San Sebastian or Bayonne?

Posted by leslietudor2 on 02/22/25 05:13 PM

Hi All

I am taking a cruise in mid May which docs at Biarritz (Saint-Jean-de-Luz). I can easily get to/spend a day in San Sebastian, Spain or Bayonne, France.

I know that San Sebastian is known for its food but my husband is vegan and so we probably would not visit San Sebastian specifically for that reason. But the photos of SS do look beautiful.

We love history and architecture, as well as nature...from the photos I see online it looks like SS is more about the scenery and Bayonne is more about the architecture.

We tend to do our own thing when traveling/cruising (hiring private guide or just taking a cab to places we want to see and going it on our own) so please do not hesitate to recommend a city/village that is close to Biarritz.

Thanks!

Leslie

Posted by ekscrunchy

new york

02/23/25 10:28 PM

295 posts

You could stay in St. Jean de Luz....it's lovely.
Or visit there and then go to Biarritz; I'm unclear where the ship docks.

Posted by acraven

Washington DC

02/23/25 11:01 PM

28905 posts

Closer than San Sebastian (which is pretty; too bad the historic center is so packed with tourists), while still on the same side of the border, is Hondarribia. It would be a nice place to spend at least part of your day.

I liked Bayonne better than Biarritz. I liked St-Jean-de-Luz better than Biarritz. There's more to see in Bayonne; St-Jean-de-Luz is more a picturesque place to meander around. There's nothing wrong with that.

On a cruise stop, I'd pay considerable attention to ease of travel between the port and my potential sightseeing destinations, not necessarily choosing the place I might put at the top of my list if I didn't have the be-back-before-the-ship-sails constraint.

I know Rick covers, at least briefly, a few small French Basque villages. That information is in his guide to Spain, not in the guide to France. I haven't been to any of those places and am not sure what sort of transportation would get you there. One or two of them might possibly be easy to reach by bus, and that might give you a combination of scenery and French-Basque architecture.

The Spanish Basque Country is very scenic, but I'm not sure how much of that you'd get (other than the beautiful beach) just traveling to San Sebastian.

Posted by MikelBasqueGuide

Bilbao

02/24/25 12:58 PM

857 posts

You´ll be docking outside St Jean de Luz port, and then disembarked in tenders. This is the rough Atlantic coast, there´s always a chance of suspending the disembarking for not good sea conditions (it´s happened a few times), so do not make any plans that involve payment in advance in case it´s suspended. Assuming everything will be OK, Bayonne is quite interesting (not Biarritz, 12 miles away, it just has "a name" for many, but not much to see or do there) and worth the visit; Donostia-San Sebastian would be, in my biased opinion, more interesting to visit, more enjoyable for the architecture, the views, the food and the atmosphere. Being a vegan should not be an issue, plenty of vegan options in Donostia-San Sebastian.