Our trip to the Basque Country is getting closer! We are staying in San Sebastian from Sept. 20-27 and are trying to figure out best day trips to take without a car. We (3 adults over 60) are interested in Getaria and Bilbao (the Guggenheim), but other ideas welcome. We can budget for a day tour or driver for one of the trips, but we are hoping to use public transportation as much as feasible. My main question is what are the best day trips using public transportation from San Sebastian? We like food, the arts and walking in beautiful areas. Thank you!
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
7157 posts
Getaria has a nice fishing fleet. We spent a couple hours there. Salbatore Deunaren Eliza Church was nice for a short visit. The port was used as a filming location in a few movies.
About 6km (taking the coast road) from Getaria is Zumaia. It has a nice beach and impressive flysch rock formations. Up by Érmita San Telmo one can walk out on the point towards Mirador de Algorri and get a great view of the rock formations, beach, and area. Beyond those two towns are Ondarroa and Lekeitio. Both are supposedly hidden gems, but I haven’t been to either.
Hondarrbia is another place you could visit. It has an upper town where the historic center is located and a lower town where most stores, restaurants, and the beach are located.
Just over an hour southwest is Vitoria-Gasteiz while Pamplona is an hour away.
Posted by
Irving
3230 posts
Are you familiar with this train line that travels across the border into France: https://www.euskotren.eus/en.
Another good place to visit is St-Jean-de-Luz, FR. Instead of taking the train a direct bus from San Sebastian to St-Jean-de-Luz might work best. The same with Bilboa.
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
6471 posts
I'm glad to see you are going to Getaria and Bilbao. I highly recommend Hondarribia, for the old medieval town center. They also have some nice beaches, but San Sebastian's beach is wonderful so I don't think you need to go hunting for more beaches. We really like Vitoria-Gasteiz, and it looks like you can get there by bus. It would take about 1.5 hours. They have a gorgeous city center and a really great TI where you can get a map to use for visiting the city.
Posted by
481 posts
We day tripped to San Sebastian from Getaria. Very easily done by bus. We walked from Getaria to Zumaia and Zarautz. Bilbao is easily reached by bus or train.
Brad
Posted by
Bilbao
743 posts
Do not make the mistake to ignore the city of Bilbao to focus just on the Guggenheim. It offers a beautiful old quarter, great architecture all ove the city, a funicular train to the hill of Artxanda and Azkuna Zentroa, as the main highlights...but there´s much more to it. And it´s a very, very walkable city.
Posted by
OP
Arizona
8 posts
Many thanks to everyone for these clarifying and detailed responses…just the information I was hoping for!
Posted by
NC
396 posts
Be sure to see the Peine del Viento at La Concha. It is great fun! Also, highly recommend Chillida Leku, outdoor sculpture museum of Eduardo Chillida’s work, which is accessible by bus from San Sebastian.
Posted by
SFO
124 posts
Great post and information! We have a car, so looking for charming villages to visit from Getaria (San Prudentzia where we are staying-which is about 15km east of San Sebastian). Also we are staying in Ainhoa, and planning day trips driving north to the coast (St Jean de Luz, Bayonne & Biarritz) Besides those can you recommend villages worth stopping in on the way north? Planning on visiting Espelette on 1 of the 3 days we are in Ainhoa.
Thank you!