Best Known Secret - San Sebastian - TravBuddy

San Sebastian is 20 kilometers from France in the central northen part of Spain. San Sebastian is easy to reach, it is very well connected and modern.
It is a town of around 250,000 residents and it has more beauty and elegance than many other heralded towns. Reason why royalty chooses this jewel as resting place.
It has two beaches La Concha -The Shell- and Playa de Ategorrieta both are wonderful the last one is exceptionally good for surfing.
It doesn't get better than this. Surfing in the middle of a wonderful town.
The whole area is full of tremendous restaturants, a review in a French magazine accepted the fact that the area has more Michellin stars per capita than Paris by a marging of three. That is how good the food is in the 30 miles around San Sebastian.
The tapas bars are of the best quality, and going around sipping a few glasses of wine and nibbling a few tapas is better than any sermon you can hear at the town wonderful modern and Gothics Churches.
The weather is exceptionally pleasant from Mid June thru September. Actually, I am considering in residing there during those months- if I can fit it in my budget.
The travel is super-easy and it is connected via all kinds of superior services from real luxury buses - that is with hostess and capuccino- to the local airport 20 minutes from town.
In my humble opinion, one of the drawbacks of the town is the "modernization" and the lack of vision of some of their planners allowing the insertion of "box stores" in the middle and around wonderful well kept neoclassic buildings. The small seaport and old part of town is as charming as you can get.

If you make it there do not forget that Bilbao is 50 minutes away, with the incredible Gehry's Guggenheim Museum. I have not experience the feeling of a building like this one.
Even, if you do not see the art collection pick a sunny day and you will not be dissapointed. Do not forget to stop at the local Classic Arts Museum around the corner from the Guggenheim it is unusually good and not well known.

San Sebastian is 20 minutes by bus from Hondarribia.
Hondarribi is small town of around 16 000. Just, take a couple of days to visit this fishing town. You might not want to ever go back home.
Walk around it is a fantastic little main street of the own full of excellent food smells; allow yourself to be tempted. Hondarribi old part still has that medieval feeling, stop for a drink at the National Parador at the top of the old Town, you will remember for years.
Next to Hondarribia is Irun, a real modernized industrial town. The hisotry is long so stop by their Roman museum at the end of the center of the town -Paseo de Colon, walk with the locals, get the feeling of what people say about Europeans. Take the short 2 minutes walk towards the Town Hall Plaza -Plaza del Ayuntamiento-, there ask for Plaza de Urdanibia, this is the old town, from Phoenicians to Romans, and today Basques continue to use this plaza as the center of the activities. Enter one of the many resturants and eat for a very affordabe less than 15 euros or just grab a tapa and wine and be happy. If you want to see what the town is all about try to be for San Marciales, that is June 30 thru July 1. They have a local website www.sanmarciales.com
From there, after a little rest, you can always jump to Pamplona for the run of the bulls July 7 thru July 14.

The whole area is fastastic. If you like to walk try their mountain paths they are all well marked - but ask for info and you might get inspired and walk or bike ride the 200 miles up to Bordeaux !!!!!
Do not forget the Camino de Santiago one of the main routes passes by Irun, if you are inspired by the medieval pilgrims, ask the local office for information or better do it in advance.

The code for the local airport is EAS you can also try the airport of Bilbao BIL or french side in Biarritz BIQ, now connected via bus to San Sebastian.

Let me know if all me enthusiasm about San Sebastian is well deserved!!!

Let's finish by saying Europe for most Americans, thanks for a poor valued dollar, has become very expensive, I will go to the extend to say almost forbiddenly expensive. Obviously, unless you are part of the ruling crowd.