Hi travelers,
We would like to visit San Sebastian. First time in Spain. We are foodies. Also interested in Porto. It's possible in 10 days or focus on San Sebastian only. Please advice. Thanks!
Posted by
Paris
7304 posts
Hi!
Possible, yes (fly from Bilbao to Porto, quick and cheap), you can even throw in a third destination (e g Bilbao), but why specifically Porto?
San Sebastian and the region at large have great food, even the entire northern coast of Spain I'd say. Whereas Portugal seldom blew me away from a food standpoint (although things might have changed in the few years since I've been).
Posted by
Massachusetts
847 posts
Unless you have a specific reason for wanting to see Porto, and no interest at all in the other things closer to San Sebastian, why would you bother with wasting essentially a whole day to fly to another city. Easily reached by bus from San Sebastian are Bilbao, Santander, Bayonne/Biarritz and lots of smaller towns. An hour or two bus trip is just that, an hour or two flight is really more like 4 or 5 hours.
Posted by
Michigan
483 posts
We really enjoyed exploring the French and Spanish Basque regions last summer. We had three days in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, and five in San Sebastian. Then we took a high speed train to finish up our trip in Barcelona. Saint-Jean-de-Luz was small, walkable, pretty, and really a pleasant place to stay. The beach was beautiful. We have French speakers and Spanish speakers in our family - this part of our trip was great for everyone to practice! :-)
We loved the food in both places - lots of seafood, and the pinxtos in San Sebastian were wonderful. San Sebastian was also beautiful, and I'd really recommend going to the top of Monte Igueldo via the funicular on a gorgeous day. The views were spectacular, and the wooden boat ride on the Rio Mysterioso was worth the 2 euros! :-) Zurriola Beach and the Gros neighborhood were less crowded than the old town area, but close enough to easily walk between the neighborhoods. We saw the sunset every night we were there, in both cities.
From San Sebastian, you can take a cider house tour up into the mountains, and have a cool Basque experience. I'd really recommend that.
Acraven recommends so many places to visit around that region - check her posts for more information. We didn't have time to visit Bilbao, or some of the other coastal towns, but I would love to do that if I get a chance to return to that region.
Hope this helps!
Laurie