Spain, Saint SebastianMarch 24, 2024, by Maartje

The best of San Sebastián (Spain)

Spain, Saint Sebastian, March 24, 2024, by Maartje

The best of San Sebastián (Spain)

The Basque Country, of which Bilbao en Saint Sebastian being the two most important cities, it is gastronomically one of the most blessed areas on earth: if New York never sleeps, they never stop eating here. You will find almost forty (!) Michelin star restaurants, the highest number per square meter anywhere, although the region's famous street food, the pintxos, is just as good to write home about. And you can find that on every street corner. For that reason alone, we can recommend a return trip to the Basque Country to everyone. Go by car, stop in Bilbao and sets course for the slightly more fashionable San Sebastián.

THE SOCIAL HUB, San Sebastian

With seventeen locations throughout Europe The SocialHub It is almost impossible to imagine the hotel landscape without it. Spread throughout the Netherlands and beyond, including San Sebastiàn in sunny Spain. Not just a great place to sleep, but so much more than that. In addition to (student) rooms, all locations also have a restaurant, bar, fitness room and some have a roof terrace with bar. This one is San Sebastian, very good for the hours of sunshine! Just a stone's throw from the bustling center of San Sebastián, this is a very nice place to stay. Yes, the location is great, but the interior has also been approved. Matching combinations, cheerful colors and more than enough space to learn, stay, work and play games. Can it be even better? SiWith a swimming pool on top of the building, you really just want to hang around. After a well-deserved (so hard, such a sunny holiday) siesta, why not go out for a while? Grab your bike and explore the neighborhood on two wheels.

AKELARRE HOTEL, San Sebastian

Once in Saint Sebastian (and you have something to spend), then you check in at the beautiful five-star boutique hotel Akelarre (in Bilbao we recommend a number of places to stay that won't break the bank, so in San Sebastián you can go a bit wild). Chef Pedro Subijana, owner and chef of the acclaimed Akelarre restaurants, thought it could use a nice place to sleep and he was right. He opened a 22-room retreat next door, overlooking the sea. The bright, spacious rooms are decorated in cool pastel tones, marble and oak and have a private balcony. The ground floor suites also have a plunge pool. If you sit higher, you can go for a splash in the hotel's indoor pool and spa. Please note: the hotel is not in the middle of the city but just outside it, built against a hill. Beautiful, and you can be in San Sebastián in no time. Moreover, you want to spend the evening in your hotel, thanks to the on-site restaurant Oeiza, the most casual restaurant in Subijana: here he cooks food that you can imagine him preparing at home. Sea bass with green pepper and bolognese with fried egg. The terrace is the best on the entire coastline and perfect for a cocktail.

ALABAMA CAFÉ, San Sebastian

If you are mainly into the latter breakfast category, yogurt and fruit, then it is Alabama Café interesting. While most of San Sebastián has bravely confronted the entire healthy living movement, here a cold-pressed juice and an acai bowl have secretly penetrated the front line.

CONVENT GARDEN + TOPA SUKALDERÍA + RITA

You can go there all day long Convent Garden, or the social breeding ground of San Sebastián where you have to go for the local art scene, for musical and food events. And for the drinks-style restaurant: a large courtyard within the walls of an old monastery. That restaurant is run by the restaurateurs behind the famous Atari restaurant. The style is food truck but without the trucks, but with the relaxed festival crowd. The menu includes a well-priced selection of (vegetable) dishes. Modern comfort food such as cabbage rolls, pancetta with quinoa and roasted eggplant with miso, quite unique in this region. The audience is of course also attracted to the varied musical program - so you can immediately enjoy that.

No garden and no vegan dishes, but a cool (wooden planks on the walls and long, high, white marble-look tables) interior, beautiful people and great Latin American street food. Topa Sukalderia. Here you get a kind of Spanish tacos with all kinds of fillings. And not a tourist in sight. Restaurant Rita is a restaurant painted dark gray from floor to ceiling where everything revolves around creative yet undeniably Spanish dishes.

THE LOAF + EKEKO

Ah! A bakery. For real bread, and a real breakfast, and not just for Spanish sweets (if that's your thing, you can also go to the largely orange-colored Maison Pariés on Saint Jean de Luz where they try to look Parisian, which doesn't quite work, but where it is certainly tasty and good, that's besides the point). The Loaf is more of a bakery as we like to see them. You'll find old-school sourdough bread here, plumply topped with whatever you can think of. And croissants that are really tasty (we are critical of our croissants, call us croissant connoisseurs, so that means something). The coffee comes from former employee Sakona, who we mentioned earlier. Take that combination, and freshly squeezed orange juice, and you have your perfect European breakfast. If you thought that was it, you're wrong: the bakery's owners, together with a Peruvian chef, opened another artisan bakery around the corner Ekeko, a surprising restaurant serving traditional Peruvian dishes in sandwich form. Think of a kind of focaccia made from purple corn and miniature hamburger buns sprinkled with quinoa filled with Peruvian ingredients.

AMELIA

Every city has its own catering groups to keep an eye on and in San Sebastián this is the IXO Group, which includes businesses such as Mugaritz and Nerua restaurant (in the Guggenheim Bilbao). Recommended, everyone. What is definitely worth it is Amelia, which now has two Michelin stars due to its exceptional cuisine. The chef brings a piece of Argentina to Spain, and he does it well. The vibe is international: from the reservations-only door-locked (you have to ring the bell if you want to enter) to the Italian sommelier Mario.

Tilia Deli & Cafe

What we still don't always get right in the Netherlands, with the exception of a few new Amsterdam establishments, is a good restaurant in a hotel that attracts not only tourists but also locals. This is better and better in Spain Tilia Deli & Cafe the cuisine is Mediterranean in combination with Spanish dishes. They don't miss the mark with organic, local and, above all, lots of vegetable dishes. Where can you know the place from? Misura used to be there. The restaurant is part of Arima Hotel on the outskirts of the city, next to the Miramón forest and a few meters away from the Technology Park and the Basque culinary center.

For the food alone, we recommend a return trip to the Basque Country. But the nice atmosphere (and people), the beautiful sunsets and the beautiful views are also worth it. Go, on to San Sebastián. You're welcome.

The best of San Sebastián (Spain)