Our epic French honeymoon had one cheeky little side trip slipped in – a five day detour to the home of the pintxo – let me introduce, San Sebastián, Spain. San Sebastián is one of the most drop-dead, simply stunning places I have been, and after first venturing there in 2006 with my best friend on a short jaunt from our then-base of London, I knew I would be back.
The scenery, the white sand beach, the medieval old town, the happening pintxo bars, the vibrant nightlife, the FOOD… these all combine to make San Sebastián one of my absolute favourite places in the whole world. Seriously, it is top 5. So when Dave and I were planning our itinerary, it was not too hard to ensure that we slipped in some San Sebastián time.
And hey, when it turned out we would be there to celebrate my impending 30th birthday there (arrrgh – milestone!), it seemed like fate had worked its magic once more.
Throughout our time in France we booked a variety of accommodations, ranging from a gypsy caravan in Provence, to a private chateau in the Loire, to a shared apartment in Nice, and we were fortunate enough to really love every single one. To celebrate my 30th, we decided to splash out and splurge on the Hotel Maria Cristina, San Sebastián’s five star hotel and part of the Starwood Hotels Group.
After catching the bus from Biarritz to San Sebastián and arriving at the town’s major bus station, my recollection of how far a walk our hotel was, how shall we say it, underestimated. I convinced Dave it would be a five minute (tops!) stroll along the main road that follows the river, to our hotel. In reality, it took us more like 45… and it truly was not helping when the sun was beating down in 35-plus degree heat.
We finally arrived and were wheeling our suitcases up the ramp when a well-dressed bellboy took our heavy bags from us, and told us to go right on inside so we could check in, he checked with the concierge and then said our bags would be waiting in our room for us as soon as we had checked in.
Ahhhh…. five star luxury. Why can I not afford you more often?!
Some pics of our luxurious suite at the Hotel Maria Cristina
This majestic hotel was instrumental in reinforcing San Seb’s reputation as a luxurious, chic and uber fashionable holiday location. Opened in 1912, it was named after the Princess Maria Cristina and regularly welcomes famous guests attending the prestigious San Sebastián International Film Festival.
It is, although a little bit ‘well-loved’ in its external appearance, a glamourous old dame taking up almost a whole city block alongside the riverbank, and is situated on the edge of the cobblestones old town, Parte Vieja.
After a quick shower, we were super keen to get out and explore the town – geographically, we were on basically the far right hand side of the famous Playa be la Concha, next to Parte Vieja, and on the opposite side of the bay was the mountain peak that provides supposed amazing views back over the town – a must-do for us.
Over the next few days we would explore pretty much everywhere. The old town alleys, overflowing with pinto bars, were the destination for us that first night as we joined a San Sebastian Food tour, where a small group of us were shown the local ways and hot spots – more about this to come in another blog post!
Here are some shots from our time in San Seb.
Playa de la Concha – love this beach!
I swear, I did not think is possible for too many beaches to come close to ours back home in Perth, but I tell you what, Playa de la Concha certainly gives them a run for their money. The beautiful people of San Seb crowd this beach, from one end to the other most days, and when the sun is setting at 8pm, and its still 30 degrees then, why wouldn’t you?! And look at the boats – tranquil much?
You can see the cafes and restaurants strip that frames the Promenade all the way around – these places were packed nearly every single time we walked past – so much activity, it was fantastic!
This is a view from the beach looking back towards the Parte Vieja and the Town Hall. Up on the hill you will notice the Christ statue, unfortunately the paths up to it were closed while we were there.
Town Hall again
Inside Parte Viaja
Here is a shot of Constitucion Plaza, designed for bull fighting. People would stand on the balconies all around and watch the festivities from up on high. Now the rooms are mostly privately owned or run like small hotels/pensions. There are often street performers here.
Iglesia de Santa Maria
Some more of the Parte Viaja
Looking over towards the small fishing harbour
Taking in the harbour views – Playa de la Concha off in the distance
More harbour views and some architecture shots
Love these boat shots – look at those colours!
Oceanside strolling
Now, remember me saying there was a hike / walk up the hill we wanted to do? Well in the above photo can you see that building on the top of the hill behind Dave – that was the destination for a 12km return (might have been 12km, might be exaggerating, not sure!) walk we did one afternoon.
We donned our walking shoes and hats (that sun was still makin’ us sweat!), and began with the easy stroll around the Promenade, making it all the way around, just stopping to take some pics of the art and scenery along the way.
After about 40 minutes, we eventually reached the winding, steep single lane road that would take us up to the lookout at the top. I must admit, the walk up was pretty taxing, but every time we glanced behind us we could see the view getting better and better so that certainly drove us on – it really was not that bad 
QUAINT, right?!
We finally made it to the top, and the view was everything we thought it would be – we even managed to take the iconic San Seb shot – looking back over the bay and the old town, with the island in clear view. Postcard worthy!
And just cos we were on our honeymoon, here is a romantic pic of us kissing at the top… aaahhh young love (hadn’t turned 30 at this point, still young…)
San Seb has so much to do, and of course, a large part of the attraction for us was the food, and I promise I will do a separate blog post about the pintxos tour we took. We also dined at one of the world’s BEST restaurants, Martin Berasetegui, on the Saturday night of my actual birthday – phenomenal experience. You can read all about (and drool over the pics from) our amazing experience in this blog post. Here is us all dressed up and enjoying a cocktail in the hotel lobby while we waited for our taxi.
Apart from eat and drink in San Seb, what did we do? Well, I am glad you asked. We chilled on the beach, ate, drank, chilled on the beach, and ate and drank some more! 
San Seb is one amazing place and I could easily and willingly go back there for another five days to try another few Michelin restaurants, lie some more on that beautiful beach, and wander those cobblestone alleys again. Loved every minute. Turning 30 ain’t that bad when you can celebrate in San Seb style!