Trains, planes, busses - Madrid to San Sebastian???

I don't know who R2R is, but the fastest trains between Madrid and San Sebastian/Donostia takes a bit under 5 hours.

I'd take the train, ALV stands for Alvia, another kind of high speed train we have in Spain. Best to double check on Renfe website, sometimes Rome2Rio gets things wrong. I looked on a random day in May and there is a 4 h. 54 min. Alvia service between Madrid-chamartín and San Sebastián/donostia for 39.00 €

https://venta.renfe.com/vol/search.do?c=_wCzF

Thanks Carlos... The June 17 schedule isn't available yet, so I'll cool my heels. It sounds like we can get to San Sebastian easily enough via train, which is the main concern... And you're right, I've learned that R2R is helpful, but not gospel...

Happy to help :-)

The Renfe schedule for June may take another month, but I'm fairly confident you'll find roughly the same train options then.

I've taken the train from Madrid to San Sebastián. It's a perfectly pleasant trip, if on the longer side, as there are not high-speed tracks for the entire route. Depending on where your lodging is, you are likely to be able to walk to it from the train station if you do not have significant mobility issues or large amounts of luggage.

For the flight, keep in mind that the "San Sebastián" airport is not actually in San Sebastián -- it is in Hondarribia (the last town before the French border).

I'm also very interested in this topic. We will be making the same journey from Madrid to San Sebastian this fall. We're trying to decide if we should rent a car or if it would be better to take the train. Would there be an advantage to having a car once we're in San Sebastian? There are 4 adults going.

While in Donostia-San Sebastian you´ll need to have a parking garage for your vehicle, as surface parking is heavily restricted all over the city. Public transport is excellent, so in case you want to visit Getaria, Hondarribia, Pasai Donibane...it´s an easy bus ride.

Ditto for Bilbao.