The town of San Sebastián in Spain’s Basque Country is one of the most postcard-perfect destinations in Europe, but you’ll need to factor in the weather when you visit Spain’s most famous foodie hub.
If you plan your trip based on Google Image searches, you may be daydreaming of sunny days on the city’s three gorgeous beaches, day trips to an island topped by a perfect little lighthouse, and lush greenery all around. The bad news? Rain is a fact of life in San Sebastián, with a gray drizzle falling on half the days of the year. The good news? The weather doesn’t really matter if you’ve come to eat and drink.
This corner of the Spanish coast has no clearly defined dry season, and while the summer months from June to September tend to be the best bet for beach weather, this is also the season when San Sebastián fills up with beach towels and tourists. For foodies, the quieter spring and fall months are easier times to find a table in the city’s Michelin-starred restaurants.
To make the most of your visit, take a second to reflect on your Basque bucket list. Are you here to bask on La Concha, hailed as one of Europe’s most beautiful beaches? Or are you more concerned with scoring a table at one of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants? Or perhaps you’d like to save some pennies, and experience some lively local festivals?
Read on to find out the best times to visit San Sebastián.
March to May is the best time for getting those dinner reservations
Let’s be honest, you’ve probably come to San Sebastián with a list of the top pintxos to try and the best places to eat. The true highlight list of this Basque Country city is its food, from small plates of tender braised beef cheek to gooey cheesecake and best-in-the-world grilled steaks.
Bars and restaurants take the odd week off here and there throughout the year, but the less busy months from March to May are a great time to get the restaurant reservations you’ve dreamed of. In fact, you can often walk in without a reservation, even at dining favorites such as Rekondo and Narru.
San Sebastián’s pintxo bars – tiny, cozy watering holes with outsized delicious bites – are also much less crowded, which can greatly increase your snacking enjoyment (as well as the quantity of fizzy white txakoli wine consumed).
June to September is best time for sand and sun
San Sebastián’s weather is nothing if not unpredictable. You can usually rely on one of the summer months to be a rainy mess, but the other three will usually be warm and sunny, with highs above 29°C (85°F). The problem is you never know which month will catch the showers.
While these are the sand and sun months, with beaches buzzing with lifeguards and cute striped tents for rent on the beachfront, prices skyrocket. As at other European beach hubs, the traffic and limited hotel and restaurant availability can make life difficult in July, and sometimes impossible in August.
Unless this is the only time you can visit, it’s best to avoid the period from late July to the end of August when hordes descend on the picturesque old town, and you can expect long queues for a bite of the world’s most famous cheesecake at La Viña.
September is probably the single best month to visit San Sebastián. Prices are starting to drop and sunshine is virtually guaranteed, with balmy late summer temperatures. Towards the end of the month, the streets and the pintxo bars flood with film fanatics as the San Sebastián International Film Festival – which locals call Zinemaldi – rolls into town.
October to November is the time for budget travelers and wine buffs
As October approaches, prices tumble at the city’s hotels, and lodging bargains are easy to find, except around All Saints Day on November 1. And the warm weather has not entirely abandoned San Sebastián, so you’ll still be able to enjoy some of the amazing hikes on the city fringes and climb Mount Urgull to visit the free museum at the summit. You might even have a beach day or two!
San Sebastián is sandwiched between several important Spanish wine regions, including DO Getariako Txakoliña to the east and La Rioja – one of Spain’s most important wine areas – to the south. During the fall months, the grape vines turn golden, blanketing the countryside in breathtaking fall foliage. This is also the harvest season – a great time for winery tours to see the winemaking process in action.
December to February is festival season
The winter months see the weather in the Basque Country at its most wicked, with slanted rain, chilly temperatures and days so dreary even locals won’t leave the house for pintxos. That said, the winter has one saving grace – the parties!
The festive season kicks off on December 21 with the Fair of Santo Tomás, when everyone dresses up in traditional Basque Country garb to commemorate a day that was once dedicated to paying taxes and rents to landlords and selling extra livestock. Now, it’s a citywide, family-friendly festival with farm animals on display, lots of snacking on tortilla-like talos stuffed with txistorra sausage, and music, dancing, and drinking.
Christmas and the Epiphany get their own parades, but nothing compares to Día de San Sebastián on January 20, known locally as the Tamborrada. The party kicks off on the night of January 19, with the raising of the city flag in the Plaza de la Constitucion at midnight. Members of the famous Basque dining societies walk through the city dressed as cooks and soldiers, drumming through the night and into the following day for 24 hours straight.
This is the only night of the year when visitors can peek behind the scenes of these members-only dining clubs, making this a great time to visit for a genuinely local experience. The parties continue into February, with quirky celebrations such as Caldereros and Inudeak eta Artzainak in the run up to the city’s annual Carnaval. Dress up, drink, parade and have fun for three months straight!
