings.

A very smart restaurant in the basement of the Hotel Zenit Convento. It has three tasting menus, a sushi bar, a cheese area and a nice wine list. The food is Basque based with Asian twists.

It is all about the anchovies. Just ask for a selection of their best anchovy dishes and savour them.

Most of the food on offer is top-notch, but the risotto is particularly good.

Famous for their cheesecakes, which are a must-try, this place is fundamental to any trip to San Sebastián.

High quality pintxos; the txangurro (spider crab) is one of the best around. They have a restaurant in the back with an excellent wine list and the steak from old dairy cow is incredible.

This place is always as busy as it is small, so it is important to get there early. The suckling pig is excellent.

Right in the middle of the old town, go here to try the deep-fried langoustines.

A tiny place, but if you can get in try the prawn bruschetta; they are excellent.

Walk up a steep hill just outside Gros to Zelai Txiki and you won't be sorry. A fantastic menu of local dishes cooked with love. A mouthwatering menu and an enticing wine list.

In an industrial estate on the outskirts of San Sebastián, surrounded by car dealers, you will find Agorregi. Some smart cooking in a menu that is very good value.

Narru is a trendy place serving the freshest fish you are likely to eat. The tuna belly is particularly good. Ditto for the oysters.

It is worth the journey out to this restaurant just for the spectacular views over San Sebastián. Luckily, the food also makes the trip worthwhile. They even have a tasting menu for children.

A progressive and fun gastronomic experience. A restaurant that is fulfilling its lofty ambitions. It is going to be expensive with optional upsells on the day, but the food is perfectly executed innovation.

A fantastic natural wine list to go alongside a small, but very tasty food menu.

A restaurant from chef Andoni Luis Aduriz of Mugaritz fame. Some great food on offer cooked over fire. Some dishes, along with service, were a bit underwhelming when we visited, but there might be more to come.

A bastion of San Sebastían's high-end food scene for many years, Akelarre offers a unique, memorable and truly delicious experience. A truly brilliant restaurant. They even made our kids feel special - they had an amazing meal.

Considered by many is one of the world's top fish restaurants, Elkano offers a delicious à la carte and tasting menu, but with either menu the turbot, cooked on their grill, is a must.

Overlooking the pier in Getaria is a restaurant we look forward to returning to. Sitting on the terrace eating delicious seafood, including grilled turbot for two, enjoying a bottle of wine from their brilliant wine list... bliss!

Get a taxi to Torreko Plaza and take a little boat across the river to Txulotxo in the beautiful village of Pasai Donibane. A lovely little restaurant that serves simply cooked, super fresh seafood, right on the river's edge.

Rekondo cooks some really good traditional Basque food, but it's the wine list, considered one of the best in the world, that people flock here for. They have really old vintages of great wines for shockingly low prices.

Traditional Basque dishes cooked with care. A nice little basement restaurant, but they could do with putting more thought into their wine list.

A gastronomic restaurant that divides opinion. Pushing the boundaries of technique, there will be some great dishes, but some you may find unpleasant. One thing is for certain: you definitely won't be bored.